Footnote 5 – How To Connect Dead Sea Scroll Fragments

Texts of phylacteries (tephillin) and mezuzoth were written on sheets rather than on scrolls. Tephillin are black leather boxes containing scriptural passages that are bound on the left hand and on the forehead by black leather strips and are worn for the morning services on all days of the year except Sabbaths and scriptural holy days. See the article by L. I. Rabinowitz, “Tefellin,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 15 (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1972), pp. 898–904. A mezuzah is a parchment scroll affixed to the doorpost of rooms in Jewish homes. See the article by Rabinowitz, “Mezuzah,” in Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 11 (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1972), pp. 1474–1477. In addition, a text known as 4Q Testimonia, consisting of a small collection of quotations, was also written on a sheet, rather than on a scroll. To make a scroll, sheets were sewn (in the case of parchment) or pasted (in the case of papyrus) together.