Commentary for Berakhot 28:24
אמר עולא כל הקורא ק"ש בלא תפילין כאילו מעיד עדות שקר בעצמו א"ר חייא בר אבא א"ר יוחנן כאילו הקריב עולה בלא מנחה וזבח בלא נסכים:
'Ulla said : Whoever reads the Shema' without Tefillin is as though he spoke false testimony against himself. R. Hiyya b. Abba said in the name of R. Johanan : It is as though he had offered a burnt-offering without a meal-offering (cf. Num. xxviii. 5) and a sacrifice without drink-offerings (ibid. v. 14).
Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot
An euphemism for "against God." He declares the Unity of God (by reading the Shema') without adducing the evidence as proclaimed by the Tefillin. Rev. A. Newman writes : "Against himself" may be taken literally. The Shema' which he is reading enjoins the wearing of Tefillin ; therefore the recital without the phylacteries involves an inconsistency. His acts belie bis words.
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