Study Menachot folio 34B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
§ A baraita states: With regard to the number of compartments in the tefillin of the head, the verse states: “It shall be for a sign upon your hand, and for totafot between your eyes” (Exodus 13:16), with the word totafot spelled deficient, without a vav before the final letter, in a way that can be
R' Akiva says: There is no need for this proof, as the requirement of 4 compartments can be derived from the word totafot itself: The word tot in the language of Katfei means two, and the word pat in the language of Afriki also means two, and therefore totafot can be understood as a compound word
A baraita states: One might have thought that a scribe should write the passages of the tefillin of the head on 4 separate hides, i.e., parchments, and place them in 4 compartments of 4 hides, one passage in each compartment. Therefore, the verse states: “And for a memorial between your eyes” (Exo
And if a scribe wrote all 4 of them on one hide and placed them in 4 compartments by slitting the parchment between each of the passages, one who dons these tefillin has fulfilled his obligation. And in such a case it is necessary for there to be a space between each of the passages, so that each ca
A baraita states: How does a scribe write them? With regard to the tefillin of the arm, he writes it on one hide. But if he wrote it on 4 separate hides and placed it in one compartment, one who wears it has fulfilled his obligation. And in such a case it is necessary to attach the 4 parchments, a