TEPHILLIN (PHYLACTERIES):

Boxes containing inscriptions in Hebrew worn by Jews for ceremonial purposes. The boxes are constructed from the skin of a clean animal and sewed upon a strong leather foundation; they contain definitely prescribed passages from the Pentateuch. They are worn during' prayers during the week, being fastened to the forehead and the left arm by means of straps. The rabbinical command to wear phylacteries rests upon a literal construction of Deut. vi. 6-8 [cf. xi. 18; Ex, xiii. 9, 16; Matt. xxiii. 1 sqq.j. A metaphorical sense has been seen in the passage by some Jews and by Christians, but the passage favors a literal reading. The tephillin for the head differ from those for the arm. The former consist of four compartments, each of which contains a passage from the Bible (Ex. xiii. 1-10, 11-16; Dent. vi. 4-9, and xi. 13-21) written on a strip of parchment, which is rolled up and tied with a hair. On two sides on the outside of the phylactery is placed the letter Shin, one with four and the other with three prongs. The arm phylacteries have but one cell in which the same Biblical sections are contained on one roll of parchment. The tephillin for the head during prayer are firmly placed on the forehead below the hair, between the eyebrows. The knot of the loop that passes around the head must lodge on the neck behind, and the straps must be long enough to fall over the shoulders and hang down in front below the breast. The hand-tephillin are so fastened that the box is turned inward toward the heart, the seat of the feelings. The straps are wound seven times around the arm and then three times around the middle and ring finger. The single compartment of the hand-tephillin symbolizes the unity of God; the four compartments of those for

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or in close associations, lived according to " the third rule " of certain orders. The institution first arose among the Minorites (see FRANCIS, SAINT, of ASSISI, AND THE FRANCISCAN ORDER), then was imitated in the preaching order, and later, under various names, arose also in other orders, such as the Augustinians, Servites, and Trappists (qq.v.). (O. ZOCKLER.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Consult the lists of works under the articles in this work on the orders named in the text; also J. G. Adderly and C. L. Marson, " Third Orders." A Translation of an ancient Rule of the Tertiaries, together with an Account of some modern " Third Orders," Oxford, 1902.