ת"ר לטטפת לטטפת לטוטפת הרי כאן ד' דברי רבי ישמעאל
Our Rabbis taught: It is written, Letotefeth, letotefeth, and letotafoth,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The word (frontlets, i.e., the tefillin) occurs three times in the Torah, twice (Deut. VI, 8 and XI, 18) defectively written, so that ,upyyk in each instance the word might be read in the singular, and once (Ex. XIII, 16) written plene, , which indicates the plural number,' thus ,upyyk making a total of four. It must be noted that this Talmudic statement does not agree with the Masoretic text, for , written plene, is not to ,pyyk be found at all in our versions. V. Tosaf. s.v. .');"><sup>1</sup></span> making four in all.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Hence the rule that the tefillin worn on the head must be composed of four compartments, each containing a specified portion of Scripture.');"><sup>2</sup></span> So R'Ishmael. R'Akiba says, There is no need of that interpretation, for 'tot' means two in Katpi<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' perhaps the Coptic language.');"><sup>3</sup></span>
Sefer HaChinukh
And [also] that which they said (Menachot 34b) that the order of the [Torah] sections on the parchment is thus - that we first write the section of 'Sanctify your firstborn to me,' and afterwards the section of 'And it shall be when He will bring you,' and afterwards the section of 'Hear Israel,' and afterwards the section of 'And it shall be if you listen.' And those that said that we write the 'beings' in the middle - meaning to say the section of 'And it shall be when He will bring you' and the section of 'And it shall be if you listen' in the middle, the section of 'Sanctify your firstborn to me' at the beginning and the section of 'Hear Israel' at the end - did not properly discern the matter. As behold, it is the common opinion of Rashi and Rambam, may their memory be blessed and Rabbenu Hai that we do not write the 'beings' in the middle, but rather like the order that they are written in the Torah. And the proof is from that which is found in the chapter [entitled] Hakomets in Menachot 34b concerning the order of the tefillin; as they said there that one who reads [them], reads like the order in the Torah. And this text was certainly not found in the [copies of] the books of those people whose opinion was to say that we write the 'beings' in the middle. And regardless, our teachers, may God protect them, agreed now [that it is] like we wrote, that we write them like the order of the sections that are written in the Torah.
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