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Beit Midrash
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- Chemdat Yamim
- Bemare Habazak - Rabbis Questions
- Jewish Laws and Thoughts
- Jewish Laws and Customs
- Tzitzit & Tefillin
Answer: We will start with sources in the gemara. The mishna (Berachot 20a-b) lists tefillin among mitzvot that women and children are exempt from. On the other hand, a baraita (cited in Sukkot 42a and Arachin 2b) lists tefillin among mitzvot that a katan is trained in at the appropriate age. Notably, while the description of readiness for the other mitzvot involves the ability to fully perform the mitzva, the age by tefillin is defined according to his ability to protect the tefillin. Rishonim raise three required protections: from entering the bathroom, from sleeping, and from releasing gas. They broadly assume that this comes at a later age than for other mitzvot and after the child can effectively fasten the tefillin to his arm and head.
Bemare Habazak - Rabbis Questions (655)
Rabbi Daniel Mann
509 - Unsure if he Recited Birkat Hatorah
510 - Age to Begin Wearing Tefillin
511 - Listening to the Megilla with Limited Concentration
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The Itur (Tefillin 61b) is in the small minority (Rashi, Berachot 20b might agree) who understand that the katan who wears tefillin is a thirteen year old (who still must pass the carefulness test). Surprisingly, the Rama (OC 37:3) reports and strongly supports the minhag to wait until the child is thirteen to don tefillin. There are two ways to view the essential denial of chinuch (i.e., starting a mitzva before bar mitzva) for tefillin. It may be a fundamental ruling – no mitzva of pre-bar mitzva tefllin donning was instituted. It might be just a practically conservative approach to determining when children are ready (which some poskim use to explain the minhag in old Sephardi communities to wait until bar mitzva – see Yechaveh Da’at ibid.). Some practical differences follow.
The Magen Avraham (37:4) reports his time’s prevalent minhag to start two or three months before bar mitzva, and he and the Mishna Berura (37:12) seems to support it. The latter also cites the Bach’s opinion that a learned child can don tefillin at age 12 (Be’ur Halacha, ad loc.) (There was also a controversial minhag that orphans started at age 12 – see Teshuvot V’hanhagot I:53.) Many understand the Magen Avraham to fundamentally accept the Rama, just modifying it to start a little earlier to build up experience before the bar mitzva (see Tzitz Eliezer XIII:10). As some saw the Itur/Rama as fundamental, many (see Even Sh’ti’ah 14, Tzvi Latzaddik 23) raise the question if a child during his practice period should make a beracha on putting on the tefillin. However, almost all poskim accept, for a wide variety of reasons, the minhag that whenever a child starts putting on tefillin, it is with a beracha.
The most prevalent minhag nowadays (the Aruch Hashulchan, OC 37:4 already mentioned it) among non-Chasidic Ashkenazim is to start a month before the bar mitzva. Tzitz Eliezer (ibid.) presents two of the conjectures of the significance of a month (a known time for learning a topic – Pesachim 6a; since many who are born in Adar and have a bar mitzva in a leap year start with tefillin in Adar I (see Living the Halachic Process II, H-12) everyone starts a month early). The explanations are less important than the fact the minhag is along the lines of the Magen Avraham and is reasonable.
There are different planes of explanation (see Divrei Yatziv, OC I:11) for the Chassidic minhag to wait until bar mitzva – halachic, spiritual (sanctity of tefillin), practical (people might think he already is a gadol), and educational (reinforcing the need to respect tefillin’s sanctity is crucial chinuch).
Our practical advice for a non-Chasidic Ashkenazi is a month and for a Sephardi in a Sephardi community is to follow local practice.
Chemdat Yamim Moreshet Shaul: Twin Foundations
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
Rabbis in Midrash
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P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Complaints about Contractor’s Work – part II
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Chemdat Yamim Moreshet Shaul: Twin Foundations
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
D'varim Judaism’s Social Vision
Re’eh
Giving is more than an act of generosity—it is an essential part of human dignity that belongs to everyone, rich and poor alike. The ultimate goal of help is to empower others to stand on their own.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
Ein Aya Armies Still Necessary for Balance & the War Against Wars
Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
