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PHYLACTERY (4 vXaKTipwv)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 546 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PHYLACTERY (4 vXaKTipwv) , a See also:Greek word meaning " guard " (sc. against misfortune), i.e. an See also:amulet. It is applied in the New Testament to the tefillin or " See also:prayer-thongs " worn by orthodox See also:Jews daily at See also:morning-prayer (whether at See also:home or in the See also:synagogue). The See also:title employed in See also:Hebrew, tefillin, seems really to be derived from an Aramaic See also:term meaning " attachments," " ornaments "; it corresponds to the Biblical Hebrew word rendered " frontlets " (totafOth). The tefillin or phylacteries are worn, one on the See also:left See also:arm (the " See also:hand-tefilla "), and the other on the See also:head (the " head-tefilla "). In each See also:case the See also:leather thongs support a small satchel which is fastened to the arm and the forehead respectively, and contains certain passages of the See also:Law written (in Hebrew) on See also:parchment, viz. Exod. xiii. I- to amd II-16; Deut. vi. 4-9 and xi. 13-21. The See also:custom of wearing phylacteries seems to have been derived in the first instance from the See also:Pharisees. By the See also:Sadducees and the generality of the See also:people in the See also:time of See also:Christ it seems not to have been practised. Later it became—not without protest—one of the badges of orthodox Judaism.

It is significant that the custom is entirely unknown to the Samaritan community. The phylacteries, together with the " fringe " (tsits£th) and See also:

door-See also:post See also:symbol (mezuza)—which latter consists of a piece of parchment, containing the Hebrew See also:text of Deut. vi. 4-9 and xi. 13-21 enclosed in a See also:glass or See also:metal See also:tube, and fixed upon the right hand post of the door of each dwelling-See also:room in a See also:house—See also:form the three sets of visible signs by which the Israelite is constantly reminded of his See also:duty to See also:God (cf. Num. xv. 39-40; Deut. vi. 9; xi. 20). The " fringe " (or " tassels ") was originally attached to the See also:common See also:outer garment—a large square wrap—the loose end of which hung over the left See also:shoulder. This garment with tassels is mentioned in the New Testament (cf. Matt. ix. 2o; xiv.

36; See also:

xxiii. 5 and See also:parallels). Among See also:modern Jews it has survived in two forms: (I) the fringed praying See also:shawl called talith worn by every male orthodox See also:Jew at the synagogue morning service; and (2) an under-garment, shaped like a See also:chest-See also:protector,one See also:part covering the chest, the other the back, which is worn continuously by male orthodox Jews. It is called Arba Kanfotla (i.e. " Four Corners," Deut. xxii. 12) or " little Talith," and is, of course, " fringed." Both phylactery and mezuza were supposed to keep off hurtful demons (Targ. on Cant. viii. 3). See Surenhusius, Mischna, i. 9 seq.; and Bodenschatz, Kirch. Verf. d. heutigen Juden, iv. 9 seq. (W.

R. S.; G. H.

End of Article: PHYLACTERY (4 vXaKTipwv)

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