COURTESY ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY/SHAI HALEVI

TEFILLIN, OR PHYLACTERIES, are small leather cases containing folded slips of parchment inscribed with Torah passages
from the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. They are tied by straps to the wearer’s head and arm. The earliest tefillin come from the secluded settlement at Qumran and date to the late second or early first century B.C.E. Here is an example of an unrolled slip, also from Qumran, that features a passage from the Book of Exodus (12:44–13:10).