Q&A: Tefillin
Tefillin
Question
Why, in your opinion, was it דווקא the dispute over the order of the passages written in tefillin, between Rashi and Rabbenu Tam, that “caught on” among parts of the Jewish people, so that they are careful to put them on according to both opinions? There is no shortage of halakhic disputes where one could have acted in accordance with both sides of the dispute. The first example that comes to mind is the dispute over the order of lighting the candles between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel; we could have practiced according to both views—lighting two menorahs, one in which the number increases each day and one in which the number decreases each day. (After all, publicizing the miracle is not based on the specific day of Hanukkah, so even if at first someone watching the two menorahs would get confused about which day of Hanukkah it was, that would not undermine the main purpose of publicizing the miracle.)
Answer
In the dispute between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel, Jewish law was ruled in accordance with Beit Hillel. And Beit Shammai in place of Beit Hillel does not count. So that is a very poor example. Here we are dealing with a dispute among medieval authorities (Rishonim) that was not decided in a binding way. Beyond that, very few people are stringent like Rabbenu Tam. And finally, everything depends on luck—even a Torah scroll in the ark.
Discussion on Answer
What is unclear about what I wrote? The fact that people customarily put on Rashi’s tefillin does not mean there is a binding halakhic ruling about it. There is no institution at all that can issue such a ruling.
Michi,
In your opinion, is there an obligation to put on tefillin *every day*? Do you personally practice that way?
I do practice that way.
It is doubtful whether there is such an obligation, but it is certainly the accepted custom.
So in principle, if I put on tefillin only on Mondays and Thursdays, say, am I not sinning?
I don’t know. There is no clear source for the frequency of putting on tefillin. So I also cannot say that two days a week is enough. It is a matter of doubt, and seemingly one should be stringent. Especially since the general practice is to put them on every day.
Not decided in a binding way? You yourself point out that very few are stringent (?) like Rabbenu Tam (you probably meant that they are stringent enough to put on an additional pair of tefillin).