The mitzvah
Tefillin are two black leather boxes containing handwritten Torah passages, with leather straps. One is worn on the arm, facing the heart; one on the head. Men wear them on weekday mornings from bar mitzvah.
The sources
“Bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as a reminder between your eyes.”
The arm tefillin sits opposite the heart and the head tefillin on the brain, to dedicate our desires and our thoughts to Hashem.
What you need
- A pair of kosher tefillin (ask a rabbi or Judaica store; they can be borrowed)
- About 10 minutes on a weekday morning
- A siddur for the Shema
Step by step
- Stand. Take out the arm tefillin. A right-handed person wears it on the left arm; a left-handed person on the right.
- Place the box on the upper arm, on the muscle, tilted toward your heart. Make sure nothing is between the box and your skin.
- Say the blessing for the arm tefillin, then tighten the knot.
- Wrap the strap seven times around your forearm. From here until the head tefillin is on, don’t speak.
- Put on the head tefillin: the box above your hairline, centered between your eyes, the knot at the back of your head, the straps hanging forward.
- Ashkenazim say a second blessing on the head tefillin (see below). Sephardim and Chabad do not.
- Wrap the rest of the hand strap: three times around the middle finger, then around the hand.
- Say the Shema while wearing them, and any prayer from your heart.
- Remove them in reverse order: hand wrapping, head tefillin, then arm tefillin. Fold the straps and put them back in their bags.
What to say
English first, then the words to say out loud — sounded out so anyone can say them.
This page contains Hebrew prayer text with the Divine Name. If you print it, please treat it respectfully and dispose of it appropriately (in genizah).
Questions people ask
When are tefillin worn?
Weekday mornings — not on Shabbat or major holidays. Customs differ on the intermediate days of festivals.
I don’t own tefillin.
Any shul or Chabad House will gladly help you put them on, often right there.
How long do I keep them on?
Ideally for the morning prayers. Even a few minutes with the blessing and the Shema fulfills the mitzvah.
Your family’s way
The direction of wrapping (toward you or away) and the head-tefillin blessing differ between Ashkenazim, Sephardim and Chabad. Follow the custom of your family or your shul.
The inner dimension
The Talmud says Hashem, as it were, wears tefillin — and inside them is written: “Who is like Your people Israel, one nation in the land” (Berachot 6a). We wear His words; He wears ours.
This week, ask at a shul or Chabad House to put on tefillin once.
These are general guidelines. Customs differ between communities, and for a personal question, ask a rabbi you trust.