PHYLACTERIES (01,XaKriffoicc), small square boxes made either of parchment or black calf-skin, in which are enclosed slips of parchment or vellum with Exod. xiii. 2-20, I I-17 ; Deut. vi. 4-9, 13-22, written on them, and which are worn on the head and the left arm by every Jew on week-day morn ings during the time of prayer.
1. Name and its signification.—The Greek term OuXaKr7jpzov=phylactery is a later expression used in the N. T. for the 0. T. word rIDL:), plur. which is rendered by the Chaldee paraphrases of Onkelos and Jonathan b. Uzziel, as well as by the unanimous voice of Jewish tradition. It is now generally agreed by lexicographers that, according to the analogy of bz, which stands for and 3]17 which stands for Z337, and which are formed by the 7:T reduplication of the two chief radical letters, nmoin stands for nntmD, from 91Z, to bind round (Ewald, lehrbuch der Hebriiischen Sprache, sec. 158 c), and that it denotes a tie, a baud, a frontlet. The Sept.
in all the three instances in which rn ret716 7w occurs (Exod. xiii. 16 ; Deut. vi. S; xi. 18), renders it by dadXcurov 7rp6 tipaXACev a fixture before thine eyes, with which Symmachus and Theo dotion agree. The rendering of Aquila, cis dri °valcra, for an immovable (comp. Montfaucon, Hexapla, nota ad vers.) is to the same effect. Philo (ii. 358), however, translates it crecOgGia 1rp6 bitaaX AC.w, and afterwards adds that it is to be a constant pendulum (crew rafira lava/Luca) to sum mon the sight by its motion to a very clear inspec tion. Herzfeld (Gesehichie des Fakes Israel, ii. infers from this that Philo must either have read adXcurov in the Sept., or taken the d before it as intensitive, and assigns to TD the sense of to move backwards and forwards, vindicating for nit= the meaning ofpendulum, pendent ornament. Herzfeld, moreover, maintains that this rendering is more in harmony with the little houses, or square boxes, con stituting the phylacteries, and that it escapes the following objections to the current rendering of it by round : i. In the phylacteries the box in the front is the principal part, and not the strap round the head which holds it ; and ii. The nnyin is to be between the eyes,' which does not tally with forehead tie (Stirnbinde). The name 14S,n, fillets, by which the Chaldee paraphrases and the Syriac version render mitt. c, and which is the common appellation for the phylacteries among the Jews to the present day, owes its origin to the fact that the phylacteries are worn during prayer time. Hence the plural has the masculine termination to distinguish it from the feminine which denotes prayers, just as the plural masculine t4rin denotes psalms, in con tradistinction to the feminine plural rknn, praise.
2. The manner in which the phylacteries are made and used —As the Mosaic law (Exod. xiii. 16 ; Dent. vi. S ; xi. IS) gives no specific directions how the phylacteries are to be made, but simply says that they are to be of a double nature, viz., for the hand and between the eyes, the Jewish canons have enacted minute regulations about the arrangement and use of them. A piece of leather is soaked, stretched on a square block cut for the purpose, sewed together with gut-strings while wet, and left on the block till it is dried and stiffened, so that when it is taken off it forms a (ron) square leather box (7erusalem iv. 9). As the Mosaic code enjoins one for the hand and another for the head, two such boxes are requisite for making the phylacteries. The box of which the phylactery tion outside, and only one cell inside, wherein is deposited a parchment strip with the four following sections written thereon in four columns, each column having seven lines. On column i. is written Exod. xiii. I-bo, treating on the sanctification of the first-horn, and containing the injunction about the phylacteries ; on col. ii. Exod. xiii. 11-16, which also treats on the sanctification of the first-born, and repeats the injunction about the phylacteries ; on col. iii. Deut. vi. 4-9, enjoining that the law and the command about the phylacteries should be inculcated into the minds of the rising generation ; and on col. iv. is written Dent. xi. 13-21, describ ing the blessing attached to the keeping of the law, and to the observance of the command about the phylacteries. The order, therefore, of the passages of Scripture is as follows :— The slip is rolled up, put inside, tied with white and well-washed hairs of a calf or cow, generally obtained from the tail, and put into the box ; a flap connected with the brim is then drawn over the open part and sewed firmly down to the thick leather brim, in such a manner as to form a loop on one side, through which passes a very long leather strap head 7V ;4tri) is made has on the outside to the right the regular three-pronged letter Shin, being an abbreviation for ''11:1, the Almighty, and on the left side a four-pronged letter Shin (Sabbath, 28 b). In the inside are four cells, in which are deposited four slips of parchment, whereon are written the same four passages of Scripture as on the one slip in the phylactery for the hand. The box is closed in the same manner, and a thong passes through the loop, with which it is fastened to the head.