The mezuzah and the tefillin came about in an attempt to fulfill the
scriptural injunctions in the Shema
concerning respect and love for the Law:
"And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be
as frontlets between thine eyes.
And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates."
The mezuzah is a small metal (usually) container nailed to the doorpost
of a good Jewish home. Inside it is a small scroll with the
Shema inscribed on it. A religious Jew
will touch the mezuzah and then kiss those fingers with which they touched it,
silently reminding themself and the Almighty of their love and devotion
to the Law. It also stands as something of a sentinel, telling the world
that in this home the LORD and the Law are followed. The casual viewer
will see this practice carried out in such movies as FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
and BEN-HUR.
The tefillin
(also called "phylacteries") are small leather cases with a prayer-inscribed scroll
inside. The Jewish
Virtual Library tells us -
"Usually translated as “phylacteries.” Box-like
appurtenances that accompany prayer, worn by Jewish adult males at the
weekday morning services. The boxes have leather thongs attached and
contain scriptural excerpts. One box (with four sections) is placed on
the head, the other (with one section) is placed (customarily) on the
left arm, near the heart. The biblical passages emphasize the unity of
God and the duty to love God and be mindful of him with "all one's heart
and mind" (e.g., Exod. 13.1-10, 11-16; Deut. 6.4-9; 11.13-21)."
Today they are worn usually by Orthodox and very Conservative Jews - often only on
special occasions such as a feast or festival or when praying at the
Western Wall. Because of their sacredness, they are rarely if ever
portrayed in any western-produced motion pictures, but you can see them
in books on biblical subjects or in pictorial essays on the Holy Land.
They may look strange and silly to many of us goys, but to those who
wear them they are sacred and we should respect this as we would want
anyone else to respect that which is sacred to us.
Tallit
is the "prayer shawl" worn by men, mostly when praying or
worshipping. You can see examples of these in most any movie on a
Jewish theme or containing mostly Jewish religious characters - you will see it
drawn over their head or over their shoulders. The following explanation
is from the Jewish
Virtual Library:
"In the Torah, there is a commandment to wear "fringes" on the corners
of garments. That is, all garments of a certain size or larger, which
have at least four corners, must have strings known as tzitzit
attached. The original requirement was to have a blue thread among the
white threads; however, since the precise shade of blue is no longer
known and the source of the dye used, only the white threads are used
(except among certain chasidic groups that claim to know the dye
formula).
"Since the normal
clothing in our time does not have four square corners, traditional
Jews wear a garment that is specifically made to have four corners so
that the mitzvah can be fulfilled. This is known as the
tallit katan or tzitzit and is usually worn under the shirt. Some
people wear them with the tzitzit showing, others conceal them. The
verses giving this commandment are found in the third paragraph of the
Shema, which is recited during
the morning and evening prayers.
"During prayers,
the custom is to wear a large rectangular garment with tzitzit (tallis
gadol) and pray while wrapped in it. There are different customs
as to when this is done. Most Ashkenazic men will begin wearing the
tallis when they get married. In some Sephardic and GermanAshkenazi
communities, a boy will put on a tallis when he becomes a
barmitzvah (13 years old). There
are some communities that begin this earlier. Customs vary among
liberal Jews as to who wears a tallis and when it's worn."