Manufacture and Contents
The manufacturing process of both the boxes and the parchment scrolls are intricate and governed by hundreds of detailed rules. In earlier Talmudic times, tefillin were either cylindrical or cubical, but later the cylindrical form became obsolete. Nowadays the boxes should be fashioned from a single piece of animal hide and form a base with an upper compartment to contain the parchment scrolls. They are made in varying levels of quality. The most basic form are called peshutim ("simple") are made using several pieces of parchment to form the inner walls of the head tefillin. The higher quality tefillin, namely dakkot ("thin"), made by stretching a thin piece of leather, and the more durable gassot ("thick") are both fashioned from the single piece of hide. Black leather straps (retsu'ot) pass through the rear of the base and are used to secure the tefillin onto the body. On both sides of the head-tefillin, the Hebrew letter shin (ש) is moulded. The knot of the head-tefillin strap forms the letter dalet (ד) while the strap that is passed through the arm-tefillin is formed into a knot in the shape of the letter yud (י). These three letters spell Shaddai (שדי), one of the names of God.
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