Q&A: Rabbeinu Tam Tefillin
Rabbeinu Tam Tefillin
Question
Hello, honorable Rabbi, if in my view Rabbeinu Tam reads the Talmud more correctly, and I am a baal teshuva so I don’t have an established halakhic tradition, is it permitted for me personally to follow his view (and not put on Rashi’s tefillin)? Does this depend on how confident I am about it? For example, I am very confident that Rabbeinu Tam is correct and that Rashi is mistaken.
And another question on the topic: have I fulfilled my obligation of the head tefillin if the order of the passages there is not correct according to any of the views? In other words, is the order of the passages indispensable? Thank you in advance, and have a good and successful new year, and more power to you for your work!
Answer
If you are qualified for this—meaning, you know how to thoroughly analyze a halakhic topic from its sources—then certainly. It is not only permitted, but preferable.
Regarding whether it is indispensable, see here: https://olamot.net/shiurim/%D7%AA%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%A9%D7%9C-%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%95-%D7%AA%D7%9D/
Chapter 4 and chapter 5, section 3. The Tur writes that the order is indispensable, and the Tosefet Shabbat argued that it is not.