tefillin, general

[hatam_soferet]

I've updated the bit of HaSoferet.com which talks about tefillin.

It now features links to what-how-and-why; consumer guide (new); vendor recommendation; a bit about having a soferet write your tefillin (new); info on borrowing tefillin; care for tefillin; how to wear them; my friend Rabbi Dan's YouTube videos on tying the knots (I use these ALL THE TIME) (new); women and tefillin; women's tefillin (new); and a section on using your grandfather's tefillin (new).

Naturally I'm biased, but nonetheless, I recommend it :)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

i <3 the section on grandfather's tefillin.
RJG

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

Since I can't comment on that directly, I'll comment here. Hope that is OK.

1) I've enjoyed your writing thus far and am somewhat glad you are on LJ again, as I'm more likely to see what you write when it is there.

2) Tefillin and Mezuzos: A Pictorial Guide, by Yerachmiel Askotzky. The safrut I learned I learned from a very lenient fellow. So this book came across as overly stringent. Did you find that so as well (obviously not so much if you are recommending it, I suppose)

3) Grandfather's tefillin. My understanding is that if tefillin are found to be pasul and irreparably so, they are not sewn closed, even if you ask nicely. When I inherited my grandfather's tefillin, I preferred to keep them closed and as a keepsake rather than have them checked on the off chance that they are kosher. On the other hand, if I didn't already have a pair of my own, I might have decided differently.

[hatam_soferet]

1) Mm - sadly, Dreamwidth kind of failed at LJ integration.

2) Yes, I do think it's overly stringent, but short of taking his book and rewriting it with different standards (which would be bad in so many ways) there isn't really another book I can recommend to people.

3) Consider someone whose parents' Judaism doesn't feature tefillin. Tefillin are kind of a strange practice anyway, so it makes sense that when this person is considering taking them on, they're going to find some degree of family minhag comforting. Often enough, without that connection of "tefillin in the family," such departure from the parents' practice is too intimidating. So for some people, it's worth checking out the grandfather's tefillin; replacing the batim, or replacing the klafim, still retains enough of the original for the person to feel connected.