Menachot 34b (לד:) — the Talmud in English

The Sages taught:

The word “totafot” is written in the Torah three times. A. In the section of Shema: “And they shall be

for totafot

between your eyes”; B. in the section of “And it shall be, if you hearken”: “And they shall be

for totafot

between your eyes”; C. in the section of “And it shall be when He brings you”: “And it shall be for you as a sign upon your hand and

for totafot

between your eyes” [although according to the tradition in our possession, the word “letatfot” in the section of “And it shall be, if you hearken” is also written “letotafot,” with a vav].

Since in the two sections contained in the recitation of Shema the word “letatfot” is written without a vav, while in the section of “And it shall be when He brings you” the word is written in its full form, with a vav,

there are here four

instances in which the word “letatfot” is written. For the full form is counted as two.

And from this it is learned that the tefillin of the head must contain the four sections in four compartments,

the words of Rabbi Yishmael.

Rabbi Akiva says: It is not necessary

to derive this from the manner in which the word “totafot” is written in the three sections. Rather, it is learned that four compartments are required from the interpretation of the word “letatfot”:

“Tat,” two

is a place called

Katfi,

and its meaning is

two.

And

“pat,” two

is a place called

Afriki,

and its meaning is

two.

And from the word “totafot,” which is composed of the two words “tat” and “pat,” it is learned that four compartments are required.

The Sages taught: One might think that he may write them

the tefillin of the head

on four pieces of leather and place them in

within

four compartments

made

from four

separate pieces of leather.

The verse states

in the section of “Sanctify to Me”: “And it shall be for you as a sign upon your hand

and as a remembrance between your eyes”: I said to you, one remembrance, and not two or three remembrances!

And if he places them in four separate compartments, this constitutes four remembrances.

How, then,

does he place four sections in four compartments while making them one remembrance?

He writes them

on

four pieces of leather and places them in four compartments

made

from one piece of leather

[And how is this done? A piece of leather is taken and placed in a mold shaped like four fingers, and the leather is pressed onto the mold. When the leather dries, it is removed from the mold, and the four compartments are formed on their own.]

And if

after the fact

he wrote

the four sections

on one piece of leather and placed them in four compartments

by making three cuts in the parchment, cutting between each section and the next,

he has fulfilled

his obligation.

There must be space between the sections when he writes them on one piece of leather, so that after writing them he will be able to place each section in its own compartment by cutting the leather between each section and the next.

And there must be space between them

between the compartments, so that they will be separate from one another,

the words of Rabbi.

And the Sages say: It is not necessary

to make space between one compartment and the next.

And they agree,

the Sages and Rabbi,

that he places a thread

or a cord

[a thin rope]

between each one

of the compartments, to distinguish between them [and this is the reason for the Sages’ view that space is not required between one compartment and the next, since in their opinion the distinction created by the thread or cord is sufficient, according to the Beit Yosef].

And if its grooves

the groove between one compartment and the next

are not visible from the outside, the tefillin are invalid

.

The Sages taught: How does he write them

for tefillin?

He writes the arm tefilla on one piece of leather,

all four sections,

but if he wrote it on four pieces of leather

separate from one another,

and placed them

the four sections

in one compartment, he has fulfilled his obligation. And

nevertheless,

he must attach

the four pieces of leather on which the four sections were written, either with glue or by sewing.

As it is stated: “And it shall be for you as a sign

as a symbol

upon your hand,”

meaning that for you as well there must be only one sign

! Just as there is one sign externally,

for those others who see only the outer compartment, even though internally there are four pieces of leather, nevertheless externally it appears as one sign,

so there must be one sign internally

for you, the person who wears the tefillin and handles them. If he does not attach the pieces of leather internally, then by handling the tefillin [which were made from thin leather] the wearer will sense that there are several pieces of leather inside, and this is not one sign but something like several signs. Therefore, he must attach the pieces of leather internally,

the words of Rabbi Yehuda.

Rabbi Yosei says: It is not necessary

to attach them, for he does not require one sign internally.

Rabbi Yosei said: Rabbi Yehuda the Sage agrees with me

[the Sage],

that if he has no arm tefillin but has two sets of head tefillin

made with four compartments,

he covers

[from the language of a patch: he covers]

with leather

one

of

the sets of head tefillin. By covering the four compartments with a single piece of leather, the head tefillin now appear as one compartment,

and places it

on his arm! They are valid as arm tefillin, even though he did not attach the sections inside.

And we ask: How could Rabbi Yosei say that

Rabbi Yehuda agrees

with me? After all, this very law

is

their dispute,

the dispute between Rabbi Yosei and Rabbi Yehuda as to whether the sections must be attached internally. Rabbi Yehuda maintains that they must be attached, so how could Rabbi Yosei say that Rabbi Yehuda did not require attachment?

Rava said: From Rabbi Yosei’s words

it may be inferred that

Rabbi Yehuda retracted his view

and maintains that attachment is not required; therefore Rabbi Yosei said that Rabbi Yehuda agrees with him.

And we challenge this:

Is that so?

How can it be said that head tefillin may be made into arm tefillin?

But Rav Chananya sent a message and said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: The arm tefilla may be made

it is permitted to convert it into

head

tefillin,

but head tefillin may not be made into arm tefillin, because one may not lower an object from a higher level of sanctity to a lower level of sanctity!

The sanctity of head tefillin is more stringent, because most of the word “Shaddai” is found on them: the shin is on the compartment of the tefillin, and the dalet is in the knot of the strap. But on arm tefillin there is only the yod on the strap of the tefillin.

Moreover, it is written: “And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is called upon you,” and it was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Eliezer the Great says, these are the tefillin on the head. Therefore, it is forbidden to lower head tefillin from their sanctity and make them arm tefillin.

If so, how could Rabbi Yosei say that head tefillin may be made into arm tefillin?

And we answer:

It is not difficult. This

statement of Rabbi Yochanan, that head tefillin may not be made into arm tefillin, refers

to old ones,

to tefillin that have already been placed on the head, and it is then forbidden to lower them to a lower sanctity and make them arm tefillin.

And that

statement of Rabbi Yosei, that head tefillin may be made into arm tefillin, refers

to new ones,

to tefillin that have not yet been placed on the head. Since this is so, they have not yet acquired the sanctity of head tefillin, such that it would be forbidden to lower them and make them arm tefillin.

And we examine this:

And according to the one

who says

in tractate Sanhedrin that

designation is significant,

designation and setting something aside for a particular purpose are considered as though the object had actually been made for that purpose. If so, here, once he designated the tefillin to be placed on his head, even though he did not place them there, it is considered as though he had actually placed them there, and it is forbidden to lower them and make them arm tefillin. If so, how is it permitted to convert head tefillin into arm tefillin?

And we answer: This refers to a case in which he stipulated

from the outset

concerning them

at the beginning of the making of the head tefillin, stipulating that they could be made into arm tefillin if necessary. Therefore, it is permitted to convert them.

The Sages taught: How are they arranged,

that is, how are the sections arranged in the compartments?

The section of

“Sanctify to Me,”

and the section of

“And it shall be when He brings you” are on the right.

And the section of

“Shema,”

and the section of

“And it shall be, if you hearken,” are on the left!

And we examine this:

But was it not taught in a beraita to the contrary,

that “Sanctify” and “And it shall be when He brings you” are on the left, while “Shema” and “And it shall be, if you hearken” are on the right?

Abaye said: It is not difficult. Here,

where it is written that “Sanctify” and “And it shall be when He brings you” are on the right, this means

to the right of the reader; here,

where it is written that “Shema” and “And it shall be, if you hearken” are on the right, this means

to the right of the wearer.

The reader’s right side, when he reads the sections from the outside, is the wearer’s left side.

And the reader

of the sections from the outside

reads

them

in their proper order ,

in the order in which they are written in the Torah: the section that appears earlier in the Torah first, and afterward the section that appears later in the Torah.

Therefore, that which is written, “Kadesh” and “Vehaya ki yeviacha” on the right, means on the reader’s right. For when he reads in the manner in which one reads, from right to left, the sections of Kadesh and Vehaya ki yeviacha, which occur earlier in the Torah, are to the reader’s right, while the sections of Shema and Vehaya im shamoa are to the reader’s left.

And that which is written in the reverse order, with Kadesh and Vehaya ki yeviacha on the left, refers to the one putting them on, who is to the reader’s right [and the method of Rabbenu Tam is known, and the tefillin named after him, tefillin of Rabbenu Tam, have the sections arranged as follows: Kadesh, Vehaya ki yeviacha, Vehaya im shamoa , Shema ].

Rav Hananel said that Rav said: He switched

the order of

its sections

in the tefillin;

they are invalid.