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In this article discussing how Rav Eliezer Berland came to Breslov Chassidus, there is a photo of young Berland prior to his bar mitzvah, wrapped in tallis and tefillin.

I immediately noticed the minhag in which he has wrapped the tefillin, and it struck me as a bit odd. It is not the usual Ashkenazi method around the hand.

I'm not an expert on minhagim, but it seems that the "normal" Ashkenazi way of wrapping the tefillin is the Lithuanian minhag. I read a post on A Simple Jew about his minhag from Sudiklov and the hand wrapping looks just like the one in the photo of Berland. (Of course, Berland's tefillin are clearly wrapped inwards per Ashkenazi custom whereas A Simple Jew's are Chassidic and therefore wrap outwards.)

What is the origin of this tefillin wrapping? I have added a photo for convenience. I suspect the minhag might be from Ukraine since Sudiklov (as mentioned in the A Simple Jew blog) is a Ukranian village. Plus, maybe I'm making an assumption that the way R' Moshe Feinstein ztz''l wraps his tefillin is the way all Ashkenazim do.

Rabbi Eliezer Berland, tefillin bar mitzvah

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    Huh. That’s exactly how I wrap my Tefillin on my hand. Based on that fact alone I suspect this is a Polish minhag.
    – DonielF
    Commented Oct 20, 2017 at 17:23
  • @DonielF - Cool.
    – ezra
    Commented Oct 20, 2017 at 17:24
  • @DonielF My family is of Polish origin and doesn't do it like that.
    – Scimonster
    Commented Oct 21, 2017 at 17:09
  • @Scimonster Nor does mine do as he does around the Bayis. Presumably not every city had exactly the same method. Of course, this entire discussion presupposes that this indeed is Nusach Polin.
    – DonielF
    Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 0:30
  • @DonielF - It's so interesting to know that this is minag Polin...I would have thought that it would be minhag Lita.
    – ezra
    Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 6:38

2 Answers 2

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Tefilin Diagrams

Tefilin Diagrams

Tefilin Diagrams- My minhag highlighted

These are the images from the N'ta-ay Govriel showing every mihag of wrapping the Tefila Shel Yad. It actually helped my cousin find the origin of his obscure wrapping.

As pointed out there are missing minhagim of Eidot Mizrach, this video shows the Moroccan custom - At around 6:03 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw0uqOtGIns And in the Hebrew wikipedia page Maran Ovadia Yosef ztz'l has tefillin like Temanim - Maran Yosef with Tefillin

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    Is there a reason #29 is highlighted? OP's picture looks more like #16.
    – shmosel
    Commented Feb 13, 2023 at 8:45
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    This chart is a great find, thanks for sharing!
    – יהושע ק
    Commented Feb 13, 2023 at 11:17
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    14 Ashkenazi methods but only one Sefardi method? That can't be "every" minhag
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Feb 13, 2023 at 12:06
  • I highlighted my minhag. I imagine there may be one or two more minhagim, inSefardi world, due to the higher uniformity to the vast Ashkenazi world.
    – Binyamin Adler-Berke
    Commented Feb 14, 2023 at 9:20
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In Nit'e Gavriel, Hilkhot weHalikhot ber mitzwa, pag. 362 , picture 16, this wrapping is attributed to: ashkenaz, Alexander, Amshinow, Gur, and other hasidim in Poland and Lituania

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    Welcome to Mi Yodeya, Shmuel, I hope you enjoy our site. On a side note, your answer would be improved if you added scans or pictures of the diagrams in Nit'ei Gavriel
    – Noach MiFrankfurt
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 2:47

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