The Weekly Daf #102 
Zevachim 16-22
Week of 1-7 Shevat 5756 / 22-28 January 1996
By Rabbi Mendel Weinbach, Dean, Ohr Somayach Institutions 
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                            The Kohen's Tefillin

The Rule:
   A kohen must wear the garments prescribed by Torah Law while he is
   performing any service in the Beis Hamikdash.  There can be nothing
   obstructing contact of these garments with his body and no additions
   garments may be worn.
The Question:
   What about wearing tefillin while he is wearing these garments for the
   purpose of the service?  Tefillin can be viewed as an integral part of
   his body because of his obligation to wear them or they can be looked
   upon as a foreign element which either serves as a forbidden obstruction
   or addition.
The Answer:
   Tefillin cannot be worn on the arm beneath the shirt of the kohen but
   can be worn on the head.  Even the Kohen Gadol who wore a tzitz headband
   around his forehead in addition to the headgear atop his head had a
   space between the two where the tefillin could be placed.
The Problem:
   It is easily understandable that the tefillin on the exposed part of the
   head do not constitute an obstruction as do the tefillin on the covered
   arm.  But why is there not a problem of these tefillin constituting a
   forbidden additional garment?
The Resolution:
   Something can be considered a garment only if it is worn on a part of
   the body which it is customary to cover with a garment.  This therefore
   applies to the arm but not to that part of the head on which the
   tefillin are placed.
                                                             Zevachim 19a-b

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Two Types of Orail

A kohen who is an orail - one who is uncircumcised - is ineligible for 
performing the service in the Beis Hamikdash.

When the Prophet Yechezkel recorded this ban he spoke of two types of orail 
- the uncircumcised heart of one who has estranged himself from Hashem 
through his sinning and the uncircumcised flesh of one who has been 
exempted from a bris mila because two of his brothers died as a result of 
circumcision.

Why was it necessary to record both types of orail - couldn't we have 
deduced the ineligibility of one from the other?

No, says the Talmud.  Had only the orail of uncircumcised flesh been 
mentioned we would have assumed that it is the physical ugliness of the 
foreskin on a Jewish body which disqualifies the kohen - something 
inapplicable to the religious traitor.  Had only the orail of uncircumcised 
heart been mentioned we would have interpreted his disqualification as the 
result of his heart not being loyal to Heaven - something inapplicable to 
the other orail.

It was therefore necessary to explicitly record that either type of orail 
is unfit to perform the sacred service.
                                                               Zevachim 22b
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