Gemara Clarity

Menachos 34b

מנחות ל״ד ע״ב

Menachot 34b

Learn Menachos 34b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Menachos 34b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

How תפילין are built: the compartments, the parchments, switching head and arm תפילין, and the order of the פרשיות

Overview

This amud is all about how תפילין are built. First, רבי ישמעאל and רבי עקיבא give two sources for why the head-תפילין have four compartments. Next, a ברייתא teaches from 'זכרון' (one memorial) that the four פרשיות go on four parchments inside compartments made from one hide, and it discusses spacing, separating threads and visible grooves. A second ברייתא says the arm-תפילין are written on one parchment. רבי יהודה and רבי יוסי argue about whether four separate parchments must be attached, and רבא concludes that רבי יהודה changed his mind. The גמרא then asks how head-תפילין may be turned into arm-תפילין, since we do not lower קדושה. It answers that this is allowed only with new תפילין, or with a condition made from the start. Finally, a ברייתא sets the order of the four פרשיות, אביי settles a contradiction about right and left, and רב rules that switching the order makes the תפילין פסול. אביי's limit on that ruling continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן:

The Sages taught:

״לְטֹטֶפֶת״ ״לְטֹטֶפֶת״ ״לְטוֹטָפוֹת״ –

'For totefet,' 'for totefet,' 'for totafot' —

הֲרֵי כָּאן אַרְבַּע,

here there are four,

דִּבְרֵי רַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל.

these are the words of Rabbi Yishmael.

The steps (19)

  1. StatementFour mentions of טוטפות teach four compartments
  2. StatementThe word טוטפות itself means four
  3. StatementOne memorial, not several
  4. ConclusionFour parchments inside one leather housing
  5. StatementAll four פרשיות on one parchment: a dispute about spacing
  6. ConclusionBoth agree: a separating thread and visible grooves
  7. StatementThe arm-תפילין go on one parchment, but four parchments still work
  8. StatementMust the four parchments be attached?
  9. Statementרבי יוסי says רבי יהודה agrees head-תפילין can serve as arm-תפילין
  10. ChallengeHow can רבי יהודה agree to this? It is their very argument
  11. Resolutionרבא: רבי יהודה changed his mind
  12. ChallengeBut head-תפילין may not be lowered into arm-תפילין
  13. ResolutionOld תפילין versus new תפילין
  14. ResolutionIf designation counts, he made a condition from the start
  15. StatementThe order of the four passages in the תפילין
  16. ChallengeAnother ברייתא says the opposite
  17. Resolutionאביי: the reader's right compared with the wearer's right
  18. StatementSwitching the order of the passages makes the תפילין פסול
  19. Statementאביי begins to limit רב's ruling