Q&A: Passing Tefillin to Someone Who Doesn’t Have Them in the Middle of Prayer
Passing Tefillin to Someone Who Doesn’t Have Them in the Middle of Prayer
Question
Hello Rabbi, I have several questions. 1. In a case where one of the people praying does not have tefillin and asks me to lend him mine, when is the proper time to remove my tefillin and bring them to him? Do I need to wait until U’va Letzion, as in any case of pressing circumstances when I’m in a hurry, or in this case, since I am passing the tefillin to someone else, may I remove them immediately after my own Amidah prayer? (I saw an opinion that ideally one should wait until the actual end of the prayer service and only then pass them to him, and that he should go pray with another minyan. Is that indeed the proper way to act? Usually it seems to me that it isn’t realistic to ask someone to go pray with another minyan, and that could cause him not to pray at all. But even if I know that he would go pray with another minyan if I told him to, is that the ideal practice from the outset?)
2. From the perspective of the worshipper who lacks tefillin, where in the prayer should he ideally wait for the tefillin? Is it best to wait between Yishtabach and Yotzer? If so, should he refrain from answering Barechu, since if I’m not mistaken that is considered as though he has already begun Yotzer? Maybe it is preferable to wait at “the Lord your God is true” or at “Tehillot,” even though he will not be able to recite the blessing at that point?
3. Another question that came up is that the synagogue has tefillin for such cases, except that the worshipper who needed tefillin is left-handed. We were unsure whether it is preferable for him to put on the synagogue’s tefillin reversed (with the knot facing the heart), since prayer with a minyan is preferable to putting on tefillin in a way that the ma’abarta would be on the shoulder side, or whether it is better that he put on left-handed tefillin and pray alone. Would the best option be to take the synagogue’s tefillin and reverse the knot so that it becomes a left-handed knot? If I’m not mistaken, there is a problem with that, because according to the Avnei Nezer this would be considered a non-permanent knot and one would not fulfill the obligation with it.
Thank you very much!
Answer
- I don’t think there is a halakhic answer to this. The Shema and the Amidah are said with tefillin, and for everything else, do as you think best. It seems to me that the practice is to pass them over after the Amidah.
- In my opinion, after Yishtabach. He should say the Shema and the Amidah with tefillin. He may answer Barechu like someone hearing it from outside. But if he receives the tefillin from you after the Amidah, then the prayer leader has long since already passed Barechu.
- I am not familiar with the Avnei Nezer’s argument. Simply speaking, I don’t see why not reverse the knot if you know how to do it quickly. In principle, one does not fulfill the obligation with tefillin worn reversed. Alternatively, after the fact, he can put them on the right arm, and then the knot will be opposite the ma’abarta. But in my opinion it is preferable to put tefillin on correctly and pray alone (prayer with a minyan, in my opinion, is not obligatory).
See Mishnah Berurah, section 27, subsection 24, Biur Halakhah there, s.v. “one puts on.” See also a brief discussion about reversing them here: https://tefillin.org.il/%D7%94%D7%90%D7%9D-%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%A8-%D7%9C%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99-%D7%9C%D7%94%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%97-%D7%AA%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%A9%D7%9C-%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%A0%D7%99/