The Tefillin Box Must Be Level With The Heart
This page covers the details about where "Level With The Heart" is actually located.
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The Tefillin Box Must Be Level With The Heart This page covers the details about where "Level With The Heart" is actually located.
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The Heart Is Located Above The Chest Line
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Rabbinic commentary divides the upper arm in two sections.
Two contrary opinions exist that mandate the proper location of the Tefilin on the upper arm. They both agree that Tefilin must be at the level of the heart, but they don't agree where this level is to be found.
It is possible that one view is anatomically valid in respect to the position of the heart. These two views are summarized:
1) The Upper half (Rabenu Channanel [follow link], and the Rambam)
2) The Lower half (Tosafos Rabenu Perez, Shulchan Aruch & the Rama)
Today MRI and X-Rays support the first opinion as the correct position of the heart. Nevertheless since the Shulchan Aruch and the Rama both follow the opinion of Rabenu Peretz, the best suggestion is to wear the Tefilin twice (see Nitey Gavriel Tefilin).
The Top Half of the Humerus Is Level With The Heart
The Other Half Is Level With The Liver
The Opinion of the Vilna Gaon is that the entire biceps may be Kosher for wearing the Tefilin and so is the opinion of Rov Rishonim.
| The atzil |
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The Opinion of the Arizal is that a person should wear two sets of Tefilin, placing Rashi on the upper half and R"T's (Rabeinu Tam) on the lower half, simultaneously.
In this approach, the Rashi Tefilin are at the level of the heart and the R"T's to the liver.
Nevertheless the opinion of the Olath Tomid, Tanya (and Shaar HaKavonos) is that the Tefillin must be perfectly level with the heart, since the command requires this. (The Olas Tomid provides a reason why the Beis Yosef and the Rama do not use the entire biceps for Tefilin. They only use part of the biceps that parallel the heart when the hand is in a hanging position. The Beis Yosef shares the view of Rabenu Peretz: The half of the arm that is level with the heart is from the mid humerus to the atzil (the elbow), not the upper half. This is problematic as explained because today we know that the heart is parallel with the upper half of the humerus.
Most Halachic authorities agree that ONLY one half of the arm is kosher for placement of the Tefilin because only half of the arm is at the level of the heart.
[The Responsa Vayashe Hayam (Raabi Yaakov Moshe Hilel, yerushalayim, vol. 2 res 4) points out that the Beis Yosef changed his opinion about the upper part of the biceps to the armpit is not kosher, and the Beis Yosef disagrees with Rabenu Peretz, since in Seif 1 says (like the Wilna Gaon and most Rishonim) he holds that the entire Biceps is kosher for tefilin.
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The Gaonim (Shimusha Rabba) say that the heart is located at the midpoint of the upper arm up to the Atzil. There is also a dispute found dispersed through the Talmud about the exact meaning of the term Atzil.
According to Rashi Atzil is the Axila (armpit).
According to Tosafos, Atzil is the elbow.
Since the Gaonim require placement of the Tefilin ONLY from the center of the arm to the Atzil, it is crucial that we resolve what the meaning of Atzil is.
1) Rabenu Channanel held that Atzil is the armpit, so the upper half is the place of the Heart, and Rashi agrees.
2) Rabenu Perez, takes Tosafos' view that Atzil is the elbow, so the heart must be from the mid-humerus to the elbow, and that is the view of the Shulchan aruch and the Rama.
Interestingly enough, according the Arizal, Rashi's Tefillin are to be worn on the half of Rashi's Atzil (to the armpit) and R'T's Tefilin are worn on the half of tosafos' Atzil.
The problem is that Rabenu Perez (Eruvin 95) lets one wear the Tefilin to the elbow even dough the biceps muscle doesn't proceed all the way to the elbow, and that is the opinion of the Shulchan Aruch and the Rama.
The Pri-Megodim doesn't accept this, since the Talmud says it "rests on the biceps," (Kiborit, refers to the flexed biceps. We know that the biceps moves away from the elbow upon flexion.)
But, the opinion of the Rabenu Channanel (that the Gaonim were talking about the (upper) half to the armpit) is that there is no problem since the biceps reaches the armpit.
The best suggestion is to wear the Tefilin twice, on the upper half and the lower half (see Nitey Gavriel Tefillin).
Which Is The True Heart Level?
