seder hanacha

				Hand Tefillin
		1.		Remove the tefillin from the case, hold it in your hand and kiss it.
		2.		Tighten the "Yod" knot to the bayit very securely.
		3.		Roll up your left sleeve (or your right sleeve if you are left-handed) to above the part of your arm where you place the tefillin, so that your sleeve will not interfere with laying the tefillin on your bare arm.
		4.		Place your tefillin on your left arm (or on your right if you are left-handed) so that the strap-housing will face your shoulder, while the yod knot and the bayit face your heart.
		5.		Make sure you are laying tefillin according to the halacha. Place the bayit on your biceps so that the brim will not extend below the edge your muscle - the lowest permissible line below which you may not lay tefillin. The upper edge will then be in the middle of your arm, which is the highest permissible limit. Make sure that the lowest point of the edge is not less than the width of two fingers from the elbow, as in the picture.
		6.		Recite the blessing, "...Who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us to lay tefillin." Tighten the strap and bind it around your fore-arm seven times. Now commence laying your head tefillin.

			Head Tefillin
	1.		Hold the tefillin and kiss both it and the knot.
	2.		Place the tefillin on your head above the forehead, from the edge of the hairline and to the crown (the area which halacha describes as "where the head of the baby is soft.") Be careful to place the center of the tefillin exactly above the central point between your eyes.
	3.		Lay the dalet knot behind your head, above the depression of the nape, at the edge of the skull bone.
	4.		Check that the front edge of the brim has remained in place.
	5.		Press on the center of the knot (behind your head) and check that most of the knot lies above the depression of the nape
	6.		While saying the blessing "...concerning the mitzvah of tefillin," tighten the strap around your head by passing your fingers from edge to knot, and say, "Barukh shem k'vod… - Blessed is His honored name..."
	7.		Arrange the straps of the head-tefillin - right strap to the right, left strap to the left - so that the black side of the straps faces up.
	8.		Bind the straps of the hand-tefillin around your hand in the form of the Hebrew letter shin according to your minhag (custom); return and bind the straps around your fingers and recite, "And I will betroth you unto me..."


	Halachot \| Construction \| Symbolism \| Script Putting on the tefillin \| Caring for Tefillin.