Pair of tefillin made by the tsaddik R. Netanel Sofer Tefilliniski of Jerusalem.
Head and arm tefillin – batim and parshiyot, including the boxes (shaidelach), written and made by R. Netanel Sofer, in his customary holiness and purity and artistic craft.
Enclosed are authorizations of experts validating that the tefillin and the parshiyot were made by R. Netanel Sofer.
Inside the boxes, R. Netanel glued printed leaves explaining his manner of preparing the tefillin and listing the stringencies regarding the ink, parchment and the scribal writing with his assurance that the ink will last for a long time: "The letters are counted and measured at the beginning so that they are not enlarged or compressed, and no knife was used to correct any letter even while writing…The ink was made properly so that it lasts long and does not redden...".
The tefilllin of R. Netanel Sofer were famous throughout the pre-Holocaust Torah world. Requests were received from all over the world for these holy tefillin written by R. Netanel Sofer Tefilliniski. Many leading rabbis in his times tried to acquire tefillin and mezuzot made by R. Netanel Sofer. Among them are R. Shmuel Salant, R. Chaim Berlin, the Ba'al HaLeshem, the Saba of Slabodka, R. A. Y. Kook, and others. It is known that also the Chafetz Chaim made many attempts to acquire such tefillin and rejoiced greatly upon receiving a pair.
Rabbi Nathaniel Sofer Tefilliniski (1867-1918) was an interesting figure and holy man, an alumni of the Etz Chaim Yeshiva in Jerusalem, blessed with remarkable technical and creative abilities. He performed all the tasks required for making tefillin from beginning to end all by himself: processing the parchment and the leather for the batim and straps, preparing the ink, cutting the straps, etc. besides writing the parshiyot, Rabbi Netanel prepared the parchment by himself and wrote each letter and tag in holiness and purity, wrapped in his tallit and donning tefillin and would not speak while writing. Even during his short lifespan (he passed away at the age of 52), the tefillin of R. Nathaniel Sofer were rare commodities because he was so particular about his work that he produced very few sets of tefillin. The Rebbe “Minchat Eliezer†from Mukacheve tells of the efforts of his father the Rebbe, author of the Darkei Teshuva to obtain the tefillin of R. Natanel: "In Jerusalem there is a wonderful craftsman and I saw his delightful work, and even in the days of my father, we sent delegates to request that he make batim for us that have may features apart from their beauty, but he did his work very slowly and supplied his tefillin in the order they were requested…therefore he could not make for us….â€.
Only few mezuzot and parshiot of tefillin made by Rabbi Nathaniel Sofer remain today and they are remarkable for the special halachic precision invested in the shape of the letters and for their superb scribal writing. The special ink that Rabbi Nathaniel Sofer produced remains as fresh and nice-looking as the time it was used, even after a hundred years. Also evident in the Parshiyot are the special features he is known to have used, as R. Nathaniel Sofer himself wrote of the virtues of his Parshiot, and the quality of the parchment and the ink, as he promised in the printed leaves which are glued on the inside of the tefillin boxes.
Two batei tefillin, four separate parshiyot on parchment (for the tefillin shel rosh – head tefillin), and four parshiyot on one parchment (for tefillin shel yad – arm tefillin), with matching boxes, all produced by R. Netanel Sofer. Height of the parshiyot: approximately 3 cm. Length of the batim (maximum): approximately 7 cm. Height of the batim: 4.5 cm. Good to very good condition. Worn and rubbed cardboard boxes. Placed in a new velvet case.