What is the difference between hand Tefillin and head Tefillin? And what are the decorations “Full Parudot” and “Directed”?

What is the difference between hand Tefillin and head Tefillin? Did you know there are different types of decoration in Tefillin, such as “Full Parudot” and “Most Parudot”? The head Tefillin are made from one leather piece and divided into four compartments, while the hand Tefillin consist of only one compartment. Discover fascinating details about Tefillin, the laws and customs behind them, and understand why every detail is so important in Jewish tradition.

The difference between tefillin of the arm and tefillin of the head, and the difference between “full separations” and “mostly separated”

Before explaining what “full separations” and “mostly separated” mean in tefillin – first, one must understand the difference between tefillin of the head and tefillin of the arm?

The difference between tefillin of the head and tefillin of the arm is that the tefillin of the head are made from one piece of leather and divided into four compartments, each containing one parasha, whereas the tefillin of the arm are made from one piece of leather with only one compartment that contains one parchment with all four parshiyot.

And between tefillin of the head and tefillin of the arm – it is a law handed down to Moses at Sinai that they should be square, therefore all four compartments of the tefillin of the head must be tightly pressed so that the tefillin are square, but on the other hand, all four of these compartments must be separated from each other and have grooves that divide them (and in the book Or Hadash it is written in the name of Shaagat Aryeh, who saw someone placing the tefillin of the head glued together between the compartments with glue and remarked, “Why are you putting tefillin of the arm on your head?”)

And now we will explain what “mostly separated” means – “mostly separated” compartments refers to the four partitions at the top of the compartment of the tefillin of the head being mostly separated from each other, with only some parts connected or glued. Until a few decades ago, mostly separated was common, and of course, this is halachically acceptable.

Indeed, it is more meticulous to make the “full separate” compartments – which are tefillin where all four mentioned partitions are completely separate down to their bottom, without the aid of glue connecting the partitions so they won’t separate, and without concern that the grooves seen between the partitions are fake, meaning there is no concern that it’s all one block with just grooves marked on it.

What is the meticulous making of “directed” compartments?

There is another less common meticulousness – the making of “directed” tefillin. “Directed” compartments means that the thread passing between the tefillin partitions of the head tefillin is visible from the outside and not only inside, and this is more meticulous because some decisors rule that a thread must pass to distinguish between one compartment and another (as explained in Mishnah Berurah, Siman 32, Seif Katan 177). In the meticulousness called “directed tefillin,” it is possible to see from the outside the thread passing and coming out between the compartments and passing through them in a “directed” and straight manner.