- This topic has 28 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 7 months ago by .
-
Posts
-
I’m taking a poll – do you put on Teffilin on Chol Hamoed? And what do the people of your community do?
I do not put on Teffilin on Chol HaMoed, and where I live (Monsey) most minyanim seem to be comprised of about 4/5 non-Teffilin wearers. I’m told by my yekkishe friends and relatives that there is one main minyan that most of them go to where (almost) everybody wears Teffilin, so as not to run into problems of lo sisgodidu.
What’s it like where you live?
95% don’t wear tefilin.
I do not (minhag HaGra).
I do, and I make a brachah.
Where I live, many people do. Most Nusach Ashkenaz shuls do, and the Shtibelach are mix and match. Of course, anybody slightly Chassidish for more than one generation doesn’t, because al pi Kaballah you are Chayav Misah.
There is no set minhag in NY since yidden came from all over Europe.
I don’t, shul is 70/30 yes/no on Chol HaMoed Sukkos.
Since we have Pesach davening at the CTL compound, only 1 son in law and grandson put them on, with a bracha. Those in the CTL male line don’t.
I would think that the shul minyan would vary by who has guests each year, or the minhag of the current Rabbi. I never let the minhag of the shul rabbi decide for me, I’ve outlasted many of them.B”H that you have a pesach minyan. KEIN YIRBU!
I comply :- 1) with the Remo and make a Benediction on my Tefillin 2) with the 1st 2 paragraphs in Tefillin which were read from the Torah this morning, kissing both my Shel Rosh & Shel Yad both times as they were being mentioned in this morning’s Keri’as haTorah.
147: and I have friends who also comply….either with the Mechaber or the GRA.
No one is Israel, where I live, does this. The minhag is so strong that visitors are very strongly advised to put them on in private. The Mechaber rules that Chol HaMoed is an אות and the Gra agrees with him (also about only saying one beracha on the tefillin).
What is the minhag of Teimanim?
Joseph: since they generally follow the mechaber it would be assur for them to wear tefillin on Chol HAmoed
In klauzenberg the bucherim put on tefillin chol hamoed
KJ: does that mean that married men don’t wear tefillin?
iacisrmma…………
Thanks for your earlier sentiment.
Now that Chol HaMoed is almost over I can report back on this year’s minyanim at the CTL Compound.Unbeknownst to me, Mrs. CTL and eldest daughter invited SIL’s parents, 2 single brothers and a single sister for all of Pesach. So there were 5 males putting on tefillin with a with a bracha at our minyanim this year. 2nd SIL, 2 sons, myself, asst grandsons, nephews, my brother and a few cousins made 17 adult males not putting on tefillin.
CTL: thanks for the update. May you and Mrs. CTL always be zocheh to host large crowds for the Yom Tovim.
The minyan where I davened had anywhere from 4 – 6 people with tefillin and the other 6 – 8 people did not. We have some individuals who wear tefillin come to our minyan as they are not forced behind a mechitza like in other shuls. Our second minyan is made up of tefillin wearers. I do not if they make a Brocha or not.
I stopped wearing tfillin on C”H after we made aliyah. Nobody at any of the multiple shules where I’ve davened in the two places we’ve lived wears them.
I will preface my question with a brief summary of the sugya as I understand it. The debate on whether one should wear Tefilin on Chol HaMoed seems to have both a סברא component and a textual component.
The סברא component is whether Chol HaMoed is considered an אות. Tefilin are considered an אות and are not worn when the day itself is also considered an אות. Shabbos and Yom Tov are considered an אות because of the work prohibitions and therefore Tefilin is not worn. The question is whether the Mitzvos of Lulav, sukkah, matzah, and partial work prohibition on Chol HaMoed also makes it an אות.
The textual debate is between the simple understanding of a Mishnah and the explicit understanding of the Zohar. The Mishnah in Moed Katan says that one can write Tefilin on Chol HaMoed. The simple understanding (though not necessarily the only one) is that is permitted to write because tefilin have an immediate use… There is a requirement to wear them on Chol HaMoed. The Zohar however is explicit that one should not wear Tefilin on Chol HaMoed… And the Zohar speaks very strongly against this practice.
It seems that this dispute falls along “party lines”. Chasidim and Sepahrdi Achronim who normally put more emphasis on sources like the Zohar, say not to wear Tefilin on Chol HaMoed. Most early Ashkenazic Achronim/poskim who normally do not emphasize the Zohar especially in determining halacha, say to wear Tefilin on Chol HaMoed.
The one outlier is the Vilna Gaon who said not to wear Tefilin on Chol HaMoed (which is the reason why most Orthodox Jews today, including Ashkenazim, especially in Israel, do not wear Tefilin on Chol HaMoed). However, I do not know why the Vilna Gaon ruled like that. Did he put halachic emphasis on this Zohar? Did he have reason to learn the Mishnah in Moed Katan differently? Why did the Vilna Gaon divert from most of the other Ashkenazic authorities?
simcha613: The GRA’sd psak is based on the fact that it doesn’t mention anywhere in SHAS that one wears tefillin on chol hamoed.
My chassidish brothers put on tefillin at home, after davening. My father doesn’t.
I wasn’t so clear.
My chassidish (single) brothers put on tefillin at home, after davening. My father doesn’t.
I did, I’m not yekke. It is my fathers minhag, as it was his fathers, as it was his fathers….. My grandfather at some point stopped making a bracha, but am not sure why.
Our Shul is officially minhag ashkenaz. However, many don’t according to their own minhag, baalei teshuva who don’t have a minhag from before and anyone who has lived in EY for any significant time also do not wear tefilin. The Rov doesn’t, as that is his personal custom. So about 35% do wear. However, the baalei tefila for shacharis have to wear tefilin.
Interestingly, I don’t wear tefilin in shul, as I lived in EY for two years, keeping 1 day yom tov. I do put them on at home without a brocho, according to the psak of my Rov at that time, Rav Moshe Sternbuch. But that is only kept as a personal chumrah, meaning that my children will wear tefilin in shul with a brocho, like my original minhag.And in EY they don’t wear because the talmidai hagra went to EY.
Iacis- really? But isn’t there a mitzvah to put on Tefilin every day? So the burden of proof would logically be for the exception to that rule. You should need a source to exempt you from Tefilin on a particular day, not to obligate you.
The Minhagim are as follows:
1)Litvish do put on with the exception of minhag hagra.
2)Chassidim do not put on with the exception of oberlanders wich do put on.And in Sanz (which branches into bobov,klausenburg and stropkov and many other small ones)the bachurim do and the married men don’t.
3)Sefardim don’t put on.
4)Teimanim Don’t put on.
The debate is wether chol hamoed is an ‘os’ the chassidim do not put on because the zahor writes that someone who does put on is ‘chayiv misah’.In Sanz the bachurim do based on to reasons:
A)The heligeh sanzer rov (btw his yartzeit is on thurs. the 25 of nisan) saw 2 bachurim talking during davening and he said better you should put on and not talk than to be makpid on this inyan of chassidus.
B)In sanz they hold very shtark bochurim shouldn’t be involved in chassidus just learn!After your married and you brushed up on basic ‘yideos’ you can be makpid on some lofty things.
Reb Bentzion the bobover rebbe was ‘misaken’ after world war 1 that bochurim should only put on until their 18 and he it’s not a ‘stirah’ because before the war they got married at 18.
And I believe all of the little groups in sanz like stropkov and others changed and even the bochirim don’t wear.It could be even in klausenburg they changed.
simcha613: See Mishna Berurah Sif Lamed Alef Sif Koton Ches who says why the GRA paskened not to wear tefillin. (5th wide line)
http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=49623&st=&pgnum=80
a zid, thank you for your neat summary.
I must add
1a) Minhag Ashkenaz, (aka Yekkes) put on with a brocho.
2a) Oberlanders are not chassidim, as they daven ashkenaz. (This may start something rolling…)
5) In EY no body puts on, because there Ashkenaz follow the Gra (also in duchening, special shir shel yom for yom tov, ein k’elokenu at the end of davening, etc), and sefardim follow Maran Bet Yosef.
I never understood the Sanz/Bobov minhag that married men do not wear tefillin but the bochurim/under-18s do.
If the minhag is based on the Zohar that one who wears tefillin on Chol HaMoed is Chayav Missah, then this must equally apply to all people. I can understand “bochurim not being oizek in chassidus”, and leaving lofty madreigos lifnim mishuras hadin until after marriage. But this isn’t a lofty height to achieve, this is a Halachah (al pi kabbalah) of CHIYUV MISAH.
I asked a very good friend of mine who has this minhag, and he just smiled condescendingly at me and shook his head.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.