Placing tefillin is part of the regular morning routine of many Jewish men, and also of women, but how much would you be prepared to pay for the smallest tefillin in the world?
The Tiferet auction house is currently offering unique tiny tefillin for sale, which is claimed to have "the smallest tefillin houses in the world".
According to the auction house, the width of the tefillin house of Rosh is only about 6 mm. Together with the titura, which is the square that surrounds the bottom of the tefillin house, the width of the tefillin is only about 15 mm.
The maverta, which is where the strip of tefillin passes, adds another 5 mm, so that the width of the tefillin of the entire head does not exceed 20 mm.
Yad's tefillin house is slightly larger, about 10 mm wide, and together with the Tithura and Maabarta, Yad's tefillin width is slightly more than 20 mm (smaller than a coin one shekel in diameter).
For comparison, the width of the tefillin houses currently accepted in the religious articles market is around 40 mm.
The tiny tefillin,
According to the auction house, the parchment parchment inside the tefillin houses is created with a rare work of art and a special technique that is not known today.
This is a very thin card, which allows writing in almost micrographic writing, in order to create tiny passages that can enter the body of the tiny tefillin houses.
The original tefillin straps are still wrapped in these tefillin, with the connection of the tefillin straps of Rosh being according to the genius method also known as the Rosh Hashanah method, a method that has been practiced since the first days and was practiced in the Yemenite exile.
The tefillin is kept in a blue velvet bag, which is much later than the tefillin themselves.
The bag is embroidered with letters in Hebrew and English - the initials of the last owner's name.
Throughout the ages tiny tefillin has been used for various reasons. The practitioners according to the Aryan method, for example, who recommended placing two pairs of tefillin at the same time, chose to purchase tiny tefillin, which can be placed together with another pair of tefillin. There was only about 10 mm. In addition, tiny tefillin are also used by people who are on the road a lot and want to save space in the bag. Tiny tefillin were also used by Jews during periods of religious persecution, as it is easier to hide them.
For example, in the hiding caves of the Bar Kochba warriors, two-thousand-year-old tefillin was found that was only about 20 mm wide. Such tiny tefillin also survived the horrors of the Holocaust. These tefillin were found during the Holocaust when tied to the head and arm of a Jew who was murdered by the Nazis. The tefillin originator made sure to place them despite the danger and they were handed over by his grandson to the Memorial Institute. The tiny tefillin was found to be strictly kosher.
"We will never know if the miniature tefillin in front of us were made out of necessity," say the auction house, "because of persecution and approaches, inquisition and storms of the world experienced by the Jewish people in the Diaspora, or were done in their special size, for other reasons."
Prof. Zohar Amar, who has studied the subject of tiny tefillin in the Israeli tradition in general and in the Yemenite Jewish tradition in particular, and measured dozens of pairs of tefillin with an average size of about 20 mm, notes that tiny tefillin of a similar size is also in the possession of a man named Amidio Spagnolto from Italy.
The starting price of the tiny pair of tefillin is $ 800, but if you are planning to purchase them in favor of putting them on, please note: the kosherness of the tefillin has not been tested.
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