Have you ever seen Jews reading the Torah? If so, then for sure it happened to draw attention to the fact that before the beginning of the ritual process, Jewish believers wind some mysterious belt around their hand.
What is it for and what functions does it perform?
The mysterious belt that the Jews wrap around their hand before prayer is tefillin. Strictly speaking, there are two types of tefillin: head tefilah and hand tefilah. Moreover, the presence of one does not require the presence of the second. A believing Jew can wear either of the two tefilas, not wear them at all, or wear both. The black belt has no ritual meaning, being in fact only a way of fixing a small box on a person's hand or head. However, the strap can only be made from the skin of kosher (religiously permitted) animals. Tefillin boxes and belts should be black. Phylacteria are always made in the form of a cube and have an edge length of 4 cm, but this condition is not mandatory.
In black boxes on straps are fragments of the Torah. It can be one of four fragments: Ex. 13: 8, 9, Ex. 13: 14-16, Deut. 6: 6-8, Deut. 11:18, 19. For the most part, they are associated with the story of the exodus from Egypt and the praise of the Lord God. It is important to understand that tefillin is not just some kind of box on a strap, but the second most sacred ritual object for Jews after the Torah, the main book of religion.
The religion of the Jews does not regulate in any way rigidly how, when and where tefillin should be tied. Traditionally, a person's forehead and hand are chosen for this. Jews tie this item during every morning prayer, except on holidays and Shabbat. It is also customary in some Jewish communities to tie tefillin when circumcising a child. The only important point is that if believers put on several phylacteria, then they should be placed on the body in the order corresponding to the chronological order of mentioning the fragments of the Torah stored in the box.
Promotional video:
Inside are fragments of the Torah.
As a rule, the hand tefillin is put on first, wrapped around the elbow seven times, after which the head tefillin. After that, a sling is made on the hand tefillin up to the index finger, since the sling contains (usually) two more commandments of the Torah. The spiritual meaning of the boxes with the commandments is simple. In this way, the Jews hope to subdue all their desires, and also to help thoughts and actions correspond to the will of the Lord. At the same time, the head tefillin helps to subordinate all one's thoughts to the work of serving the Supreme.