The charity’s flagship project will be to encourage and enable the Jewish community in the UK to strengthen their commitment to the Mitzvah of Tefilin.  This flagship project fits in well with our ideals because:

1. It will improve the way that many people wear their Tefilin which will strengthen their bond to Torah and Mitzvos.

2. It will be a low cost project that with the communities support will have a high impact in that a fundamental Torah-given commandment will be substantially improved

3. The method of correction will be by adjusting the “kesher” of the Tefilin, which shares the same Hebrew root as our charity’s name keshorim.

If you would like a free check and adjustment where required,

please call us on 0300 0301 613. 

We also arrange visits to schools and shuls to do maintenance checks.

Tefilin is a fundamental commandment which applies to every Jewish male above the age of 13.   They are commanded to put on two phylacteries, one on their arm and the other on their head.

The position of the tefilin is crucial to the fulfilment of the mitzvah and we are told that if they are placed in the incorrect position, then it is as if they have not laid tefilin that day and their brocho is levatolo (in vain). (Mishna Berura  27:33).  We detail the correct position for both of the tefilin below.

The tefilin that goes on the arm (shel yad) should be placed on the inside upper arm muscle (bicep), facing slightly inwards to the heart. No part of the shel yad should be lower than the bottom of the muscle, and the top should preferably be no higher than half the distance between the elbow and the shoulder.

The tefilin that goes on the head (shel rosh) should be placed above the hairline on the forehead. If any of the box falls below the hairline then you have not fulfilled the mitzvah.  

     Above hairline           centred above eyes         back knot above hair       in line with eyes

At the back of the head the tefilin knot should be above the indentation towards the base of the skull, and certainly no lower than the hairline.  This is broadly in line with eye level at the back of the head.

IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE A SHEL ROSH HEAD OPENING WHICH IS TOO SMALL

It is better to have the shel rosh slightly smaller than required so that even if it stretches a little you are still keeping the mitzvah.

Although many are educated about the correct placing of the tefilin when they are bar mitzva, the tefilin stretch as your body changes size.  This means that tefilin need regular adjustment throughout ones lifetime.

Over the years, it has mistakenly become acceptable that the shel Rosh is being placed too low on the forehead.  Even people who are regular shul goers and daven three times a day with a minyan are prone to making this mistake.  Often this is because the leather straps stretch over time and so slip down the head.

Keshorim is committed to providing easy access and first class resources to assist people with improving their commitment to the mitzvah of tefilin.

We will achieve this by:

a) Supporting educational initiatives to improve our knowledge of the laws of wearing tefilin in general.

b) Educating people of the correct way to wear their tefilin, but always in a respectful and non confrontational manner.

c) providing easy access to individuals who can have their tefilin adjusted and blackened at no cost.

What if I am losing my hair and cannot see the original hairline?

This is a very common issue.  In our communities, many men's hairlines start receding in their late teens or early 20s.  That means for most of ones life, you are putting on tefilin guessing where your hairline used to be, (the former hairline is still the correct place to put your tefilin after hair loss or when hair begins receding).

Fortunately, we do not need to leave this to guesswork, as there are practical methods of working out where your hairline used to be, so that you can place your tefilin in accordance with the halocho.

The easiest of these methods is the "four finger test"

The quick test if is as follows….if you put your 4 fingers closed together above your eyebrows, your tefilin shel rosh should be resting above this point.  This is because most people's hairline is at a height of between 3 and 4 fingers above the eyebrows.  Therefore if you place your tefilin above 4 fingers height, you will be safely in the correct place.

If you cannot comfortably put 4 fingers in between your eyebrows and your tefilin shel rosh then it probably needs adjusting.