Search results for: ""Tefila""

Arm Tefila: How To Finish
  • Unwrap the excess strap from your palm and wrap it three times around your middle finger while saying the three “v'eirastich li” phrases, one for each wrap.
  • Wrap the strap around your palm in the shape of the Hebrew letter “shin.”
  • Wrap the excess around your palm and tuck in the end of the strap to keep it tight and out of your way.
Note You may not say amen or reply to kaddish or kedusha if you have said the blessing on your arm tefila but have not yet said the blessing on your head tefila.
Head Tefila: How To Put On
  1. Place the tefila on your head tightly enough so it does not slip off under normal motion.
  2. Center the head tefila box on your forehead (as it appears to an average person. There is no need to look in a mirror.)
  3. Place the head tefila box with its front edge above your hairline (or where your hairline was when you were 13!), not further back than half-way on your skull from front to back.
  4. Ideally, place the knot at the back on your occipital bone (base of your skull), but you may place it lower as long as it is still on top of your hair.
  5. Say the second blessing, al mitzvat tefilin.
  6. Tighten the tefila on your head and say, Baruch shem kevod malchuto l'olam va'ed
    Reason “Al mitzvat tefilin” is a questionable blessing (safek bracha).
    Note Tefilin head straps should reach at least to your navel (left strap) and mila (right strap).
Arm Tefila: How To Put On
  1. Place arm tefila box (bayit) on center of bicep of whichever arm you do not write with (knot on the arm tefila should touch the side of the box). If you are ambidextrous, put the tefila on your left arm.
  2. Say the first blessing, “lehaniach tefilin.”
  3. Tighten the strap.
  4. Wrap the strap around your arm seven times between your cubit (inside of your arm, opposite the elbow) and your wrist.
    Note If you wrap more times, it is OK.
    Note You may wrap the tefilin strap over a wristwatch or put a watch on top of the tefilin strap.
    Note Tefilin straps should not overlap with each other and should not be wrapped on top of the ulna protuberance, but if they do--it is permitted.
  5. Wrap the excess around the palm of your hand (tuck in the end to keep it tight and out of the way).
Tefilin: Holiness: Switching Boxes by Mistake
If you inadvertently put the arm tefila (tefila shel yad) into the box for the tefila shel rosh, take it out and put it into its proper box.
Tefilin: Holiness: Head and Arm Tefilin Boxes
The box for holding the head tefila (tefila shel rosh) has a higher level of holiness than does the box for holding the arm tefila (tefila shel yad). You may not intentionally switch the boxes.
Tefilin: Storing: How To Put Away
Put tefilin into its bag so that the knot on the arm tefila (tefila shel yad”) faces away from the head tefila (tefila shel rosh).
Reason So that the arm tefila does not abrade the head tefila.
Note This is not a halacha, just good advice.
Replying during Your Private Amida
If you have finished the amida's yihiyu l'ratzon(but have not yet finished the segment from Elohai netzur through u'chshanim kadmoniyot), you may reply to:
  • Bar'chu,
  • Kedusha,
  • Amen to ha'el ha'kadosh,
  • Amen to shomei'a tefila,
  • Modim anachnu lach (just those 3 words),
  • Birkat cohanim, and
  • Kaddish.
However, you may not say anything else (such as other amens) until you have completed the entire amida (including the last word, kadmoniot).
 
Tefilin: Replacing: Tefilin You Had To Take Off or That Fell Off
If you take off your tefilin because you have to, such as to go to the bathroom, or if one or both of the tefilin fall or slide off your arm or head, say: 
  • Both blessings again when you replace the head tefila (tefila shel rosh) on your head.
  • Only the first blessing when replacing the arm tefila (tefila shel yad) on your arm.
  • Each blessing in its correct place if you took off both.
Reason We say the blessing again for tefilin that fell off because there was discontinuity in thought (hesech da'at) when they fell off.
Note If you took the tefilin off between bar'chu and the end of amida and replaced them without saying the blessings:
  • Wait until after you have finished the amida, and then
  • Move each of the tefilin slightly, first the arm tefila and then the head tefila, and
  • Say the appropriate blessings.

Tefilat HaDerech: What To Say: Phrases (Psukim)
After saying the main blessing of tefilat ha'derech, some people have the custom to say these phrases (psukim) three times each:
  • L'shuatcha kiviti...
  • V'ya'akov halach l'darko...
  • Yivarechecha...
  • Hinei anochi sholei'ach lifanecha...
Tefilat HaDerech: What To Say: For Others
When saying tefilat ha'derech, even if you say it for other people traveling with you, always say “titneini” (in the singular) and not “titneinu” (plural).
Note This is different from most blessings, which are in the plural even when said by just one person for him/herself.
Tefilat HaDerech: What To Say: Main Blessing
You do not need to say other blessings before tefilat ha'derech. Since tefilat ha'derech begins without a blessing, some people like to say an unrelated blessing before it, but the custom is not to require saying another blessing first.
Tefilat HaDerech: How Often: Once a Day/Once a Trip: Boats
If you take a multi-day boat trip, such as a cruise, say tefilat ha'derech only once during the journey—not each day.
Note Any time you stay overnight (on land) along the journey, say tefilat ha'derech again when you resume your travel.
Tefilat HaDerech: How Often: Once a Day/Once a Trip: Vehicles
When riding in a vehicle on a trip, you should say tefilat ha'derech once each day, as long as:
  • You have gone--or will go--at least 2.8 miles past any populated area, and
  • You will be breaking your trip at night.
Note If you will be living in an RV or other vehicle, only say tefilat ha'derech once for the entire trip.
Tefilat HaDerech: Boat
Say tefilat ha'derech in a boat that will be going at least 2.8 miles from shore.
Tefilat HaDerech: When To Say: City Limits
City limits for tefilat ha'derech means the last house before a gap of 2.8 miles, measured horizontally but not vertically.