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According to the Torah tefillin are worn on the “hand” and “between the eyes” (see Shemot 13:9). The Gemara defines the tefillin of the “hand” as being placed on the kiboret – the bicep, the muscle between the elbow and the shoulder – and the tefillin “between the eyes” as being placed on the skull on the location of the fontanel, the soft area of a baby’s head.
Various derivations are offered explaining why halakha rules that neither “hand” nor “between the eyes” are understood literally by the Sages. When the Gemara suggests that perhaps “tefillin of the hand” should be actually placed on the hand, and that “between the eyes” should be understood literally, it is not only a theoretical discussion. According to the Mishna in Massekhet Megilla (24a) during the time of the Mishna there were Jewish sects that disagreed with the traditional interpretations of the Sages and actually performed the commandmentof tefillin in a literal manner. Among these sects, apparently, were early Christians.
We explore the inter-testamental evidence for proto-tefillin in Wadi Muraba’at Qumran.