Va’eschanan 6:8 · unit 1

TT #24 · Parashas Va’eschanan · Passuk 6:8

The Complete Passuk

וּקְשַׁרְתָּ֥ם לְא֖וֹת עַל־יָדֶ֑ךָ וְהָי֥וּ לְטֹטָפֹ֖ת בֵּ֥ין עֵינֶֽיךָ׃

And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.

Chabad.org — 6:8

Source Citation

Torah Temimah points to the classic sources for the order of donning tefillin (hand before head) and the requirement that the head tefillin not be worn without the hand tefillin (Menachos 36a and parallels).

Sefaria — Menachos 36a

Core Text of Chazal

Core Text
וּקְשַׁרְתָּם לְאוֹת עַל יָדֶךָ — זוֹ תְּפִלִּין שֶׁל יָד. וְהָיוּ לְטֹטָפֹת בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ — זוֹ תְּפִלִּין שֶׁל רֹאשׁ. וּמִכָּאן שֶׁמַּנִּיחִין שֶׁל יָד תְּחִלָּה וְאַחַר כָּךְ שֶׁל רֹאשׁ.

English: “And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand” — this is the hand tefillin. “And they shall be for frontlets between your eyes” — this is the head tefillin. From here we learn that one puts on the hand tefillin first and afterward the head tefillin.

On the daf / in context: The order of the verse determines the order of the mitzvah; the head tefillin may not be worn while the hand tefillin are absent.

Type of Learning

Sequence from the order of the biblical phrases (hand before head).

What Is Learned

Hand tefillin are donned before head tefillin; the order of the verse is the order of the practice.