CONTACT
Please contact Jamie Shear, scribe, artist, directly with any questions
or inquiries that you might have.
OUR BLOG
Text goes here
CONTACT
Please contact Jamie Shear, scribe, artist, directly with any questions
or inquiries that you might have.
OUR BLOG
Text goes here
CONTACT
Please contact Jamie Shear, scribe, artist, directly with any questions
or inquiries that you might have.
Tefillin Experience for Bar Mitzvah Grades
"And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes."
- Deuteronomy 6:8
Tefillin are at the heart of becoming Bar Mitzvah, yet for most students they are a closed black box. In this session I open it up.
I bring Tefillin into the classroom and we take a pair apart, piece by piece: bayit, titura, ma'abarta, retzuot, and the four handwritten parshiot inside. Students see what is written, how a sofer writes it, and how it all comes together.
So when their Bar or Bat Mitzvah comes, they know exactly what Tefillin are and how they are made.
Bring it to your school: jshear@ktavtam.com
One-on-one with a Bar Mitzvah boy.
The four compartments of the shel rosh.
Each parsha goes into its own compartment.
Written by hand, ready for the batim.
Closed with gid, thread made from sinew.
Each parsha is wrapped before it goes in.
A shel rosh, open to show what's inside.
The retzuot, black on every side.
Holding a bayit before it is finished.
A Talk, a Demonstration or a Workshop
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Every class is different. The session can be a talk with plenty of questions, a demonstration of how Tefillin are written and put together, or a hands-on workshop where every student writes Hebrew letters with a quill and ink.
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I've brought the scribal arts to schools and shuls in Israel, across North America and in Hong Kong.
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For a Bar Mitzvah boy's own Tefillin, written with him from the first letter, see Tefillin With an Experience.
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Jamie Shear
The shin on the side of the head Tefillin.
Shel yad and shel rosh, with their straps.
The kesher, tied in the retzuot.
Kadesh, Vehaya Ki Yeviacha, Shema and Vehaya Im Shamoa.
The opening words of Shema, rolled for the shel rosh.
A full parsha, every letter checked.
A new pair, ready for its Bar Mitzvah.
A Tefillin bag embroidered with the shin.
Quills and parchment, ready for the next class.
Bring It to Your School
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The Tefillin Experience is planned together with your teachers, to fit your class and your schedule.
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It can stand on its own or be part of a one- or two-day Sofer-in-Residence, alongside the Hands-On Scribal Arts Workshop and the Ink-Making Science Challenge.
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To plan it for your school, write to me at jshear@ktavtam.com.