thine heart: And thou
shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them
when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and
when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them
for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine
eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy
gates."

In the rabbinical Targum, the Aramaic translation of the Bible, canto
VIII, written about A. D. 500, occurs this passage: "The congregation of
Israel hath said, I am chosen above all people, because I bind the
Phylacteries on my left hand and on my head, and the scroll is fixed on
the right side of my door, the third part of which is opposite my
bed-room, that the evil spirits may not have power to hurt me."

Thus it would appear that the saying quoted by Grimm, "Christians place
their faith in words, the Jews in precious stones, and the Pagans in
herbs," is not wholly correct, for the Jews added to a trust in stones,
a faith in the long, embroidered, text-inscribed phylactery.[26:1]

At the beginning of the Christian era, the belief was general among the
Jews and pagans, that by means of magical formulas the evil influence of
the Devil and demons could be successfully resisted. Therefore the
Hebrew exorcists found easily a fertile soil for the cultivation of
their supernatural art. This, says a writer in the "Jewish
Encyclopaedia," was the atmosphere in which Christianity arose, with the
claim of healing all that were oppressed of the Devil. The name of Jesus
became the power by which the host of Satan was to be overcome. But
pharisaism diagnosed the disease of the age differently, and insisted
that the observance of the Law was the best prophylactic against
disease. The wearing of phylacteries indicates that they were regarded
by the Jews as amulets. Belief in the power of the Law became the
antidote against what may be termed "Satanophobia," a pessimistic and
habitual dread of devils and demons.

The wearing of phylacteries is a fundamental principle of the Jewish
religion. They are to be preserved with the greatest care. Indeed, the
Rabbis assert that the single precept of the phylacteries is equal in
value to all the commandments.[27:1] The Talmud says: "Whoever has the
phylacteries bound to his head and arm, and the fringes thrown over his
garments, and the Mezuza[27:2] fixed on his door-post, is safe from sin;
for these are ex