Upon reaching his thirteenth birthday, the first biblical commandment that every bar mitzva boy is obligated to fulfill is the recitation of Shema in the evening prayer service. The next commandment, which is a particularly important and meaningful mitzva, is the mitzva to don tefillin, which is fulfilled in the morning.

Although a boy becomes obligated to wear tefillin only on the morning of his bar mitzva day, it has become customary in many Jewish communities for him to begin practicing donning tefillin a month or two beforehand. According to the custom of some communities, the boy does so at first without reciting the blessings, but as the time of the bar mitzva approaches, he begins to recite the appropriate blessings as he dons the tefillin.

Parents should begin the process of purchasing tefillin several months before the bar mitzva.

It should be kept in mind that the production of tefillin is quite complex. Tefillin contain four passages from the Torah, painstakingly handwritten, letter by letter, by a certified scribe on parchment. The black leather boxes that contain them, which are made of leather that has undergone special processing, are also handmade.

Like any other product, there are tefillin of various levels of quality, which are among the determining factors of their price. The quality of tefillin depends on, among other things, the type of parchment and leather used, the scribe’s level of knowledge and expertise, the appearance and precision of the writing, and various halakhic stringencies that may have been taken into account in producing the boxes. Therefore, it is recommended to consult a knowledgeable person as to where to purchase tefillin.

One should keep in mind that tefillin are usually bought to last a lifetime, or for decades at the very least. It is worth spending a bit more in order to get good quality tefillin.

Further reading: For more on the laws of tefillin, see p. 589.