Women and tefillin

Tefillin are one of the mitzvot from which women are traditionally exempt. There is a lot of discussion as to whether women may wear tefillin, and somewhat less discussion as to whether they should wear tefillin. You will have to make up your own mind. I give my own perspective in an essay entitled Should All Barbies Wear Tefillin? You can learn more by asking your various role-models what they think, or by googling “women and tefillin.”

Tefillin for women to wear are no different than men’s tefillin. They do not have to be made by women, or with the intent that they will be worn by women.

The traditional concept of tefillin does not encompass such a thing as “women’s tefillin” – there are murmurings in the Jewish world towards somehow developing such a thing, but so far none of them have resulted in tefillin I would consider kosher, and personally I don’t see the point of sacrificing kosher for femininity. Of course, some people would say that I already have, so I don’t get to be especially judgemental here.