6 BULLETIN 148, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



8. Pointer. — Made of black wood. Length, 11 inches. (Cat. No. 

 154452, U.S.N.M.) 



9. Pointer. — Made of oHve wood in Jerusalem, with hand of bone. 

 Combined with a spice holder at the top. Length, 9 inches. (Cat. 

 No. 204261, U.S.N.M.) Gift of N. Meyer 



10. Pointer. — Made of carved ivory. Length, 10?^ inches. Bal- 

 timore, Md. (Cat. No. 314492, U.S.N.M.) Gift of Henry Harto- 

 gensis. 



11. Laver. — Made of pewter, engraved with floral designs and the 

 Hebrew inscription, "Synagogue, Alfasi, Tunis." In the tabernacle 

 and temple there was a laver for the ritual washing of the priests 

 before entering the sanctuary to offer sacrifices. (Exodus xxx, 17- 

 21.) Some synagogues have in the vestibule a laver for the wor- 

 shipers to wash their hands before performing the prayer which has 

 taken the place of sacrifices. The washing of hands is accompanied 

 by a benediction. Measurements, height, 6K inches; diameters, 4% 

 and 3K inches. Tunis, North Africa. (Cat. No. 217687, U.S.N.M.) 



2. OBJECTS USED IN PRAYER 



12. Phylacteries. — The phylacteries, or teHTlin, are two square boxes 

 of parchment. The boxes are fastened to a kind of a base made of 

 thick parchment with a loop on one side, so as to let a narrow leather 

 strap pass through. Into these boxes are inserted the following pass- 

 ages from the Pentateuch, written on strips of parchment: Exodus 

 xiii, 1-10; Exodus xiii, 11-16; Deuteronomy vi, 4-9; and Deuterono- 

 my xi, 13-21 . By means of the straps the boxes are bound around the 

 arm and head and worn by all male Jews who have attained religi- 

 ous majority, that is, passed the thirteenth year of age — during morning 

 praj^ers of week days; hence their Hebrew name tejiUin, from tejillah, 

 prayer. The name phylacteries is derived from the Greek (pvXaKTkpia 

 (phylacteria), which is used in the New Testament (Matthew xxiii, 

 5), meaning, properly, things that guard, that is, amulets, talismans, 

 which the Jewish tejillin are not. The New Testament name may be 

 based upon an external resemblance between the tejillin and the Greek 

 'phylacteria. The obligation to wear tejillin is derived from the com- 

 mand included in the extracts mentioned above: "And you shall 

 bind them as a sign upon your hand and for frontlets between your 

 eyes." (Deuteronomy vi, 8; xi, 18.) 



The teJiUa for the head is embossed on two sides of the exterior with 

 the Hebrew letter ^ shin (sh), and inside is divided into four compart- 

 ments, in each of which one of the four extracts from the Pentateuch 

 is put, and the strap is tied at such a distance as to fit the head of the 

 wearer, forming a knot shaped in the form of the Hebrew n daleth (d). 

 The tefUa for the hand or arm has no letter impressed on the out- 

 side and no divisions inside, and the four passages it contains are 



