Tefilin (Hebrew: prayer items), or phylacteries, are two leather boxes that men wear during the morning prayer called shacharit according to Jewish tradition. The command to wear them is contained in the Torah, in a verse referring to God's command: "You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes" (Deuteronomy 6:8). Tefillin are used only on weekdays. Sometimes they are stored in decorative silver cases adorned with plant and geometric motifs. Another decorative motif with symbolic meaning is the depiction of four animals: lion, deer, eagle, and leopard (https://www.jhi.pl/artykuly/tefilin-swiete-przedmioty,2314, accessed on 8 April 2021).
In the collection of the District Museum in Leszno, there are two black-dyed, cubical leather boxes containing parchment with excerpts from the Torah (quotations from the Book of Exodus and Deuteronomy). Each of them takes the form of a case supported by a square, hinged base, with leather bands attached on both sides.
The head phylactery has the Hebrew letter "shin" on its side walls, which is the initial of one of the names of God (Shaddai – Almighty). It is equipped with an additional vertical leather band and is tied to the upper part of the forehead. Inside, there are four parchment scrolls (A. Untermann, Encyklopedia tradycji i legend żydowskich, Warsaw 1994, pp. 285–286).
The arm phylactery does not have an initial, and it contains only one parchment scroll inside. According to the commandments, the leather band should be wrapped around the arm seven times and then around the fingers three times, forming the letter shin (Judaica w zbiorach Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie, ed. E. Martyna, Warsaw 1993, pp. 139–140).
The phylacteries were purchased in 2011 from Iwona Turlejska of Piaseczno. According to oral tradition, the items are believed to come from the former Kresy Wschodnie (Eastern Borderlands) of the Second Polish Republic.
Dariusz Czwojdrak
