Tefillin gassot

Description

HaSOFER’s tefillin gassot, ohr echad have gassot batim, thick outer housings, also called ohr echad, one piece, made from a single piece of the best quality thick leather. The Hebrew letter shin on both sides of the tefillin shel rosh is manually pulled out of the leather while it is still moist, using a unique pliers-like tool we designed ourselves. These gassot batim carry the kashrut certification of HaRav Yaakov Meir Stern, shlit’a, of the Bet Din of HaRav Wosner of B’nei Brak and are also examined and certified by HaSOFER’s rabbinical supervisors for kashrut and quality before being painted. They have a lifetime of up to 60 years when properly maintained.
You choose the parshiot, parchments, to be put in your gassot tefillin from among HaSOFER’s many levels of hiddur, quality and exactness of the writing. All of the parshiot in HaSOFER tefillin are written exclusively by our own certified sofrim, scribes. They are examined twice by our in-house, certified megihim, examiners, in addition to being checked by computer. Computer checking of tefillin and mezuzot is highly recommended by all major poskim, Rabbinical authorities, today.
The painting of HaSOFER’s gassot tefillin batim has its own kashrut certification – the only tefillin that have this.
Inserting the parshiot, closing and painting the batim and all other finishing steps of making your tefillin are done in our Jerusalem shop under the kashrut supervision of HaRav Shamai K’hat HaCohen Gross Rav of Mishmeret Hakodesh for STa”M.
HaSOFER’s 33mm gassot tefillin come standard with 14-15 mm wide retzuot, straps, hand-processed from the best quality upper leather. This is 2 mm wider than that required by the Chazon Ish for mehudar tefillin. The knots of the retzuot are custom tied to your specification. Retzuot 13 mm wide are also available for an additional $10. (₪38.20) Please note this special request when you place your order.
All HaSOFER tefillin come standard with adult-length straps, even when purchased for short Bar Mitzvah boys. The boys grow into them rapidly! In many cases, and especially if you are ordering for a Bar Mitzvah boy, you may need to have the size of the head strap adjusted by your local rabbi to ensure proper fit.
If you order your tefillin with the knots of the retzuot tied according to Ashkenazi custom you will find the knot of the shel yad retzuah held in position touching the bayit by a strand of thin nylon. This is in accordance with the ruling of the Mishnah Brurah that the knot of the retzuah of the shel yad tefillin must always touch the bayit when the tefillin are worn. His source for this ruling is the statement by the Mechilta in parshat Bo that this is a segulah, omen, for long life. Those who wear their tefillin according to Chassidic or Sefardic custom do not require this nylon strand because the different way they put their tefillin on automatically brings the knot to touch the bayit at all times.

At HaSOFER we have many finished pairs of tefillin in stock ready for shipping to you. When we receive your order for a pair of tefillin that we have in stock, all that remains to be done is for us to tie on the retzuot according to the instructions you give us with your order and they are shipped by the next business day.

If the tefillin you order are not in stock as a finished pair, in most cases we will put them together from our large in-house stock of separate parshiot and batim. Inserting the parshiot, closing and finishing the batim, and tying the retzuot takes about a week. If we will not be shipping your tefillin within 3 business days, when we receive your order we will email you a projected shipping date.

To provide maximum security for your tefillin in transit, we ship all tefillin orders either via DHL Express or Israel Post Office EMS Priority Mail Sevice, both of which feature online tracking of the package. We send you the tracking number via email when the package is shipped.

Important final note: The most important elements of your tefillin are those that are not visible to the eye. The parshiot, batim and retzuot each involve many intricate halachic points and nuances of adherance to minhag. We are glad to discuss these with you via email or by telephone. Since at HaSOFER we actually make your tefillin ourselves, for every pair of gassot tefillin, ohr echad we match up the batim, parshiot and retzuot on an individual basis. This means you get the most mehudar set possible for your purchase price, taking into account the many halachic points involved and availability of the component parts.