Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzah and Sefer Torah, Chapter 4 (Auto Translated)

Laws of Tefillin Chapter 4 – The Place of Laying Tefillin and the Order of Laying

Introduction

Speaker 1: Okay, we’re learning today the Laws of Tefillin. Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzah and Sefer Torah, but here it’s Laws of Tefillin Chapter 4. Until now we’ve learned how one writes the Sefer Torah and tefillin, and how one makes the script of the tefillin, and how one makes the batim (boxes) and the straps of the tefillin. Now we’re going to learn in detail how one lays the tefillin.

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Law 1 – The Place of Laying Tefillin of the Head

Speaker 1: The Rambam says, “Where does one lay the tefillin?” Where does one lay the tefillin? What does it say in the Torah “and it shall be for a sign on your hand and for totafot between your eyes.” This is – Chazal had clear laws how one lays it.

The Rambam says, “The head tefillin one lays on the kodkod”. One lays it on the top of the head. “That the end of the hair that is opposite the face”. What exactly does kodkod mean? We’ll see. “That the end of the hair that is opposite the face,” at the end of the top of the head, there where the hair ends opposite the face. That place is called kodkod. And where? “The place where a baby’s brain is soft”. That’s the meaning. That is, the meaning of the word “totafot between your eyes” Chazal translate as kodkod, and then they say, what is the kodkod? That’s the place “where a baby’s brain is soft.”

“And one must lay it in the middle”, one must lay the tefillin in the middle of the head, “so that it will be between the eyes”. When Chazal say “between the eyes,” they don’t mean to say that it should lie between the eyes, but that it should lie opposite the eyes, but it should be in the same area so that it comes out between the eyes, in the middle of the head, between the eyes.

“And one ties it at the height of the back of the neck so that it will be at the end of the skull”. And where does one tie it in the back? At the end of the head, so that it goes around the entire head, and the knot is at the top of the neck, which is the end of the skull, of the bone of the head.

Okay. It says in the Gemara like this, the knot of tefillin its measure is that it should be above so that Israel will be above and not below, it must be higher the… how do you say that? Higher the… how do you say that? The neck? Higher the… the… the… what do you call that? The Adam’s apple. So that it will be higher, and it should be facing inward so that Israel will be facing forward and not backward. What does facing inward mean? That one ties the knot in the way that’s called facing inward. Okay. It’s a hint. I don’t know.

Discussion: What Does “Facing Inward” Mean?

Speaker 2: The knot is that the inside hits the person, not… not the… with the head down to the… facing inward means toward the person, not to the… not to the…

Speaker 1: What do you mean you don’t know what you call a knot? What’s the meaning of facing inward? You don’t know what the meaning is? The knot in the back of the tefillin, yes, the black shiny side of it is facing outward. But Rabbi Yud said differently. I already know what you mean to say differently. Maybe you mean this, you just don’t know the meaning.

Okay, anyways, that’s the place where one lays the head tefillin. Yes.

Law 1 (Continued) – The Place of Laying Tefillin of the Hand

Speaker 1: Further, the hand tefillin, where does one lay the tefillin of the hand? It’s like this, “and you shall bind them on your left arm on the kiboret,” one must bind it, one binds it around on the left hand, on the kiboret, on the part of the hand. And where is it? What is that? What does kiboret mean? The flesh of the muscle, yes, the skin, the bulge, that protrudes, between the elbow, on the elbow, between the shoulder joint, exactly in the middle between the bone… the shoulder joint is the joint, yes, where it connects the bone to the… to the shoulder, and between the joint of the arm, and to the joint that connects the elbow hand to the rest of the front part of the hand.

And it comes out that when he presses his elbow to his ribs, it comes out that when he’s going to press his hand and he’s going to lay it on his ribs, on his front ribs, like this, yes, ribs is the ribs, right? The tefillin will be opposite his heart, it will come out that the tefillin is opposite his heart, and it comes out fulfilling “and these words shall be on your heart,” which is on his heart, which is directly opposite his heart. On your hand, and these words on your heart, what is the plain meaning of this? One wasn’t commanded to bind on his heart, but one was commanded to bind on the hand opposite the heart.

Discussion: “On Your Hand” and “On Your Heart”

Speaker 2: So it says, in one place it says “on your hand,” and in one place it says “on your heart.”

Speaker 1: Ah, he’s just saying because “on your heart” isn’t… that’s the same, it’s the same verse for example, and so he says, so he learns. Okay, very good.

Law 1 (Continued) – Halacha L’Moshe MiSinai

Speaker 1: So Chazal had the halacha l’Moshe miSinai, the Rambam brings out the halacha l’Moshe miSinai. He’s going to bring out now, that it must lie on top of the head. Even though it says “between your eyes,” “between your eyes” means that it’s in the middle, just as the eyes are and lie in a specific place on the face of the person, there’s a certain place that’s called “between your eyes,” but not there, but above opposite “between your eyes.” That’s what Chazal received.

But one who does differently, the same thing with the hand, they don’t say that the hand means on the palm, but on the kiboret, which also makes sense, because the hand does things, with the hand one must do, and with the head the mitzvah is that there should be tefillin.

And one who lays it on the palm of his hand, on his hand, because he thinks that “on your hand” means on the hand as one usually means hand, or on his head on his forehead, he lays it on his forehead, this is the way of the heretics. When one does this, one does like those who didn’t agree with the Sages. One does this, one has joined a part of the insolent ones, of the opponents, of the heretics, those who make their own interpretations.

Discussion: Is He Yotzei or Not?

Speaker 2: No, he doesn’t say like “he didn’t fulfill.” It could be that he fulfilled, because he still did it. But the problem with doing this is that it’s done in the way of heretics, it’s done like the heretics do.

Speaker 1: No, the heretics is a dispute, I thought you wrote that he didn’t fulfill, simply he didn’t fulfill. But it’s even worse than not fulfilling. Yes, because the heretics, the Rambam says, “heresy is that one interprets the verses according to his own opinion.” Heresy is the group that says their own interpretations without basis, they don’t believe there.

Very good.

Law 1 (Continued) – Round Tefillin

Speaker 1: The Rambam continues, “One who makes his tefillin round”. Earlier we learned that the Rambam said that the tefillin must be square. If one didn’t follow and he made it in a circle, what does he say “like a circle”? Ah, I don’t know. So it says in the Gemara, there’s a dispute. Yes. “And there’s no mitzvah in it at all”. He didn’t do any mitzvah at all. This doesn’t mean that he did half a mitzvah, he didn’t do any mitzvah.

Discussion: Why “And There’s No Mitzvah in It at All”?

Speaker 2: Is there an answer, why does he use this language? He doesn’t say “invalid.”

Speaker 1: That’s the language of the Mishnah, “one who makes his tefillin round is a danger and there’s no mitzvah in it.” The Rambam is copying the language of the Mishnah.

Speaker 2: Ah, so Rashi says, he says that it can go into the head.

Speaker 1: I don’t know clearly. The Rambam doesn’t bring the version of danger, maybe not… but it’s not a mitzvah at all. And here one sees yes clearly that what? That when one doesn’t do it square, yes, it’s not any mitzvah at all.

Yes. Danger he says, opposite us we spoke yesterday, what happens with people who have OCD and they’re not exactly, exactly square? I want to tell you, don’t be afraid. Round means like a ball. Check on your tefillin, does it look like a ball? No, then it’s probably good.

Law 1 (Continued) – Left-Handed Person

Speaker 1: Um… A left-handed person lays tefillin on his right which is to him like the left. We learned earlier that one lays on the left hand. The Rambam said “weak hand,” he said “on his left.” He doesn’t bring the sources of these things, he just says “on his left.” But a left-handed person, one who is reversed, he uses his left hand primarily, his weak hand, his weak hand, is his right hand, he should lay on his right hand, which is to him like the left, to him it’s like a left. It has one quality of the left hand, the weakness. The Rambam doesn’t say the version of the weakness, he says the… I mean he says. Yes, the Rambam says differently, “right hand like left,” because for him, right means what one uses primarily, what is dominant, and left is what is not dominant.

And if he was ambidextrous, he lays them on his left which is the left of every person, because… because then it goes back to the normal. To you it’s also a left.

And the place of binding the tefillin and the place of laying them, all these things that we learned earlier, that one doesn’t do like the heretics but one does like Chazal, one lays above on the forehead or above on the hand, they learned from oral tradition, this was learned from oral tradition, this is halacha l’Moshe miSinai.

Law 2 – Blessings on Tefillin

Speaker 1: Now we’re going to see about the blessings on tefillin. The Rambam says, one can say like the order of laying, we’re learning the entire order of laying, how one must do it. First one must make a blessing.

The Rambam says like this: The head tefillin doesn’t prevent the hand tefillin, and the hand tefillin doesn’t prevent the head tefillin, rather they are two mitzvot, this one by itself and this one by itself. So head tefillin is its own mitzvah, and hand tefillin is its own mitzvah. It’s not like for example the four species, which is a set, that if one doesn’t have the whole set one can’t do it. If a person lays head tefillin, he has a mitzvah, and if he lays hand tefillin, he has a mitzvah. One doesn’t prevent the other. Therefore if he only has one, he lays one.

And when he blesses on them, so, on the head tefillin, which blessings does one make? On head tefillin one says “who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us on the mitzvah of tefillin”. It’s quite clear, as was said, since they’re two different mitzvot, therefore there are two blessings. They’re two different mitzvot, comes two different blessings, even two different versions of the blessing. On the head tefillin one says “on the mitzvah of tefillin,” and on the hand tefillin one says “who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to lay tefillin”.

And he says the whole order, the difference, why it says here “to lay,” “to bind.” But he says, we learned earlier a few times, that by the head tefillin it says “and they shall be for totafot,” and by the hand tefillin it says “to bind.” It could be that “to lay” is basically to place on. I don’t know exactly why it says “to lay” and not “to bind,” but he says that by the hand tefillin, which also makes sense, because the hand does things, by the hand tefillin one must do, and by the head tefillin the mitzvah is that there should be tefillin.

Law 2 (Continued) – Order of Laying

Speaker 1: Okay. If he spoke between them, ah, already, because they’re two mitzvot there are two blessings. The Rambam says, if he spoke between them or delayed one of them, then he says which tefillin has which blessing. But if he lays both of them, then the law I told you that there are two blessings isn’t relevant, but he blesses one blessing, which one? One only says the blessing of “to lay tefillin,” and he binds the hand tefillin first and afterwards lays the head tefillin, and one doesn’t make an extra blessing.

And when he removes, when one removes the tefillin, he removes the head tefillin first, one removes first the head tefillin, what one lays later one removes first, and afterwards he removes the hand tefillin, and then one removes the hand tefillin. So one never remains with the head tefillin alone.

Dispute of Rishonim – Ashkenazi Custom

Speaker 1: We do differently. One must look up the Lubavitcher… he brings here the Shulchan Aruch. We do, and in practice most of the world conducts… that one does make yes two blessings. And there are those who say that the second blessing one says quietly, and one should say “Baruch shem kevod malchuto,” because one wants to fulfill according to the Rambam, not to have the concern that it’s a blessing in vain.

The Ashkenazi custom, there’s a dispute between the Mechaber and the Rama, yes? And the Ashkenazim conduct themselves for the most part, simply like everyone, like the Rama. As you say, one makes two blessings. The Rama says one should say “Baruch shem,” because someone later added this.

Law 5 – One Blessing on Both Tefillin

Speaker 1:

One says the blessing only the blessing on “to lay tefillin,” and he binds them on his hand first, and afterwards lays the head tefillin, and one doesn’t make an extra blessing. And when he removes, when he removes them, he removes the head tefillin first, he removes first the head tefillin, what one lays later one removes first, and afterwards he removes the hand tefillin, and then one removes the hand tefillin, so that one should never remain without a mitzvah even for one moment, so that one should never remain with the head tefillin alone.

Ashkenazi Custom – Two Blessings

We do differently, not to confuse the Lubavitcher, he brings the Shulchan Aruch, we do, and in practice most of the world conducts that one does make yes two blessings. The second blessing one says quietly, and one says “Baruch shem kevod malchuto,” because one wants to fulfill according to the opinion of the Rambam who is concerned that it’s a blessing in vain.

Ashkenazi custom, there’s a dispute in the Rama also, yes? We Ashkenazim conduct ourselves for the most part, I don’t know if everyone, that one makes two blessings. The Rama says one should say “Baruch shem,” someone later added this, I don’t know who says it, maybe yes, I don’t remember.

The Plain Meaning of “To Lay” – One Blessing on Two Mitzvot

The point is, there’s a question how one learns the Gemara, but we’re learning the Rambam’s approach. Apparently what is the plain meaning of the Rambam? “To lay” can actually go on both, that is, one can make the same, a completely different language, it can apply to both, do you understand? It can apply to both. But… that there’s an extra blessing, that’s as it says in the Gemara. Apparently the plain meaning of the Gemara says like the Rambam, that just normally one makes two blessings, if one makes an interruption or one does only one. That’s the sound in the Gemara.

Responsa of the Rambam – Two Mitzvot, One Subject

Okay, he brings the responsa of the Rambam actually said that they’re actually two mitzvot, but the Sages gave one matter, it’s one subject that one can make one blessing on two mitzvot. Here one learns something, that one can make one blessing on two mitzvot as long as they’re in the same subject.

Law 6 – Interruption with Speech Between Hand and Head Tefillin

Okay, as it is, let’s learn in where. Yes, the law in the blessings actually, One who blessed “to lay tefillin”, one who made the blessing “to lay tefillin” and tied the hand tefillin, and his plan is to go further and lay the head tefillin. He is forbidden to speak, he may not speak anything. And even to return greetings to his teacher, not even an important speech, like his derech eretz to a rabbi, answering greetings, until he finishes the head tefillin. Because the blessing goes on both.

There are those who understand that one can lay extra tefillin, so what happens when one lays only hand tefillin? Then he doesn’t have a problem, because he doesn’t make… he makes both. So because you have in mind both, and the blessing is more likely to go on both, you shouldn’t speak further.

And if he spoke, this is a transgression in his hand. You should know that this was transgressing on something that’s called a transgression. And he needs to bless a second blessing “on the mitzvah of tefillin”, and one must make again a blessing “on the mitzvah of tefillin,” because you interrupted with the blessing.

What Is the “Transgression”?

A “this is a transgression” is it, apparently the transgression is that you made a concern of a blessing in vain? No, not a blessing in vain, you made an interruption. The interruption is the transgression, that you caused to make another blessing. No, not a blessing in vain, now you simply lost the mitzvah, therefore initially one must say one blessing. Yes certainly, this time you already made the blessing on this, now you interrupted, therefore you’re stuck, you must make again.

Source of “This Is a Transgression” – Gemara Sotah (Anointed for War)

So the “this is a transgression” is basically, the Rambam goes with this language of Chazal that the anointed for war sends back from the war “whoever is fearful and soft-hearted.” What does the Midrash say? What does fearful mean? One who is afraid of his transgressions. What is his transgression? For example, one who spoke between hand and head tefillin.

So I think that if there’s a proof there that it’s a very weak transgression, because the Gemara there wants to bring out that one sends back even one who did such a tiny small transgression like speaking between hand and head tefillin. So “this is a transgression” that the Rambam brings is a bit interesting that he brings here “this is a transgression.” All the laws here are calculated things that one shouldn’t do, if one doesn’t do it’s a transgression.

The Rambam’s Innovation – “Forbidden to Speak”

English Translation

True, true, but here there is an important thing. The “tzarich levarech” (must bless)… that “assur” (forbidden), no, the “assur lesaper” (forbidden to speak). Because in the Gemara, let’s understand, in the Gemara it said that if he spoke he makes two blessings, simply if he didn’t speak he makes one blessing. This could mean that a person may do so lechatchila (from the outset), he may speak, then he will simply need to make another blessing. But it’s not any problem at all. From this you see that it’s stated as a transgression, from there the Rambam saw that it’s forbidden. One may not, lechatchila if one puts on tefillin normally one must make one blessing on both and not interrupt. Bedi’eved (after the fact) one must make two blessings, but I think that there is no other source for this that one may not do this lechatchila, only the Gemara so says Rabbi Yehuda.

One Who Puts On Only Shel Yad

But if so I understand very well why one grasps it by one who goes to war. That means, one who plans now to put on only tefillin shel yad, he may. So says the Rambam, one honors this one with that one, and he can make only the blessing “al mitzvat tefillin,” and he can speak afterwards. Because whatever, it doesn’t say he is mesiyach da’at (distracted), but it doesn’t say that one may not interrupt. But if one plans to put on both, then one should put on both, one cannot play around.

But one who is wishy-washy, first he does, he thinks to put them on together, but he starts to speak, and only then he decides, okay, you know what, let me actually put them on, again, you have to go home from the military.

Discussion: “Lo Me’akev Zeh Et Zeh” — What Does It Mean?

Speaker 2:

Yes, I think, I don’t know how much it’s a matter of a plan, it could be that one is obligated, one is obligated to put on both tefillin during the day. It’s not that, we’re talking about when one is me’akev zeh et zeh (prevents one from the other) for a reason.

Speaker 1:

Yes, that’s what he means to say, if you don’t have, one doesn’t have, he shouldn’t think that he is exempt from putting on tefillin.

Speaker 2:

That’s exactly it.

Speaker 1:

Yes, that’s exactly it. But the Rambam is, don’t lechatchila only put on one. Certainly not, I have a mitzvah, it’s two mitzvot, it’s two separate mitzvot. It’s two mitzvot. You must have two blessings.

Speaker 2:

Yes, but, no, it’s not a reshut (optional matter) the whole thing, it’s a mitzvah. One is obligated to put on both. It’s a mitzvah that is at the same time, that both want to put on shel yad at the beginning of the day, certainly, the whole day.

Speaker 1:

So explain precisely what is the halacha? The halacha, the normal halacha is both mitzvot, whenever one is obligated in the mitzvah one is obligated in both. The lo me’akev zeh et zeh, I think it always means if one doesn’t have. The lo me’akev zeh et zeh means that if you were me’akev, you wouldn’t have, you wouldn’t do either one, because you can’t do half a mitzvah. For example, there’s no such thing you should do one. But certainly, every day one is obligated to put on both. It’s not only he plans, but he is obligated essentially. That’s what I think.

Digression — Chassidic Torah

Speaker 2:

Yes, there are Chassidic torahs, you know, why there is tefillin shel yad and tefillin shel rosh, because in Judaism, the head should hold together with the heart. Beautiful.

Speaker 1:

That’s the Chassidic torah. I’m going to continue learning about the blessing, yes? Very good.

Halacha 7 — Blessing at Each New Placement

Speaker 2:

Learn, learn. You meant something?

Speaker 1:

Yes, I wanted to ask.

Speaker 2:

Did you find something?

Speaker 1:

Yes, tefillin kol zman shemanicha.

Speaker 2:

Yes, say it.

Speaker 1:

Tefillin kol zman shemanicha, says the Rambam here, tefillin kol zman shemanicha, when one puts them on only, mevarech aleihen. Once upon a time, people used to go for a long time, so when one puts them on, takes them off, puts them back on, continues to learn, and so on. Afilu cholets velovesh me’ah pe’amim bayom, even if one puts them on and off a hundred times a day, one can make a hundred blessings.

Speaker 2:

A whole week is no problem, anyway, only Shabbat, and on Shabbat one doesn’t put on tefillin.

Speaker 1:

Bechol hamitzvot kulan, mevarech aleihen kodem la’asiyatan. All mitzvot one does before… one says the blessing before the action. Lefichach, mevarech al tefillin shel yad right before the action, beforehand, not afterwards. He makes the blessing beforehand, and not a long time beforehand. Lefichach, so first one prepares the tefillin, and one places it next to the place where one puts it. So one places the tzorech, mevarech al tefillin, achar hanacha, after one places it on the kiboret, before one ties it, because the tying is already the action, and the blessing we want to make right before the action.

Speaker 2:

Yes, good.

Discussion: Blessing Upon Return

Speaker 1:

The Rambam says further, and this is indeed the thing, this is me’ah pe’amim bayom, it’s not just once. He took them off, he went to the bathroom, he davened, and he puts on the tefillin again. Must he make another blessing?

But it says here in the Rambam, good, you have some way not to do so, that we will say. But so is apparently the… so is apparently the halacha, yes?

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

There is what… yes. There is perhaps a way out of this thing, so is the halacha. He says that it’s not so clear about the shel rosh, if there is what to do about the shel rosh so, that they put on the tefillin on the head, and therefore they make it clear. But according to them, good, according to the Rambam this doesn’t make sense, because we learn all the time that there is no such thing as tying on the shel rosh. They didn’t find a reality of tying on the shel rosh. There is no such thing on the shel rosh. That is the way of how it lies. Therefore, it has nothing to do with it should be tightening, meaning tightening and the like, but it’s not that it’s a simple thing. The Rambam is medakdek (precise) that one places it exactly how it lies on the head. And not just before you place it on the head, however you want, what is the difference between placing and lying? It’s the same thing. No, one places it in the exact place, so the thing becomes as what it means that it already lies, it already lies comfortably.

Ah, the Rema says that if one removes the tefillin lechatchila in order that one is going to put them back on, one doesn’t need to make a blessing. But this is not so simple that every time one removes them one must make a blessing. Okay.

Halacha 8 — Order of Storing Tefillin in a Case

Okay, now the Rambam is going to talk about the tefillin bag. Everyone has beautiful tefillin bags. So the matter is because one must have tefillin one must honor them, one must keep them with honor. Says the Rambam, mi shecholetz tefillin… yes, but he’s going to decide how he places them, yes? Al yanicha al ha’aretz, he should not place them on the ground, but… lo yaniach shel yad lemata veshel rosh lema’ala. When one places them in such a bag that is… it stands in width and height, yes? And one is going to place one on the other, one should not place the shel yad on the shel rosh. Why? Besha’ah sheyirtze lilovshen, when he is going to want to put them on next time, so he is going to… yifga beshel rosh techila, his hand is going to encounter the shel rosh. Nimtza shehu manicha, when he is going to take it out, he is going to… we don’t want him to take out the wrong tefillin. We want him to place it in such a way that when he puts it away, will… next time when he is going to open it he should find the shel yad.

Why? Ki she’ein lovshin shel rosh kodem shel yad. One doesn’t put on the shel rosh before the shel yad, as we said earlier, one makes the blessing before the shel yad, well, and further. Therefore, we don’t want you to place it in a way that you will have to search for the shel yad. Why? Ve’assur lo le’adam lehaniach mitzvah vela’avor mimena lemitzvah acheret. When your hand is going to go into the bag, your hand is first going to bump into the mitzvah which is called mitzvat shel rosh. But you don’t want to now go put on mitzvat shel rosh, but you want to put on shel yad first. You’re going to have a dilemma. So because the mitzvah is a matter that a person should not pass over a mitzvah, mitzvah sheteivo leyadcha al tachmitzena, at first you’re busy, as you bumped into the chain, that now you must apparently start doing the chain, and search for that not, you should place it in such a way that it’s not fallen first into the chain. The Rebbe says it’s not what happened with the slave, if one actually bumped into the chain, apparently one must actually put on the chain,

Halacha 8 (Continued) — Dilemma When One Encounters Shel Rosh First

Speaker 1:

But you’re not ready to put on the mitzvah shel rosh, because you want to put on shel yad first, and you’re now going to have a dilemma.

Because the mitzvah is indeed a matter that a person should not pass over a mitzvah, “ulemitzvah shetavo leyadcha techila ba ata mit’asek”. As you have bumped into the shel rosh, you must apparently put on the shel rosh, and when you search for that not, you should place it in such a way that you should not bump first into the shel rosh.

The Rambam doesn’t say what happened bedi’eved if one actually bumped into the shel rosh. Apparently one must put on the shel rosh first. Perhaps the opposite, perhaps one doesn’t need to, perhaps the shel yad first on this wouldn’t have been any problem, because that comes first. I don’t see from the Rambam the opposite, perhaps if one encounters the shel rosh first, perhaps not necessarily so.

The question is now, which is docheh (overrides) which? The mitzvah of shel yad first, or the matter of “mitzvah haba’ah leyadcha techila”? Apparently the mitzvah shel yad is gover (prevails), and you are going to transgress the matter of “mitzvah haba’ah leyadcha al takrana,” and “ein ma’avirin al hamitzvot.”

I don’t know. He brings that the Beit Yosef argued that the Rambam implies that one must do differently, that one must do the shel yad first if one places it backwards, however you place it, even if you place the shel rosh first, I admit that it’s backwards, I don’t know.

Internal Contradiction in the Concept of “Ein Ma’avirin Al Hamitzvot”

The essential point is an interesting thing, because the concept of “ein ma’avirin al hamitzvot” is apparently also that there is less structure, but what you encounter, that you do. It looks like a bit of an attitude, the mitzvah that comes to your hand, that you do. The same man damar (one who says) who says “a mitzvah that you encounter, that you do”, wouldn’t have said that you should tie the tefillin in a certain way, that you shouldn’t bump into it. Do you understand? We do here both, we do we worry about the system, and not bump into something.

Well, what does it mean we worry that one shouldn’t have to be ma’avir al hamitzvot? The Rambam doesn’t say the opposite, if then one would have placed it backwards, one wouldn’t have had to worry, he says also. Except that you say that there are two things here, but he doesn’t see what is the matter of placing the shel yad first at all. Which mitzvah is it? What should decide here?

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

You can take. Here one also sees that one must have such a tefillin bag that one places in one next to the other. Today’s tefillin bags go differently, one is not mekayem (fulfilling) the halacha. On the contrary, the old tefillin bags, the tailor only knew the tefillin bags that the Rambam spoke about, that’s what he made, and it could make problems. For example today they fixed it, and he doesn’t need to search in the dark, there is one next to the other, he can give it a tap quickly and take the one he needs, he doesn’t need to take out.

Dispute of Rabbeinu Menachem with Magen Avraham — Tefillin Bags

Our current one is very good, because he knows where the shel yad lies, where the shel rosh lies, and he takes out the shel yad first. Here also, by the Rambam he also says that it’s difficult, what happens if he must take out both? He must take out both, he takes out first the shel yad, then he takes out the shel rosh. If not, what is the way? He must take out both, he will first take out the shel rosh. Very good.

Our current tefillin bags are very fine. But the current tefillin bags are not what the Gemara speaks about, it’s clear that it was different from what the Gemara speaks. Ah, but have you seen large tefillin bags? Obviously, I have a small one that it’s easier to place in the tallit bag.

Speaker 2:

No, I did as the Rambam said one should do, you overcame the system.

Speaker 1:

No, we follow ours, we go to the local mikveh Yid, whatever is accepted in that city to buy tefillin bags, and we buy the tefillin bags that are accepted by most heimishe yungeleit. We are not ovrei chacham (transgressors of the wise). He doesn’t only make the best. Obviously, first of all one can’t know obviously, tzorech lehaniach shel yad lema’ala, they did so. Very good.

Next halacha.

Discussion: The Dispute of Rabbeinu Menachem with Mishna Berura

Says the Rambam, kli shehechino lehaniach bo tefillin, the bag, it’s ready. I think one also prepared a name for a type of vessel for tefillin, one calls it a bag. He also has so, “hechino lehaniach bo tefillin”. In olden times one used to have bags for other things also, today one has for money, but it could be that one had bags. What does a bag mean? A purse? No, it’s similar to a purse. A larger purse? No, the Japanese. A vessel in short.

Halacha 9 — Sanctity of Tefillin Vessel

Kli shehechino lehaniach bo tefillin vehinicha bo, yes, the vessel has become sanctified. Fine, what is the matter? That it’s forbidden to use for mundane matters. One must already honor it. Hechino velo hiniach bo, he prepared a vessel and he didn’t start using it. O shehiniach bo ara’i velo hechino, or he once placed a Sefer Torah in it, but not with any preparation. That is tefillin, im hem ilanot kadosh, harei hen kechol, veharei hen kechol kemo shehayu, veharei hen kechol.

By the box in which one places a Sefer Torah, did he mention the matter? Does the box have sanctity? What does one say there? That it has sanctity, one may not spit it out, one may not even sell the box and buy another thing. If one prepared it or placed it in it, or this or that. Yes, it was stated. It was stated.

Regarding designation? Yes, let’s remember. The box? Yes, let’s see. Ah, you see? The dispute that I had with you is a dispute of Rabbeinu Menachem with the Mishna Berura. Rabbeinu Menachem, and so also the Ba”ch, said as we in those days, that one must buy a tefillin bag that is narrow, so one can do as the line states. And the Magen Avraham argued the opposite, as you, that it’s better to place it in a wider one, and one no longer has the problem. Yes. Ah, the holy grandfather, the Magen Avraham. So, it’s a dispute. A dispute of the poskim. Fine, the fathers are also poskim, and we have the same dispute that the poskim had. Never mind. We hold the tradition, we continue to argue.

Practical Nafka Mina — Mundane Items in Tefillin Bag

Anyway, it was stated there that there is preparation, yes, so I remember. The point is, they need to know that one may no longer place any pen in the tefillin bag. So comes out the halacha. Perhaps only in the plastic? Let’s see. I would have said that the plastic outside doesn’t mean already, it’s made so it shouldn’t get dirty, it doesn’t mean any vessel. Okay, let it be so. The custom of Israel is that there lies wires with batteries, with a pen, with all important things. I don’t know, it could be the custom of Israel, but the Rambam states, I think the Shulchan Aruch states that one may not. I don’t know.

Speaker 2:

No, usually the young bachurim have tefillin and they have a plastic that lies in a plastic. The fathers no longer have any plastic.

Speaker 1:

This we inherited from the non-Jewish fathers. In our times the fathers used to have, I mean more than the warm Jewish state, and the plastics, the Chassidic plastics, still had tefillin gear. Because a Litvak has only tefillin there. A Chassidic Jew, you must have… you come to a car, you must have a gartel. Yes, a gartel. And a bit of light for a picture, with matches. And when a Jew is going to break his glasses, you don’t need to have any crazy glue there. I hear.

Perhaps one needs to know the mundane matters. The question is whether perhaps in a siddur one may place, it doesn’t mean any mundane matters. Mundane matters means a… okay, I don’t know. I have no idea. I don’t know. No idea do I have. I don’t know what to say mundane matters. What a Jew has only there in his tefillin bag is junk. You’re telling the truth, perhaps you’re right. Perhaps if one makes it special, one makes a condition, can it help? It could be that if one makes… all these solutions could be. Not dangerous. One can wrap it, and the plastic one can be lenient.

Litulo of Tefillin — Carrying Tefillin

Says the Viderer Rav, on the contrary, he says, what is litulo of tefillin? First, hanging up the tefillin. Because one cannot… hanging doesn’t mean holding the tefillin bag with the strap alone. No, the tefillin itself. Imagine a person walking and he has a hook, and he’s going to hang up the tefillin. But toleh is a knot, we’ll talk about that later. One holds it either way in a pocket.

And the tefillin themselves, when you look at what’s in the tefillin, in how many coverings one puts it in. One puts it in a cloth, and one ties it well with a string. And afterwards one closes it with leather, and afterwards one closes it with… and afterwards one puts it in the coverings in which the tefillin are placed. And you say that even the plastic… you put on another plastic too. Says the Rema, when does one put on tefillin? There are tzaddikim who hold that one may not put the tefillin in such a backpack. But that’s not what litulo of tefillin means. Litulo of tefillin means hanging the tefillin themselves. And one puts it in a… there’s no obligation at all that when one goes to shul one may not hold any other things, and one must hold the tefillin bag with two hands. That’s an excessive stringency, in my opinion.

And again, I want to tell you something else. Today when one goes to the modern tefillin stores, it comes with such a… such a strap that you can hold, you don’t have to hold, you can carry another thing along. There are Jews who hold that this is not proper, that the litulo of tefillin means the hand. No, it means the tefillin themselves. If it comes with a shoulder strap, you can hold it normally. There’s no obligation.

And even what you’re going to say litulo of tefillin is quite good, because the person is now making sure for a small detail, hanging on him means forced? A hanger means still a hanger. But yes, in short, that’s not the thing, that’s the point. Yes, further.

Halacha 10 — Time for Putting on Tefillin

The time for putting on tefillin, when one puts on the tefillin. Okay, says the Rambam, we’re going to learn the halacha of the time for putting on tefillin. Says the Rambam, the time for putting on tefillin is during the day and not at night, from the Tannaim in the Mishna, the poskim, the time for putting on tefillin is during the day and not at night, as it says “miyamim yamima”. It says in the verse “and it shall be for you… this statute at its appointed time miyamim yamima”. The statute simply means the Korban Pesach, but the Sages expounded that it means the tefillin. The statute of tefillin which recalls the Exodus from Egypt is… what does it also say there, Rabbeinu Tam learned that it refers to the matter of the mitzvah of tefillin, that it says “miyamim”, “miyamim” is from day.

Tefillin as a “Kamea” — Why Shabbat/Yom Tov Exempts

The same thing, Shabbat and Yamim Tovim are also exempt from putting on tefillin, as it says “and it shall be for you as a sign”, that the tefillin is the sign, and Shabbat and Yamim Tovim are themselves a sign, one doesn’t need the sign, because Shabbat and Yom Tov themselves, it says in the Torah “it is a sign between Me and you”, that Shabbat is a sign.

It’s a very beautiful thing, because tefillin is not included in the things, they learned that tefillin is a kind of kamea that contains important things that remind a Jew when he puts it on, he gets a reminder of who he is and what he is. Shabbat and Yom Tov, the entire atmosphere, one lives with love of Hashem, unity of Hashem, fear of Him, what does one do all Shabbat besides this? One doesn’t need this, one doesn’t need this, because other times, so it shouldn’t just lie there, it lies there because it’s a kamea, it should remind you.

Question from Tzitzit

And I ask you all, tzitzit is a sign, tzitzit is a sign, a reminder, I know it’s called a sign, a yarmulke for you, a kappel is a sign, and a shtreimel is a sign, and the white shirt that you wore, why doesn’t one need tzitzit? Not only does a kappel remind and a white shirt remind, what is only Jewishly customary and it’s a question on the Torah, and when you say when you grasp that point, that you didn’t have an answer and certainly not afterwards a question. You’re good to yourself, and you mean from that one who said you can… No, that’s a very beautiful word, it’s correct that way also the word before the Mishkan is mine, I say but that point understand, because it seems to me that this is some way of expressing something that will become obvious to the Sages something, that the Yom Tov doesn’t work for me. Because I want to recognize very well understand, one must be able to write, it’s a holy day, one still wears tefillin. No, I’ll tell you, it’s also correct, because tzitzit is indeed for the person himself, the person himself should remember, the zonah achat, it should remind the person himself, tefillin the whole time that one should see.

Halacha 10: Time for Putting on Tefillin – From Misheyakir Until Sunset

Speaker 1:

You’re good at this, and you mean from that one who said you can… No, that’s a very beautiful word, it’s correct that way also the word before the Mishkan is mine. No Rabbi, but one must understand it, because it seems to me that this is some way of expressing something that was obvious to the Sages and something and on Yom Tov one doesn’t go, because I want you to be able to understand well, specifically Shabbat it’s a holy day, one also wears… tzitzit is indeed for the person himself, the person himself should remember, the zonah achat, it should remind the person himself, tefillin the whole time that one should see.

Discussion: What Does “Sign” Mean – For Others or For Oneself?

Speaker 2:

So, Shabbat is a different atmosphere for a Jew, in the eating one eats differently, as it says there in the stories in the Gemara, spices of Shabbat, it looks anyway different, if someone sees, one sees that he’s a Jew and he observes Shabbat. Perhaps there’s a… it’s an interesting idea. So, that itself is a sign. If sign means for other people, as Derman understood that the sign means a sign for people…

Speaker 1:

The Chagavi the Rebbe at the end of the verse is going to make it yes for the person himself, he’s going to say the should Moshe tefillin alav, it could be that it’s a matter of not making too many reminders, it makes too many reminders, it loses the power, it’s a ready-made thing for the protection, you think when half the reminder is from Shabbat, half from tefillin, it loses the power, it becomes just another thing, one at a time Shabbat, it’s Shabbat, during the week tefillin, at least according to that opinion, when one wears tefillin one doesn’t need a kappel, eh, it doesn’t do, tefillin kappel is not a sign kappel, it’s something else entirely.

Speaker 2:

It’s interesting, but the Rambam makes it much more powerful, not simply that Shabbat and Yom Tov are themselves signs, at least it doesn’t lack a sign, rather the verse is indeed hinting that one shouldn’t do it on Shabbat, when the verse says that you should put it on the days when it’s specifically a sign, but other days you shouldn’t put it on. Ah, when you need a sign. You know what the Rambam says, and Shabbat and Yom Tov are themselves signs, the reason why you don’t put it on because of Shabbat and Yamim Tovim, they are eternal, what only because the Torah says v’hayah lecha l’ot, it’s literally an exclusion from the Torah. Which side this is interesting.

Time for Putting on Tefillin – Misheyakir Et Chaveiro

Speaker 1:

Okay, when does one put it on earlier, according to the simplest understanding it’s apparently sunrise, or dawn, which is so.

Speaker 2:

“Kedei sheyakir et chaveiro berachok arba amot veyikra’ei”. He should see his friend who is standing not, four amot is like the definition of a private domain, the friend who is standing a bit over there, and he should recognize him. Means that it’s already not so strong, it’s already not so dark. That’s also the time when one begins to read. There’s already a bit of light.

Speaker 1:

Ah, until when is this? From the early morning, yes, that’s when one reads Kriat Shema. Until sunset until… sunset. The sun goes down.

I noted Chovot HaLevavot, and the like. Let’s see.

Halacha 11: One Who Put on Tefillin Before Sunset – We Don’t Teach This Publicly

Speaker 2:

So he says, “One who put on tefillin before the sun set”. Someone who put on tefillin when one was still allowed to, in the evening, and he didn’t take them off in the evening. “And it became dark”, it became dark for him, “and they are on him”, he still has them on, even “they are on him all night”, it’s “permitted”. No problem. Even though he established earlier that the mitzvah of putting on tefillin is “during the day and not at night”, means then one must put them on, but it’s not a sin to put them on then. It’s not a sin.

Says the Rambam, but this is something that “we don’t teach this publicly”. This is something that one doesn’t teach publicly.

Explanation of “We Don’t Teach This Publicly”

Speaker 1:

The Yad Peshuta brings a very beautiful explanation. “We don’t teach this publicly”, says the Rambam, something that has a virtue but can bring a deficiency. Tefillin at night, apparently the problem is that it lacks cleanliness, it lacks concentration, one can fall asleep with them, it lacks all the honor of tefillin. On the other hand, there’s no deficiency. On the contrary, let a person wear his tefillin longer.

So for the person privately one can say, you’re going to wear them as long as you remember the laws of watching over the body, one tells him that. But you’re going to say publicly for the people, it will harm the public, and people will stop honoring the tefillin.

Rather, the Rambam rules, “that one should not put tefillin on except he should remove them until the sun sets”. Because the one person who comes to ask, why does he come to ask? Because he wants to be more meticulous, he wants to have his tefillin on more. “We don’t teach so publicly, but privately we teach him”. Privately yes.

He brings here places where it says that “we don’t teach so”. Like if one asks whether the Almighty says no. This is something that’s not such a great deficiency, it even has a virtue, but it can indeed bring a stumbling block that people will be less careful about the sanctity of tefillin. That’s the conclusion.

Discussion: What Does “Publicly” Mean in a Book?

Speaker 2:

And how do we learn in the Rambam, what is the opinion that the Rambam writes that we learn in the Rambam? What does this mean? Publicly? When you check how many people listen to nonsense from podcasts where two people sit down one opposite the other, “Say, what should we talk about this week? Ah, I had trauma.” Hello? The people have tens of thousands of listeners, and we have… yes, a few hundred, a few thousand, almost no evil eye a nice audience, but hello? If that’s called publicly, we’re also publicly.

But it’s indeed a true question, if you write a book, what’s the meaning of publicly? It must be either that you say, whoever learns the Rambam already, he already keeps the tefillin, he’s not one of those we’re afraid of. No, because it was the Rambam, because it brings a stumbling block in keeping the tefillin clean. We’re talking, the entire people must have clean tefillin, we’re talking about Torah scholars who learn Rambam.

Or you can only say that once he’s already learned it it’s already also not so dangerous, because he remembers that when learning one was warned that one must maintain cleanliness. What will happen here? The dilemma will remind him, he’ll remember that it was a halachic dilemma.

Speaker 1:

It could be such a book, that’s always like a question that I truly have, whether it’s like the Gemara. The Gemara already says this, the Gemara is not a public book, the Gemara is a private book for Torah scholars. Exactly so the Rambam is also not so… is also a private book. Ask a random person on which thing a halacha stands that one learns no one, he won’t know on which halacha it is. He makes it indeed for a minority of the wise.

But learning publicly means when the Rav gives a chapter shiur, then he doesn’t say the whole thing, he says… then he focuses on what’s lacking for the common people, one needs cleanliness of tefillin, therefore one shouldn’t have them at night.

Halacha 11 (Continued): One Who Puts on Tefillin Initially After Sunset – Violates a Prohibition

Speaker 2:

Okay. And anyone who puts on tefillin initially after the sun sets, should not put them on until night comes, rather he should remove them. One who begins to put them on late, violates a prohibition, as it says “and you shall observe this statute at its appointed time miyamim yamima”.

And you shall observe, many times when it says the language v’shamarta it means a prohibition.

Why Doesn’t the Rambam Count This Prohibition in the Count of Mitzvot?

Speaker 1:

He brings in an interesting thing, that the Rambam doesn’t count this prohibition among the mitzvot in the count of mitzvot. He says that the Rambam explains in the count of mitzvot, that many times when he counts one mitzvah that has various detailed laws, he won’t count each detail extra, because after all it’s a condition in the mitzvah of putting on tefillin that it should be during the day, so there’s also a prohibition.

It could be that it’s not really a prohibition. This isn’t from the Rabbis. Right, even if yes, the Torah says that you shouldn’t, because it doesn’t say explicitly, this means only during the day, but it’s not simple that he transgresses and he’s liable to lashes. It’s a certain disrespect or something in the times regarding tefillin, but it’s not a sin whose understanding is that he didn’t put on tefillin.

Speaker 2:

Are we talking even if he already put on all day, and he just once doesn’t wear tefillin? Or not because he wasn’t careful during the day?

Speaker 1:

No, it’s a prohibition. And that means, yes, clearly it’s not initially.

Speaker 2:

No, but initially means… one is the first time, or when not put on. That means one who puts on initially. Okay from put on.

Speaker 1:

Yes. It’s not something such a more a thing, like… it’s a problem.

Distinction Between Rambam and Shulchan Aruch

Speaker 2:

One doesn’t need to connect with that one teaches this publicly, that the children, or let us worry very strongly for their cleanliness, they will transgress calmly. But that’s not the reason for the matter of initially. Now the same Rebbe asks, what is the same reason for the matter of initially? But that’s a greater thing, faster like he makes a blessing levatalah, because it’s not a mitzvah to put on at night. Or it wastes him one blessing, it wastes him the lying to run from blessing.

Or there are many other opinions, yes the Rebbe ruled that night is not the time for tefillah, and only… but the final halacha and practice no one to leave the tefillah, we have here not holy are the beginnings. There others are apparently a dispute of the Tannaim, that there others rulings that rule at all that night is the time for tefillah. At least it comes out differently the halacha. If it’s the time for tefillah, it comes out differently, it comes out that the prohibition is only from the Rabbis. These are the distinctions.

Speaker 1:

No, the Chagah, that’s also the halacha and practice no. It’s also the halacha and practice no, but the Brisker Rav my teacher used to say, he was once a punishment from the Rav that he should put on at night, because… according to the opinions that night is time. Yes, he had he at least had something to be not miss an entire day no tefillin. That’s one thing, first of all because this one doesn’t say publicly, but privately also yes one will be afraid no.

Speaker 2:

And the second thing is that there’s a distinction, the technical thing. The Rambam rules that a virtue to have not tefillin at night violates a prohibition, but the Shulchan Aruch doesn’t hold so. The Shulchan Aruch holds that night has no time for tefillin, the whole thing is only from the Rabbis lest he sleep in them, therefore it comes out that it’s not a prohibition, it’s only a rabbinic prohibition. The Rambam says that yes, from the Torah he holds that it’s a prohibition. It’s a distinction in halacha, practically there’s no distinction, but in the learning of the halacha there’s a distinction.

Halacha 12: One Coming on the Road and the Sun Set on Him

Speaker 1:

Says the Rambam further such a thing: One was coming on the road and tefillin on his head, a person comes, he’s coming on the road, the same coming on the road we already encountered in Kriat Shema and tefillah. People ask, it happens, the same thing that people go on the road, one of the things that people go to do. Tefillin on his head, he’s walking with tefillin on his head. And the sun set on him, yes, and the sun set on him, it became dark, the sun went down, and he still has his tefillin.

What should he do now? We don’t want him to be disrespectful with his tefillin, but on the other hand there’s a matter of not wearing tefillin at night. But one says no, he should indeed leave the tefillin on, but what then, he should place his hand on them, so it shouldn’t be exposed, so when he walks through the city everyone should see him walking with tefillin, because initially one doesn’t go with tefillin at night. And when he arrives home, he takes them off there. Rather than he should turn around with tefillin in his hand, it seems that this is perhaps not respectful.

English Translation

Speaker 2:

Ah, there are those who learn that this refers to Shabbos, and he’s not allowed to carry. But the Rambam answered this. Ah, it should just be what? One needs to see. It’s further about the evil eye. Otherwise, people shouldn’t see that he’s going with tefillin at night. It has to do with the fact that the Rambam rules that night is not a time for tefillin.

Speaker 1:

What’s so bad that he should take them off and put them in his bag or something? It could be that it’s not respectful, he’s not hanging them. The best way he has to keep the tefillin is the way he’s going. Perhaps it’s not practical, that’s one thing.

Halacha 12 (continued): Sitting in the Beis Midrash When the Day Became Holy

Speaker 2:

Okay. What if he’s in the beis midrash? “If he was sitting in the beis midrash with tefillin on his head, and the day became holy”, it became Shabbos. So ah, then it’s not a time when, he’s not on the road. Here it’s on the road, and one doesn’t go on the road so close to the time. So how does the mistake happen? When one sits in the beis midrash with tefillin, yes, and the day became holy, “he places his hand on them until he reaches his house”. It’s the same thing, one doesn’t need more stringency when, first one goes home to make kiddush, why not all these laws.

It could be that there’s a difference, but he did it this way. He’s in the beis midrash, he doesn’t have a minyan in his beis midrash.

Speaker 1:

Yes, presumably he first goes home to make sure that the wife lights candles etc., and to ask the questions of Yom Tov. That’s already too late for that, that needs to be done “while it’s still day”. He’s already on his way home. That’s what the sages sitting in the beis midrash, he doesn’t know all these stories.

In short, he may go home with the tefillin on, even though on Shabbos one doesn’t wear tefillin, but he shouldn’t…

House Adjacent to the Wall – Discussion of the Rambam’s Plain Meaning

Speaker 1: Perhaps it’s a matter of it shouldn’t be a breach of boundaries, so that people shouldn’t see in public people doing differently than the accepted halacha. Ah, he’s not watching there. And Yom Tov, a house adjacent to the wall where they guard them? Are we talking here again about the person who… ah… was on the road. Ah, not Shabbos.

Speaker 2: Yes.

Speaker 1: But perhaps also, yes, Shabbos they’ll watch, what makes it that it came until his house.

Speaker 2: Aha.

Speaker 1: Not clear. People struggle here with the plain meaning of these things whether we’re talking about Shabbos or weekdays.

Speaker 2: Okay.

Speaker 1: Okay, let’s continue. But what will he do? “And he places them there”, he puts them in the place of…

Speaker 2: Yes?

Speaker 1: Yes. By the house adjacent to the wall. But by Shabbos I understand it, that he’s not allowed to walk more than what he’s missing. We carry… we don’t carry. They do it outside, what does carrying mean?

Perhaps the plain meaning is that it’s more a matter that on Shabbos one doesn’t wear tefillin, or at night one doesn’t wear tefillin. “And if he didn’t remove the tefillin from when the sun set because he didn’t find a place to guard them, and they remained on him in order to guard them.” If a person is still going with tefillin from daytime, he didn’t take them off because he didn’t have a way to take them off, and it’s on him because there it’s the best most convenient place and one needs to guard them. He doesn’t need to place his hand on them.

This is talking about the house adjacent to the wall, or on the road, and if he’s holding them, one needs to guard them by the wall so he should put them in there. We’re talking about Shabbos. I don’t know, one doesn’t understand what we’re talking about. Back before Shabbos, what the Rambam is talking about here, I don’t understand a word.

In general, here is just a halacha in general. That if someone doesn’t have guarding for the tefillin, it’s not just that he can’t do this in public, but one can say at the shiur, if someone indeed didn’t put away his tefillin, but he has them on, he may leave them on even at night or even on Shabbos.

Speaker 2: So, that’s how it looks.

Halacha 13: Those Obligated in Tefillin

Speaker 1: Now, we’re going to talk about who is obligated to put on tefillin. The Rambam says, “Anyone who is exempt from reciting Shema is exempt from tefillin.” Yes, obviously both are the same mitzvah, exempt from mitzvah, all these positive time-bound commandments.

A Minor Who Knows How to Guard His Tefillin

The Rambam says, “A minor who knows how to guard his tefillin”, just as we learned a minor who can already say something, can read Shema, just as, yes, what should we learn it from? Yes, yes, a minor who knows how to speak. So he says, a minor who can guard his tefillin, is already mature enough for tefillin, “his father buys him tefillin in order to train him in mitzvos.”

Very good. Our custom is not like this, our custom is that we’re careful to do this a bit before, but it states plainly in the Shulchan Aruch here, that we don’t conduct ourselves to give tefillin to minors, but to adults.

Speaker 2: Perhaps guarding tefillin doesn’t just mean not breaking them, it means that he can with his hair, he can’t go to the bathroom. A ten-year-old boy can do as well as a thirteen-year-old boy.

Speaker 1: No, no, it could be about that, it could be about that, but the Shulchan Aruch says that we conduct ourselves, the Sefer HaIttur said that what it says “minor” doesn’t mean an actual minor, it means minor in reverse, even when he’s thirteen, let’s still wait until he’ll have knowledge to guard tefillin. And we don’t conduct ourselves that way either, we conduct ourselves that from thirteen one puts on tefillin.

Intestinal Illness

“Intestinal illness, anyone who cannot control his orifices even for a moment, is exempt from tefillin.” Okay. That even if he can yes guard his orifices, but it’s difficult for him, he’ll suffer, he’s exempt. One is not obligated to suffer for a mitzvah.

But by prayer and Shema there isn’t this law of intestinal illness, because he can stop immediately. He doesn’t need to hold on and continue, he stops quickly. Tefillin he needs to take off.

There’s also a matter that if one is passing gas one needs to stop because it’s guf naki. It’s not really enough about guf naki, it’s also a thing of awareness, it’s a minute, okay, for that minute he has… I mean it’s not… no, it could also be that tefillin he also needs to take off, he’s afraid that… but it stops, it stops the minute when you don’t feel well, you can stop and pray.

Speaker 2: Okay.

And All the Impure May Read

Speaker 1: “And all the impure may read”. And can still give with tefillin Shema. You understand, there’s no decree of Ezra’s immersion.

Speaker 2: Even in Ezra’s times was this so, or is this only today that there’s no Ezra’s immersion?

Speaker 1: I don’t know. You’re saying that you know that one combines, that the Gemara says “and all the impure may read”.

Speaker 2: Ah, but I’m asking even a baal keri that Ezra said shouldn’t learn any Torah, so about tefillin did he say yes? That they’re obligated. Ezra said that they’re obligated, one should be obligated to go to the mikveh.

Speaker 1: No, I understand. Just as when Ezra says that he’s obligated to read Shema, but if he didn’t go to the mikveh before reading Shema he’s exempt according to Ezra, right?

Speaker 2: Apparently, I understand what you mean.

Speaker 1: Even intestinal illness, you shouldn’t think that an impure person is also like intestinal illness, because we’re afraid of being impure. Ah, impurity is a spiritual thing, impurity isn’t a problem.

Speaker 2: Yes, that’s true, I understand. But I’m asking you because of baal keri. The Gemara says that baal keri, no, that baal keri may put on tefillin. Is this even according to what was made Ezra’s immersion?

Speaker 1: I’m not sure. Do you understand what I’m asking?

Speaker 2: A woman who gave birth and a niddah are pure.

Speaker 1: Okay. Yes.

One Who Is Distressed and One Whose Mind Is Not Settled

When he sleeps, the Gemara says that while sleeping he’s not allowed. Okay, well. Let’s go further. Ah, where are we holding here?

“And anyone who is distressed”, yes, an important thing. “Distressed”, or “one whose mind is not settled on him”, someone who is nervous, whatever, he’s mentally upset, is exempt from tefillin.

Here it doesn’t state the condition, this is apparently more lenient than Shema. Because by Shema there’s a law only one distressed by the distress of a mitzvah is exempt from Shema, only a groom or a mourner, he’s exempt from… but tefillin yes was, “one whose mind is not settled on him”.

Speaker 2: Yes, yes, about intention, true. Because he can’t… tefillin also.

Speaker 1: But here, by tefillin distressed isn’t relevant, perhaps by tefillin distressed isn’t relevant, I don’t know. But simply putting on tefillin without settled mind, one doesn’t fulfill. But someone who is distressed, he’s sick, or he can’t, he has a very strong distress, he doesn’t need to put on tefillin. So it states in the Rambam.

Speaker 2: Yes?

Speaker 1: Actually a mourner doesn’t put on tefillin, so it seems. But there it’s different, because there it’s a… that is, ah, we learned, we’re going to learn, for example, the Rambam doesn’t say Tisha B’Av that there’s a custom that one doesn’t put on tefillin on Tisha B’Av. The Rambam doesn’t say that at Mincha one should yes put them on. The Rambam says that one shouldn’t put them on at all, that one doesn’t put on tefillin in the morning. One can indeed be mistaken about this thing, that distressed is exempt.

Speaker 2: Okay.

Kohanim, Levites, and Men of the Ma’amad

Speaker 1: Another one who is exempt. Who else is exempt? The Rambam says, Kohanim when they do the service, Levites when they do the service of making song, making music, all these things. All these things, on the platform. One stands by the platform there, like the Kohanim, we learned earlier the Kohanim bless, there was the place in the Beis HaMikdash where they had their orchestra of Israel.

During the service there were three groups: there were Kohanim who did the service, Levites who sang, and there was a group of Jews who watched, who were there as anshei ma’amad, and they were emissaries of other Jews. Each week was a different ma’amad, a group from different regions who went to observe the service in the Beis HaMikdash.

All these three are services that have to do with the Beis HaMikdash. They’re already engaged in a mitzvah. So comes the service with the three groups. Therefore, all of these are exempt from tefillin, because they’re already engaged in a mitzvah.

Interesting. And also, apparently they can’t be distracted from the tefillin, but here they must be distracted, because they need to hold the sacrifices. They need to focus on the sacrifices. A difference.

Speaker 2: Okay.

Speaker 1: Ah, perhaps it has to do with mind. That is, because one needs, when while putting on tefillin, it’s not just putting on tefillin, one can’t put on tefillin for a minute. The whole time that one has tefillin on one needs to remember that one is wearing tefillin. And therefore, during the service this will be a contradiction, one can’t do both at once. So it’s a difference, he needs to stand and look at the service, he’s not allowed to do anything else. It’s a contradiction, because tefillin requires that he not be distracted, and here in contrast is a contradiction. Tefillin isn’t a mitzvah in action, tefillin is a mitzvah that is first of all a mitzvah of mind.

Halacha 14: A Person Must Touch His Tefillin

“A person must touch his tefillin every single hour.” This is indeed a law, it’s built up in the Gemara. He says, a person must touch his tefillin reminds me of automatic cars, that they want but yes that you should put your hands on the wheel from time to time, if not it starts ringing. He says, the tefillin work, but you need to be there, you need from time to time to show that you’re still there, to reaffirm the tefillin, the tefillin should feel your touch.

He says that it could be that the Rambam, just as there’s someone who learns that the Rambam learns that every second he needs to touch them, it doesn’t make sense, every time, every second? No. “A person must touch his tefillin the entire time they’re on him, so that he not be distracted from them even for one moment.” He’s not allowed even one moment.

Why? “Because their holiness is greater than the holiness of the tzitz. For the tzitz has only one Name”, what is the holiness of the tzitz? The Name. And the tzitz has only one Name. “But there are twenty-one Names in the hand tefillin, and likewise in the head tefillin.” It has twenty-one times the Name. One needs to look in the parsha and count, that it states altogether in the four parshiyos the explicit Name appears twenty-one times. It comes out that it’s twenty-one times as important as the tzitz. Therefore one must indeed not be distracted.

Speaker 2: The tzitz also has virtues, it’s a piece of gold that is engraved with the holy Name.

Speaker 1: Ah, it seems that it’s nothing. It’s all part of it. No, he doesn’t say twenty-four times as much. Yes, the tzitz has other virtues. I hear, I don’t know.

And because the tzitz is indeed a source that one may not be distracted, yes, it states “and it shall be on his forehead always”, there’s something a source that one may not be distracted, therefore kal vachomer that the tefillin one should touch. Yes, because you could easily say that from the Kohen Gadol it’s not too much to ask, but from every Jew who puts on tefillin, every Jew.

Halacha 15: Tefillin Require a Clean Body

Another thing, “Tefillin require a clean body.” It’s another matter of carefulness, similar to touching them. Yes, “that he be careful that no wind come out from below the entire time they’re on him.” The tefillin should only be wind from above and not from below.

“Therefore, it’s forbidden to sleep in them a permanent sleep or even a temporary sleep.” One may not sleep with them, “unless he placed a cloth”, only if he covered the tefillin with something.

“And if his wife was with him”, if he has his wife with him… If we learn again, tefillin one may not sleep with the tefillin. On the one hand, if he’s going to do subjugation not sleeping, why should he then go do appeasement? Then it’s not giving. On the other hand, forbidden relations, which a person can yes guard himself from, there are two types of forbidden relations. There’s one fence, “and she wasn’t a married woman”, then if she’s a married woman, then he’s going to do appeasement with the wife, when the married woman sees that it also wasn’t.

Sleeping with Tefillin

Speaker 1:

And if his wife was with him, if he has his wife with him…

If we learn again, tefillin one may not sleep with the tefillin. A permanent sleep one may not sleep at all, because then he’ll pass gas, then he doesn’t have a clean body. A temporary sleep, which people can yes guard themselves from that part, a temporary sleep, and he didn’t place a cloth on them, and he didn’t put a cloth, if his wife was with him, then, if his wife is with him, then he’ll think about the wife, and that’s also not a clean body. That is, a baal keri is permitted with tefillin, but to do the act with the tefillin, that’s not a way.

Therefore, if not, it’s permitted to sleep in them a temporary sleep. How should he do a temporary sleep? Yes? “He places his head between his knees and sleeps.” Okay. There’s a custom as you say, this means that he puts his hands down on the table. What kind of thing is this? He puts his hands down on the table. Yes, he can on the table also, he puts the tallis over the tefillin, and he may sleep a temporary sleep with tefillin, but not a permanent sleep.

The same law that he shouldn’t spread out his hands, he’s not wearing them, he’s simply holding them in his hands. As you said earlier, one holds them, they’re hanging on you, such a thing, he has them tied with sleeping in them tefillin, not directly, not in the… that one.

Eating with Tefillin

Speaker 1:

He says further, “And one doesn’t eat in them except a casual meal.” One may not eat a fixed meal with the tefillin, only a casual meal. He says further, “But if he enters for a fixed meal,” but what then? What the law is, if one goes to a fixed meal, “he removes them and places them in a guarded place,” after he washes his hands, he needs to take them off and wash himself, and afterwards he can return to the tefillin, and he blesses on washing hands.

Speaker 2:

When afterwards? These things, because washing hands one may not do when one is wearing tefillin? Also not eating? So when does he put them on?

Speaker 1:

And afterwards, after he finishes the meal. Ah, he washes his hands, he washes his hands, this means mayim acharonim. Washing hands doesn’t mean washing hands. One comes into a meal, a casual meal first of all one may eat with the tefillin, whatever is the measure of a casual meal. This is the meal. There are many pious people, they go, they put them down, they put them on the table. I mean that the Menuchas HaShulchan says a matter, it should be on the table, he shouldn’t put them on a shelf somewhere. He’s still holding next to his tefillin. And before bentching the head tefillin, he does mayim acharonim, he puts back on the tefillin, he bentches with the tefillin. A beautiful thing to bentch with the tefillin. I haven’t yet been able to see any Torah Jew, okay, presumably the Jews in Jerusalem conduct themselves that way there.

Bathroom with Tefillin

Speaker 1:

And the law is tefillin when it’s before a bathroom, which was discussed earlier that he needs to go to relieve himself, “he shouldn’t place tefillin in holes adjacent to the public domain,” in the ancient bathrooms there were some sort of holes, openings, and there one could place the tefillin. “I’m concerned lest passersby take them.”

English Translation

“A person is obligated to do so, even if he needs to urinate,” even if someone just needs to go briefly to the bathroom to urinate, “he removes the tefillin and goes four amos from that place, rolls them in his garment like a sefer Torah,” he should roll them into his garment like a sefer Torah, meaning he should wrap them with his garment, “and holds them in his right hand against his heart, and he should be careful that no strap extends from under his hand a tefach, so that no strap should be seen extending from under his hand a tefach,” no strap should extend, even if it sticks out a bit, but it shouldn’t be a tefach. “And he enters,” once he has wrapped them he may enter the bathroom, “and when he exits, he should distance four amos from the bathroom,” then he can put them back on, he should move further the four amos, so that it won’t be connected, he should make a separation between the bathroom and the tefillin.

Permanent and Temporary Bathroom

Speaker 1:

“When does this apply? In a permanent bathroom, where drops don’t splash on him,” a permanent bathroom is set up in a system so that a person won’t get wet from going to that bathroom, it’s made with a slope downward or something. “But in a temporary bathroom,” he understands that it splashes around, “he should not enter at all, even when they are rolled and held in his hand,” even so, “rather he removes them and gives them to his friend to guard them,” he should completely remove them and give them to someone to guard them, and not enter that room, because that room is more dirty. “And some say there is no distinction even in a permanent bathroom, except when sitting.”

Speaker 2:

What is the halacha? What doesn’t come in here? What does he want from this? It’s at the end of tractate Berachos, the laws of orifices. Yes, but what doesn’t come in here? It’s not for us. How tired are you?

Speaker 1:

He means to say one should do so, one should do with one’s paper with the tefillin.

Speaker 2:

Ah, because you want to go cleanly? After when you put it back on, should it then be given in. Yes. This is a halacha, one must do so and so on. How tired are you even with measure. Do you think this is enough? Because something tired, it must be equally hot, it doesn’t splash back.

Speaker 1:

Once the cooling is simple, if he’s afraid it will splash on him, automatically in Latin completely, it’s lenient. If there is a platform that is arranged, it’s easier, it has no tricks. A great advantage of a yeshiva. Yes. How one opens a smile. Even with measure, one is one smile. But if a difficult place, it has a solution, yes, a sloped place, so it is there.

So that the bottom should sit out, it’s a simple solution, but seemingly he did it with a clean body. Did they do this so that it should be a clean body? I don’t know. Baruch Hashem, today one doesn’t need a solution, but one goes smiling.

He was wearing tefillin. There is a way that he lays water, what difference is it the same by you. Yes, it’s today’s bathroom, baruch Hashem all this has already become easier.

Tefillin at Night in the Bathroom

Speaker 1:

He was wearing tefillin. There’s no… Okay. So he went in tefillin, when he’s still wearing them in the bathroom in the evening?

At night, it already remained, he learned earlier so with a mishna how it can remain. But he doesn’t have time, yes, so meaning he had to go still before the bathroom before it becomes night. Right before sunset, just like… And he’s not going to put it back on. Right. End with measure he has here the notes. But very very perhaps it’s already end of day.

Earlier we had a leniency, that one can wrap it in the garment and go then put it back on, but here he can’t do it. But that’s only if you’re going to put it back on right after, one may hold it on the garment. But if you’re not going to put it back on right after, one may not hold it rolled in his garment, even leaving meaning a permanent bathroom where it’s clean. Rather in the bathroom, what must one do? He should place it in a vessel.

Higher God. I hold not to remove the tefillin, places them in a vessel, there place in a vessel, if it had a tefach. And then he may go with this into the bathroom also. Because the tefillin makes it like a… like a distancing. Or any vessel, one vessel, even one tefach. In the vessel, meaning it’s still a vessel of the tefillin, and it needs to have a greater separation. But another vessel, it makes a complete separation, because also it’s a vessel in his hand and he enters.

In the camp and in the bathroom tefillin, so he places them in a vessel, because also it’s a vessel in his hand and he enters. So further, either the own vessel of the tefillin with a tefach, or another vessel, even without a tefach.

Forgot and Entered the Bathroom with Tefillin

Speaker 1:

What did he forget? He forgot, I can move a bit here. He forgot and entered the bathroom and he is wearing tefillin, he forgot that he has tefillin and he’s already in the bathroom, so he places his hand on them, the gemara and midrashim already say until he finishes whatever he’s holding now in the middle, the first piece, and exits and returns, and afterwards enters and does all his needs.

Speaker 2:

Okay, why may one not… why is one not obligated to place in a… why is he in a bind? Why should he interrupt himself?

Speaker 1:

The answer is, as the great Acharonim explain, he is afraid of them lest there is great danger. One may not stop… danger borders on right in the middle.

What does Shulchan Aruch say, and he had relations with tefillin? Wait, that he should not turn neither to this side nor to that side until he removes them, but should remain as it lies, because his hands are now dirty, and a change of place is a danger.

Speaker 2:

No, good. The order of hands is to do things, it’s a danger. No, the Rambam here is a piece of lack of understanding. Okay, okay, okay, okay.

Speaker 1:

If so, the halacha is, even if one says my hands are yes clean, you say it’s not. What is it?

Tefillin in the Bathhouse

Speaker 1:

One who enters the bathhouse, so it depends where he goes. A place where people stand clothed, the part of the bathhouse where people are dressed with outer garments, a place where people stand there some naked and some clothed, there where it’s yes and yes, so one need not remove the tefillin, it’s not such an indecent place. For example, our place where one gets dressed. But one may not go put on tefillin, because it is indeed a place of naked people.

A place where people stand there naked, where everyone is completely without clothing, there one removes the tefillin, and no one should lay them.

Another place, one doesn’t enter with tefillin into the bathroom.

Tefillin in the Cemetery

Speaker 1:

A person should not pass before the dead in the cemetery with tefillin on his head, one doesn’t go in the cemetery with tefillin. So we learned, one doesn’t say any Shema there, right? Even if it’s not a cemetery, but there’s just a grave somewhere, also one must make four amos. A dead person is under the ground, one cannot look at the dead. Why? No, it’s also about the matter of it’s mocking the poor. It’s not a nice thing to go next to a dead person and say, “Well, I’m living.” What do you mean you’re living? You’re eating? No, you’re going with tefillin, you’re showing that you’re living. And he shall wear righteousness as a breastplate, and he shall wear garments of vengeance as clothing. Another thing, just as… just as it’s the same level of Shema and tefillin, is not clear. No, because “runs his garment” is exactly what is in his honor.

Carrying a Burden on One’s Head – Not Placing Things on the Head with Tefillin

Speaker 1:

There is a halacha, “one who carries a burden on his head” – one cannot, one may not carry things on the head and also carry tefillin on the head. So the one who asks about tefillin of the head has a high answer. This is because the vessel of the tefillin is on the head, and that is also, so this is like a competition, what should be.

But even with less, “it is forbidden to place on his head that has tefillin on it”. One may not place a cloth, a cap. But modest ones, modest ones, but nicer nicer. Tefillin must be the main thing that goes on the head. Must be the tefillin, not with a hat. As soon as one puts on the tefillin and he gives a poke.

Discussion: Davening Without a Hat

Speaker 2:

Anyway, you don’t agree. You need to argue. Yes, but if someone must, the mashgiach will throw him out for not going with a hat to davening, let him come, Rabbi Yitzchak, Rabbi Yitzchak.

Speaker 1:

I say that one should bring the Rambam himself. Hello, he should come to the shiur. He has our shiur on YouTube. One doesn’t need a beis medrash, one doesn’t need a mashgiach, one doesn’t need to go anywhere. He has a shiur on YouTube.

Speaker 2:

No, but I just want to bring out that there is a stringency in this. He is pious, not he is a lenient one who doesn’t go with a hat. It says in Shulchan Aruch that it’s more mehudar. It’s a matter that the tefillin should be on the head.

Speaker 1:

But one sees that the matter here is because you have something else besides the tefillin. Yes, that’s what I say. It’s a disgrace. It’s a disgrace to the honor of the tefillin.

One speaks of two letters.

Marital Relations in a Room with Tefillin/Sefer Torah

Speaker 1:

“At a time when there are tefillin or a sefer Torah in it”. Ah, another good halacha. “It is forbidden to have relations in it”. By the way, when one speaks about holiness, how one must overcome oneself, one goes with tefillin the whole day. “At a time when there are tefillin or a sefer Torah in it”. “It is forbidden to have relations in it until he takes them out or places them in a vessel, and places the vessel in another vessel that are not their vessels”. Besides the vessel, the vessel should lie in another vessel. This is called two coverings. “But if the vessel was important and designated for them, even ten vessels, are considered like one vessel”. How long… if a person places it in a… a mantle of a sefer Torah, even if he puts on three mantles and he places it still in the ark, it means still because it’s still all an honor for the sefer Torah. And not an official vessel. Because resting in a vessel within a vessel, a bed not resting under it, which is not so in a silver vessel not opposite his head, great is their guarding, even on the bed. Because it’s not yes vessel within vessel, then it can even be in his pillow even on the bed, why? Because that means already covered. Here one speaks an important thing, that still what it requires for the thing opposite his head, we also wanted to say earlier.

Halacha: Placing Tefillin in a Pillow

Speaker 1:

This is still not officially holy. When does it become yes holy? When one prepares it to place it under him and on his head, not opposite his head, in order to guard it even when it’s not with him. That means when it becomes yes holy within holy, then it can even be in his pillow even when it’s not with him. Why? Because that means already covered.

Here one speaks an important thing, a thing that belongs to the thing. Earlier also, when one spoke of tefillin, that one places it on the head in order to guard it. Right, it can be by him in the house. It’s better that one should place it in a safe in his front room, but it’s honor of the thing.

Halacha 25: The Holiness of Tefillin is a Great Holiness

Speaker 1:

Now the Rambam brings out with a beautiful matter of mussar, a talk, a new bava metzia bocher. He says so, the holiness of tefillin is a great holiness, what is this? The old bachurim don’t need? No, every old bachur needs to be a fresh bachur from time to time. The holiness of tefillin is a great holiness.

As long as the tefillin are on a person’s head and on his arm, he is humble and God-fearing. It reminds him to be humble, it reminds him to be fearful. Humble means seemingly that he has fear of exaltedness, he has fear of honor. It’s respect.

Results of Wearing Tefillin

Speaker 1:

And he is not drawn to laughter and idle talk, as long as the person goes with tefillin he is not drawn to laughter and idle talk. And he does not think evil thoughts, rather he turns his heart to words of truth and righteousness. He makes his heart available, as it stood by the prophet, as it stood by the one who goes to daven, to words of truth and righteousness, very good.

This is an interesting thing, because we learned earlier so, that tefillin one must have no distraction and one must continue. Here one learns that the reason why one must continue is because so one doesn’t think of foreign thoughts. It’s circular. It helps.

The Rambam doesn’t say that the segula carries you to pull away from foreign thoughts, rather one makes you make tefillin, one lays tefillin, and afterwards one tells you the tefillin one must go with intention. The Rambam doesn’t say here that a Jew may not speak idle talk in tefillin, he says when one goes with tefillin, automatically one doesn’t speak any idle talk. It’s a completely different talk this.

It’s understood that one must do it, because if someone doesn’t know of this, he won’t grasp at all the importance of it. But he must turn it with himself. But the Rambam says that it is as if so it is, so it goes.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Therefore a Person Must Strive to Have Them On All Day

Speaker 1:

Rava said, therefore a person must strive to have them on all day. So, I have a tremendous thing, the more time he goes, the less time he has to be busy with foolishness.

“For their commandment is so”. So is the mitzvah, the mitzvah is indeed that the tefillin should guard you from foolishness.

The Rambam’s Affection for Rav

Speaker 1:

Rava said, Rav who was the famous student of Rav Huna the Holy. This is not the first time that he is already in this place that he brought him in. I get very excited from this that Rav is tanna upalig, because so he is two generations. Just as he stood in the introduction of Mishneh Torah, he loves things that connect generations. I can put it in my list of Rambam’s that he brings expressions.

“That he should not walk four amos without Torah”. He also brought Rav’s “that you should not remove your mind from it all day long”, did you remember? It’s a very wonderful thing. Yes, it’s connected. He loved Rav’s devotion. Something is Rav’s devotion. All his approach one saw not to go either Torah, or tzitzis, or tefillin. Because the reason is so that he should always be in a serious mood.

Speaker 2:

Very good. We move over to the words of Ramaz Batzedek.

Comparison with Tzitzis

Speaker 1:

“And this is what they said about tzitzis ‘and you shall see it’”, that we haven’t yet learned tzitzis, but tzitzis one must also have guarding when one has tzitzis? ‘And you shall see it’ and you shall remember all the commandments of Hashem’.

Speaker 2:

No, but by tefillin he didn’t say that it helps, he said that it helps because there is a prohibition.

Speaker 1:

No, I didn’t know the mishna.

Speaker 2:

That’s what he said, that it helps because there is a prohibition of obligating him to touch.

Speaker 1:

No no, I mean that it’s opposite. It’s both, it goes both.

Halacha 26: Their Commandment is to Wear Them All Day

Speaker 1:

Okay, now he should learn in by the positive commandment of tefillin, their commandment is to wear them all day, the main mitzvah. I mean, one can always do the mitzvah of tefillin. As the Rambam says, “for their commandment is so”. The main mitzvah is to go a whole day. “And one strives to have them on all day long”. So more an obligation, more a general obligation, and more a mitzvah to go with tefillin.

Whoever Recites Shema Without Tefillin is as if He Testifies False Testimony

Speaker 1:

Why? He says, because Chazal say so, that “whoever recites Shema without tefillin is as if he testifies false testimony about himself”. As if testifies false testimony, because he says the language of the tefillin that we say by “Shema”, “and these words shall be”, “and you shall bind them for a sign on your hand and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes”, and he doesn’t have the tefillin on himself. So it’s such false testimony, he is only through that because he is only fulfilling, that means false testimony.

That means, the mitzvah is a branch of the mitzvah of Shema, not a branch of the mitzvah of tefillin. But he lays it out so, that the tefillin… it’s a flaw in the Shema. My but, he wants here to announce that one must lay tefillin during davening, because then is the time that is more obligating. From here one can begin that one lays tefillin only during prayer.

I think differently. I think that the halacha here does a bit more. The halacha wants to remind you that Shema with tefillin have a close connection. Either it makes the Shema better, because it’s not an interruption, but it also makes that you should remember what the tefillin is. The tefillin is the thing that is mentioned in Shema, that it reminds us.

Whoever Does Not Lay Tefillin Transgresses Eight Positive Commandments

Speaker 1:

Okay, I would say that it’s more… Okay, I don’t need any Shema. Whoever does not lay tefillin transgresses eight positive commandments. It’s not a proof, because in the four parshiyos of tefillin there is eight times the thing. He says that the eight mitzvos he doesn’t do, so he transgresses, he actually transgresses.

And Whoever is Regular with Tefillin Lengthens Days

Speaker 1:

And whoever is regular with tefillin lengthens days, as it says Hashem is upon them they shall live. I thought that the interpretation is, Hashem upon them, that when you learn in tefillin there are 21 names, when the name of Hashem is upon them, they shall live, one lives. I mean that the word is interesting, because by day one goes with tefillin, at night not. So, the reward is that he will live day, and Hashem will be for you an eternal light, one will always be by day, he will be able to go always with tefillin.

Conclusion

Speaker 1:

Okay, until here the laws of tefillin. The Ribbono Shel Olam (Master of the Universe) should help that each person should merit the laying of tefillin.