406. Taking Off Tefillin; Sanctity of the Bag

Tefillin, Mezuzah v’Sefer Torah 4:8

When a person takes off his tefillin and places them in a container, he should not place the arm tefillin on the bottom and the head tefillin on top. This is because when he wants to put them on again, he will find the head tefillin first. This will force him to bypass the head tefillin in order to get his arm tefillin, because the head tefillin should not be put on before the arm tefillin. Bypassing it in this way is problematic because a person is not permitted to ignore one mitzvah and go on to perform another. Rather, as soon as a mitzvah becomes available to a person, he should occupy himself with it. Therefore, one should place the arm tefillin on top so that he will find it first and be able to put his tefillin on in the proper order.

Tefillin, Mezuzah v’Sefer Torah 4:9

If a container was made to keep tefillin in, and it was used for that purpose, it becomes sanctified. It is prohibited to use such a container for mundane purposes. If the container was made to store tefillin but never used for that purpose, or if a container was used temporarily to hold tefillin but it was not made for that purpose, it does not become sanctified and it retains its mundane status. It is prohibited to hang tefillin, whether from the straps or the boxes. One may, however, hang the bag that holds tefillin.