Have you ever seen Jews reading the Torah? If so, then you probably happened to pay 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 at all 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 does not carry a 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 holiest ritual object for Jews after the Torah, the main book of religion.
The religion of the Jews does not strictly regulate how, when and where tefillin should be tied. Traditionally, a person's forehead and hand are chosen for this. Jews wear this item during every morning prayer, with the exception of holidays and Shabbat. In some Jewish communities it is also customary 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.
As a rule, the hand tefillin is put on first, wrapped around the elbow seven times, after which the head tefillin is worn. 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, as well as 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 Almighty.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about why priests wear golden crosses and robesif gold is treated badly.