Free Republic

The Jewish Press web article “New Study Suggests Some Tefillin Boxes Were Not Colored Black 2,000 Years Ago” (June 14) is quite provocative from the standpoint of Jewish law. Based on an analysis of tefillin boxes dating to the end of the Second Temple era (approximately 2,000 years ago), researchers at Ariel University have concluded that “the law requiring tefillin to be made black may not have been in place in the Second Temple period.” Rather, says Professor Yonatan Adler, the study leader, “Only at a later period did the rabbis rule that tefillin should be colored black.” He adds:...