Tefillin is one of the most important Mitzvot (precepts) of the Torah. It has been observed and treasured for thousands of years, right down to the present day. The Torah mentions it more than once, but most explicitly in Deut. 6:8 "You shall bind them as a sign upon your hand,
and they should be for a reminder between your eyes."
Tefillin consists of two small leather boxes attached to leather straps. The two boxes each contain four sections of the Torah inscribed on parchment. These passages cite:

1. A Jewish boy, upon reaching his thirteenth birthday, is regarded as a full fledged Jew. He then becomes a "Bar Mitzvah," meaning that he is obliged to keep and perform all the laws and customs of the Jewish people. One of these laws commanded us in the Torah is Tefillin.

A Milwaukee rabbi shares his recollections of ’67 and beyond

By Mimi Notik. June 23, 2007

It all started 40 years ago. One Monday morning, Yosef Samuels woke abruptly to his father's announcement that war had broken out in Israel. The year was 1967, and Samuels was a young yeshiva student. With concern in his steps, he hurriedly made his way to 770 Eastern Parkway, the Brooklyn, N.Y. address of the Lubavitch World Headquarters, to join everyone else in seeking the Lubavitcher Rebbe's guidance.

• Tefillin are worn every weekday. This means that on Shabbat, Holidays, and the intermediate days (chol hamoed), tefillin are not donned.

• The tefillin shel yad (hand tefillin) should be removed first from the tefillin bag. If you first removed the tefillin shel rosh (head tefillin), put it aside, and remove the tefillin shel yad.

• It is customary to kiss the tefillin when they are taken out and when they are put back.

By Shmuel Kogan

Although we put on two different tefillin, one for the hand the other for the head, and in truth they constitute two distinct mitzvot, nevertheless the blessing recited on the hand tefillin also cover the head tefillin which are donned immediately afterwards. The sages also instituted a special blessing for the head tefillin, which carries
more importance because of the different compartments and the extra Shin (letter in the Aleph Bet) on the box. The blessing is:
Baruch Atta Ado-nay, Elo-hainu melech ha'olam, asher kidishanu, b'mitzvotav, v'tzivanu al mitzvat tefillin.

You shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they should be for a reminder between your eyes" (Deuteronomy 6:8).
You have a brain. It is in one world. Your heart is in another. And your hands often end up involved in something completely foreign to both of them. Three diverse machines.So you put on tefillin. First thing in the day, you connect your head,

By Tzvi Freeman

Getting your mind to rule over your heart is a common theme in Jewish teachings. It's also horribly misunderstood. Most people, when they hear about the mind ruling over the heart, imagine a cold, calculated and stuck-up neurotic. After all, the mind is all those things. Wouldn't we much rather live with the vivacious, freedom-loving heart? So we have to explain that when the mind is ruling the heart, it does not mean that the mind is at the top of the chain of command. Nobody wants the mind in charge--you'd never get anything done. The mind may be great at solving puzzles, but it's an incompetent idiot when it comes to real life.