Week Eight: Treating Our Tefillin Properly

A fact Aruch HaShulchan will mention more than once in Orach Chayim 38: the Torah’s mitzvah calls for us to wear tefillin all day. We currently restrict them to our morning prayers for fear we cannot maintain proper bodily cleanliness and sanctity, an idea that shapes our current chapter.

When Our Stomachs Aren’t Good

The first five se’ifim focus on tefillin with intestinal illness or digestive issues. Tur and Shulchan Aruch exempted such a man, based on Chullin 110a, where R. Chisda accepted this as a reason not to wear tefillin. In contrast, Ketubbot 104a tells us Rebbe (R. Yehudah HaNasi, the Torah leader of his generation and editor of the Mishnah) would take his tefillin off each of the many times his stomach problems forced him to relieve himself, then put them back on.

In se’if two, AH rejects the possibility Shulchan Aruch meant a blanket exemption. He points out that the conversation with R. Chisda happens in a non-prayer moment, in a time when Jews wore tefillin all day. Unfortunately for his claim, Tur and Shulchan Aruch had already written that we currently wear tefillin only for prayer; their then also exempting someone with a bad stomach sounds like they mean even then.

The Extent of the Exemption

Nor can he accept the possibility an illness makes it prohibited to wear tefillin, since Rebbe did. Granted, he was greater than us, but if it was forbidden, he wouldn’t have done it.

Adding to our problems, Rema cited Mordechai, who exempted anyone whose illness, of whatever kind, interfered with his focus on tefillin. AH argues those people are supposed to put on tefillin at any break in their symptoms. To AH’s mind, that’s not yet different from our intestinal sufferers, whom he thinks should wear tefillin for Shema and Shemoneh Esrei if they can.

In se’if four, he concedes Shulchan Aruch seems to disagree, that for most illnesses, symptoms are the problem, so such patients can and should put on tefillin when possible. The side effects of stomach problems often arise at unexpected times, like expelling air and/or diarrhea, where the person might not be able to remove his tefillin as often or as quickly as necessary.

And still, AH thinks even such a person should wear tefillin for Shema and Shemoneh Esrei if he can do so without problem (he even allows putting them on after the blessing of Ahavah rabbah, right before Shema, if the window is that small, despite our generally not interrupting those blessings with any extraneous speech).

He adds (without a source I saw) the essential worry is tefillin of the head; if this man knows he can remove those should a sudden stomach issue arise, he should wear tefillin for prayers.

Type one of honor for tefillin: being sure not to wear it when bodily problems are likely to present.

Why Women Should Not Wear Tefillin

In se’if six, the discussion so far grounds halachah’s objection to women wearing tefillin, when there is no halachic resistance to their fulfilling other mitzvot from which they are exempt, like shofar, sukkah, and lulav.

The answer starts with our skittishness about men acting properly while wearing tefillin (not expelling air, burping, etc.), the reason we no longer wear them all day, in fact wear them the minimum acceptable time. Men are obligated, though, so we cannot tell them not to wear tefillin at all. For women to undertake what most men will fail to handle well makes too little sense to allow.

Except, bit of a wrench in the works, AH raises Eruvin 96b, Michal the daughter of Shaul wore tefillin and no one objected. He suggests she was known to be righteous, someone who could be trusted to treat the tefillin properly. [If so, of course, some today will argue they, too, can be careful about bodily functions while wearing tefillin. He doesn’t say more, so neither will I.]

Thoughts That Conflict with Wearing Tefillin

In se’if seven, AH notes Shulchan Aruch’s ruling a man may not think about women while wearing tefillin, and if he will, better not to wear them. Rashi to Sukkah sounds like such thoughts do not prohibit the wearing, but AH thinks they are at least heseiach ha-da’at, losing attention on the tefillin, which Shulchan Aruch linked to kalut rosh, inappropriate frivolity.

In se’if nine, he brings that up in terms of weddings, if the festivities carry through until morning, where drunkenness and general frivolity might lead us to think the whole wedding party should not put on tefillin.

Rema, however, is sure the very fact of stopping the party for davenen will snap people out of wedding mode, sufficiently remind them of the proper mindset to also allow wearing tefillin. Other authorities thought to exempt the group because they are involved in a mitzvah, an idea Rema is willing to accept particularly in the summer (shorter nights), if the groom is still present.

Mourning and Tefillin

At the other end of the emotional spectrum, Amos 8;10 spoke of the first day of mourning as sad/bitter, leading the Gemara to exempt a mourner on that first day, because tefillin are a marker of pe’er, splendor, contraindicated on such a day. After the first day, the mourner does put don them, and would not take them off even if panim chadashot came, a new person with whom this mourner has not yet commiserated.

Normally, panim chadashot rejuvenate a lifecycle experience, the happiness of a wedding or the sadness of a loss. For tefillin, we apparently do not think the emotions raised by seeing the new person negate wearing them. AH does think a mourner should wait until the panim chadashot person leaves before putting them on, but I have not seen this done, perhaps because we have restricted tefillin so fully to the world of the ritual.

We might think a mourner counts as mitzta’er, someone exempt because his distress negates the possibility of proper focus on the tefillin. AH thinks mourning lasts long enough for it to be untenable to apply this status the whole time. Tisha B’Av morning, when we do not wear tefillin, he says, we are too enveloped in our recalled national tragedy, but by Mincha the pain has worn off somewhat, and we put them on.

Se’if fourteen includes in mitzta’er anyone in pain that prevents concentration, theoretically, a cold or a toothache. AH doesn’t think we go that far, for reasons he does not know. [To me, it might be because we’ve already relegated tefillin to one small part of the day, do not want there to be a plethora of other ways out of wearing them.]

Writing Sta”M, Studying Torah

Let’s skip the question of whether a scribe writing a mezuzah, tefillin, or a Torah scroll can refrain from the mitzvah, since few of us are scribes. Instead, let’s consider Mechilta Bo’s exemption of one studying Torah, because Torah study accomplishes the same goals as tefillin. Nonetheless, especially when we wear tefillin so briefly, AH thinks the person should take the time to put them on, pray while wearing them, then return to study.

The Last Note

I’d have stopped there. Shulchan Aruch added se’ifim 11-13, which AH groups into one se’if, 16. A student should not remove tefillin in front of his teacher, AH assumes because he will be bareheaded, briefly, considered disrespectful.

The rule does not include a father, for reasons AH finds unclear [I can imagine lots of reasons: perhaps a child is more often not fully dressed in front a father, for one example]. And if one must choose between buying a mezuzah or tefillin, tefillin come first, although people obligated to show signs of mourning—a menudeh, a person being disciplined by rabbinic authorities, or a metzora, someone suffering an isolating, Heaven-sent illness-- should not wear tefillin.

The great honor and attention we owe tefillin also lead us to restrict our time wearing them. Our weakness loses us the experience of physical signs of our covenant with God, the way the Torah envisioned it.

Adapted from articles previously published on Torah Musings