How tefillin shel rosh are made?

Question

Tefillin consists of two main parts: the ketzitza (קציצה) and the titura (תיתורא). The ketzitza is shaped like a cube and consists of four capsules (בתים). It sits on top of a platform called the titura, this piece of leather seals the bottom of the ketzitza, after the parshiyos have been inserted in the capsules, and is sewn together with the upper part.

I want to know if the titura and ketzitza are two seperate piceces of leather, or one piece? From what i understand it is one long piece of leather that folds over, the folded piece becomes the titura and the upper part becomes the ketzitza. I want to know if my understanding is correct (sources please), and if halacha dictates any of this?

Answer 1

It depends on what kind of tefillin you are talking about. Peshutim tefillin are made by gluing a number of leather pieces together to form the box, whereas tefillin gassot are made by taking literally one piece of thick leather and forming it into the box using presses and other tools.

There is a question here on Mi Yodeya elsewhere which discusses the meaning of the terms I just used, which you can see the answer here.

Tefillin gassot are the most common type of tefillin nowadays due to their durability and halachic preference, being made of literally one piece of thick leather. Dakkot, although not so common now, were the most common about one hundred years ago, when the process for making gassot tefillin was expensive and long.

Many poskim today will tell you to go with gassot tefillin, because of their status of being made of one piece, not to mention their durability.

In this video, you can see how gassot tefillin are made. There are other videos on YouTube as well, so you could try watching any number of those.