Tefilin On Chol hamoed In Eretz Yisroel

You should wear them in private say shema with them and then daven without them. It should have nothing to do with keeping one day or 2 days. If its your minhag you are have to wear them. Its a D’arisa. Just not in public to avoid Lo Tisgodado.

Many people wear tefillin on chol hamoed in Eretz Yisroel, including some gedolim. However, some do it betzinoh so it is not so well known.

One such godol is the Erlau’er Rebbe. You can go in his beis medrash and see him with tefillin. He keeps the minhogim of his zeide, the Chasam Sofer, to wear tefillin on chol hamoed and daven nusach Ashkenaz.

There are even some minyonim where people wear tefillin on Chol Hamoed, like a Yekkishe minyan in Bnei Brak that I know of.

Bekitzur, Al titosh toras imecho, keep on following your minhog and Al yisbayeish…., as the Rama says in beginning of Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim.

The minhag of the Gaon was not to wear tefillin chol hamoed. This has become the minhag of all of Eretz Yisroel. Even so, if you feel you must, do it betzin’a and don’t talk about it. No matter what you do, yesh al mi lismoch, see above posts. After all, it is difficult to abandon the Rama.

Shlomo Zalman – So you know better than Rav Schach who put on tefillin there? And the Erlauer Rebbe shlita, lihavdil bein chaim lechaim, who wears tefillin in his beis medrash?

Charlie, what is your source?

Actually, that is not correct. The Shalah was in Eretz Yisroel before the Vilna Gaon and he has tefillin on chol hamoed in his siddur.

MHY: Your exceptions prove the rule. Sorry you are unfamiliar with minhagei eretz yisrael. They are esentially minhagei Hagra, brought here by the famous “prushim” clan, and these minhagim have been accepted throughout Israel, with some exceptions.In Yerushalayim , they are accepted almost uniformly. The Tukotchinsky Luach for minhagim of the davening is a reflection of this and it is accepted by almost all. True, here and there, as your friend noted, there is a minyan that puts on tefillin. To each his own. But there are thousands of minyanim that don’t, and many of them do not hesitate to unceremoniously throw anyone out that dares put them on, even in the corner or in another room. I have seen this myself.

Rav Schach’s custom, and certainly the Erlauer Rebbe indicate that the general custom is not to put on tefillin. None of the yeshivas, including Rav Schach’s yeshiva, adopted his minhag.None of the chassidim here do either except the relatively small numbered Erlauer. That in itself proves the aberration here;everyone knows that the overwhelming minhag amongst chassidim is not to wear tefillin chol hamoed.

“Charlie, what is your source?”

The Shulchan Aruch.

Going against the minhug hamokem is a breach in both halacha and proper etiquette.

Shlomo Zalmen wote …either except the relatively small numbered Erlauer. That in itself proves the aberration here.

Bulls eye!! The term “Erlauer Chasidim” is an oxymoron. Ealu is a contnuatio of Presburg-Minhagei H’Chsam Sofer. Hunagarian Ashkenazim are very simillar in style to Chasidim

I heard that since in Yerushalayim everyone keeps minhag haGra, therefore even a guest shouldn’t wear tefillin. When I was there I was told not to even wear them bitzina. I got the impression that this was just for Yerushalayim, not necessarily the rest of Eretz Yisrael.

This year in the US I davened at a minyan that officially wears tefillin although some of the people davening there do not and they sit mixed together with those who do. It is less of a lo sisgodidu problem to not wear them at a minyan that does then to wear them at a minyan that does not. If you daven at a minyan where most do not wear then you should preferably sit separately, I know some places where they sit in the back or the ezras nashim.

Chofetz Chaim: “I heard that since in Yerushalayim everyone keeps minhag haGra…..”

I think that would be big news to the Sephardim, Bnei Eidos Hamizrach, Teimanim, Chassidim, to learn that they are actually noheig the same as the perushim….Have you told Chacham Ovadiah the news? As I posted above, there are at least two Charedi minyonim in Yerusholayim where tefillin is worn. The Erlauer Rebbe is a Yid a zokein, a talmid chochom, einikel of the Chasam Sofer, not just stam a Yid. I think he knows what he is doing.

“I heard that since in Yerushalayim everyone keeps minhag haGra, therefore even a guest shouldn’t wear tefillin. When I was there I was told not to even wear them bitzina. I got the impression that this was just for Yerushalayim, not necessarily the rest of Eretz Yisrael.”

Yerusholayim has different eidos withe different minhogim, as above. It is not only talmidei HaGR”A, ????? ?????? ????.

There is no single, unified minhog Yerusholayim. It is like a city with shnei botei dinin.

Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach related that he had a kabboloh, from Rav Dovid Baharan (a poseik in Yerusholayim in the old days), az oib einer vet kumen tzu eich un vet zogen ‘dos iz minhag Yerusholayim’, zolst vissen,

This is a hotly contested topic in E”Y. Rav Elyashiv is quoted as saying (that does not imply that he said it) that someone who moves here should stop putting on Tefillin on Chol HaMoed.

However, Rav Tuvia Weiss, the head of the Eida Chareidis told me personally that he puts on Tefillin on Chol HaMoed privately and cannot believe that there is a Rav in the world that could tell someone whose Minhag is to put on Tefillin, to discontinue doing so. I told him that there are Rabbonim that so instruct and he said that in his opinion they have no Heter to so Pasken.

I myself have davened with the Erlauer Rav in Katamon in his Minyan of Tefillin wearers. I go there almost every 1st day of Chol HaMoed. The other days I daven with the Viener Minyan (they are a branch of the Schiff shul in New York) of Jerusalem. Their Kehillah wears Tefillin on Chol HaMoed and they have a Minyan for that purpose with the express permission of: Rav Shmuel Wosner (of Bnei Brak), Rav Nosson Gestetner (of Bnei Brak), Rav Ulman (of Bnei Brak), the Erlauer Rav (in Jerusalem), Rav Scheinberg (in Jerusalem).

Rav Binyomin Hamburger of Bnei Brak has a Minyan where they wear Tefillin on Chol HaMoed. There is also one in Beitar.

According to Rav Hamburger, anyone who is of Ashkenaz persuasion should at least put on Tefillin privately at least out of doubt, because it is a shaila of a Safek D’oraisa and according to many opinions, one who misses putting on Tefillin even one day may get the title of a Karkafta D’lo Manach Tefillin.

Anyone who is interested in joining such a Minyan in the future or is interested in organizing such a Minyan in his area is asked to write to <[email protected]>.

The Pupa Rav zt”l (a well-recognized Rav in Jerusalem at the time of Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld) has a Minyan of Tefillin wearers on Chol HaMoed.

Rav Gedaliah Eisemann (Mashgiach of Yeshivas Kol Torah) always put on Tefillin in the Ezras Nashim of the Yeshiva.

Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel of the Mirrer Yeshiva instructs those bachurim with the Minhag to wear Tefillin on Chol HaMoed, to do so in the Ezras Nashim of the Yeshiva.

Rav Scheinberg goes on record to say that there is no such thing as Minhag E”Y or Minhag Yerushalayim today because it is today one huge “melting pot”.

In Toronto, Rav Shlomo Miller does not allow a non-Tefillin Minyan in his Kollel building.

The uncle of the Beis Yosef writes in a Tshuiva that in Spain, before the popularization of Kabbalah, the custom was to wear Tefillin on Chol HaMoed because they followed the Rosh in everything.

Therefore, no Ashkenazi should follow the cue of the Sefaradim, just as the Rosh did not, saying that his customs were more well-rooted that those of the Sefaradim, because his Torah was heritage from the Chachmei Ashkenaz and Tzorfas since the time of the destruction of the Beis HaMikdosh and that they had an uninterrupted established Yeshivos since then, a claim the Sefaradim could never replicate.

Have a Godd Yom Tov

SR

Rav Gedaliah Eisemann (Mashgiach of Yeshivas Kol Torah) is the exception that proves the rule. Kol Torah was founded by and for Yekkes, and only one individual in the entire yeshiva wears tefillin.

Rav Finkle tell the BACHURIM to wear in the Ezras Nashim. They are ???? ????? and keep 2 days.

Rav Schach said (it is quoted in the Introduction to Shorshei Minhag Ashkenaz, vol. 1) that in Vilna, on Chol HaMoed, everyone put Tefillin on with a Bracha, except in the Gaon’s Kloiz. Also, in the time of the Vilna Gaon, he was the only one to run a Minyan that did not put on Tefillin, despite the local custom.

If the Gra could flaunt the local custom with a separate Minyan, this shows that running a separate Minyan, is not in violation of Lo Sisgodedu and is permitted. Thus, one can run a Minyan for Tefillin wearers in Israel without reservation. And don’t say that the Gra was an extremely holy man and thus he is permitted things that we are not, because that is a Christian concept and has nothing to do with Judaism.

If you really hold there is NO minhag hamakom in EY and only minhag avos, then you get into a big problem. When Beis Din determined Rosh Chodesh based on eidim, chutz l’aretz kept 2 days YT as a safek. ~1500 Hillel HaKatan authored our calendar and since then 2 days YT in CLA is a minhag, in EY the minhag is to keep one day and in CLA 2. If one moves from CLA to EY with intention to remain we say his new minhag hamakom trumps 2000 years of minhag avos and one starts keeping only 1 day. If there is NO minhag hamakom today, as some here have maintained, then all Ashkenazim and most Sefardim who came to EY from other countries should maintain their minhag avos and keep 2 days YT.

Now that we have proven that there IS minhag hamakom in EY even today, it only remains to debate if the few individuals who wear tefilin prevent the 99.9% who do not from obtaining the status of minhag hamakom.

hello99 wrote

“HaRav Moshe Feinstein zatzal writes in Igros Moshe OC 4:105.5 exactly as I have been saying. That one who intends to remain in EY and keeps 1 day YT should NOT wear tefillin Chol HaMoed”

That is a distortion of what Rav Moshe z”l says there. While part of what you wrote is correct, you left out a very important part of the teshuvoh. If you proceed a bit further there, you will see that it says explicitly that one MAY put on tefillin on chol hamoed in Eretz Yisroel now since many moved there from Europe in recent times, some of whom do so.

MHY: reread the Igros Moshe, because you are the one distorting his words. In the continuation of the teshuva what he REALLY writes is that “perhaps” now that many have moved to EY from Europe it is now common for many to wear tefillin CHM in which case it would be muttar. However anyone who has ever been in EY for YT can tell you that despite the waves of immigration the past 60 years, it is still unheard of to see one wearing tefillin in shul CHM.

hello99: “MHY: reread the Igros Moshe, because you are the one distorting his words. In the continuation of the teshuva what he REALLY writes is that “perhaps” now that many have moved to EY from Europe it is now common for many to wear tefillin CHM in which case it would be muttar. However anyone who has ever been in EY for YT can tell you that despite the waves of immigration the past 60 years, it is still unheard of to see one wearing tefillin in shul CHM.”

Not exactly…..

Rav Moshe says that one is allowed to put on tefillin on chol hamoed in Eretz Yisroel. The word efsher in the teshuvoh is not connected to where he allows it, it appears only later on. Whoever is interested should look in the teshuvoh inside to see the exact lashon, ??? ???? ??????.

?????? ???????

Also, you are mixing two issues, one is wearing tefillin on chol hamoed in Eretz Yisroel bichlal and one is wearing them in Shul. Those two things are not exactly the same.

Hello 99,

I think you need to read the Tsuva from R’ Moshe in OC 4:105.5 more carefully. He tells the questioner that he is permitted to desist from putting on Tefillin and is also permitted to continue doing so.

The Gaavad of Jerusalem was asked by someone if he may make a Minyan of Tefillin wearers on Chol HaMoed.

The Gaavad suggested not doing so but rather putting them on privately.

Thereupon the questioner asked if it was Osur to do so.

The Gaavad answered that he would not say that it is Osur, just that he recommends otherwise.

But as I pointed out before, that three big poskim of Bnei Brak have ruled that one may put on Tefillin on Chol Hamoed with a mniyan and so Rav Scheinberg rules as well.

Rainus: “R’ Moshe in OC 4:105.5 tells the questioner that he is permitted to desist from putting on Tefillin and is also permitted to continue doing so”

Yes, but ONLY IN PRIVATE

hello99 –

There are different shitos obviously, but, as Reinus, posted, gedolim of this dor have given their approval for tefillin to be worn in Eretz Yisroel with a minyan, so they can be followed.

Additionally, Rav Moshe z”l was not a resident of Eretz Yisroel and maybe he did not know the Matzav there so well. Also, things have changed since Rav Moshe was niftar, which was a long time ago, app. twenty five years already.

MHY: please list the “other minyonim that wear tefillin in Yerusholayim and Bnei Brak and perhaps elsewhere as well”

I question which Gedolim TRULY gave permission for tefillin in public. R’ Scheinberg and R’ Finkle were talking about bochurim who keep 2 days YT, R’ Vozner and R’ Ulman forbade the Yekke minyan in KS from wearing tefillin. The Gaavad only permitted in private as did R’ Eisemann.

So who are we left with? Only the Gaavad Erloi. So if you are a member of his community you should certainly follow your Rav, though it seems even the vast majority of his own community does not. If you are not Erloi there does not seem to be any grounds to wear tefillin in public.

MHY: before being motzi laaz on R’ Moshe that he would pasken a sheila without knowing the metzius, please read the teshuva. He writes, as I have quoted previously, that only if MANY people in EY wear tefilin it would be permitted. That is still not the case today.

hello99: “before being motzi laaz on R’ Moshe that he would pasken a sheila without knowing the metzius, please read the teshuva. He writes, as I have quoted previously, that only if MANY people in EY wear tefilin it would be permitted. That is still not the case today.”

Hello Mr. hello99 –

You are not accurately reporting what Rav Moshe wrote. Rav Moshe said clearly that one may wear tefillin on chol hamoed in Eretz Yisroel, and didn’t have a big IF before those words. Whoever wants to know the emes should see the teshuvoh inside.