Shulchan Aruch: Chapter 37 - Time for Wearing Tefillin

Rosh HaShanah 17a. The commentary of Maharsha (Chiddushei Aggados) explains this term as follows: Tefillin are intended to refine the body and make it subservient to the soul. A person who fails to put them on reverses this thrust and makes his soul subservient to his physical desires.

Shabbos 49a. See subsection 2 below and sec. 38:1.

Rosh HaShanah, loc. cit.

Shmos 13:9, as interpreted by Kiddushin 35a.

Our Sages (Menachos 44a) derive this concept from a verse (Yeshayahu 38:16) which is interpreted on the non-literal level of derush as meaning, “G‑d (i.e., His name as manifest in the tefillin) is upon them; they shall live.”

From the Babylonian Talmud (Berachos 23b, Bava Metzia 105b), it appears that it was still customary in the Talmudic era for people to wear tefillin the entire day. On the other hand, Rabbeinu Yerucham (sec. 19, part 5, p. 171c) understands the Jerusalem Talmud (Berachos 2:3) as implying that already in the Talmudic era, people commonly removed their tefillin before going about their workaday activities.

By the middle of the era of the Rishonim, in the Middle Ages, ordinary people in both the Sephardic and Ashkenazic communities commonly wore tefillin only during their morning prayers. By contrast, even today there are a select few Torah scholars who are not involved in mundane activities and wear tefillin the entire day.

Sec. 25:1 states that a person who recites the Shema without wearing tefillin is giving false testimony concerning himself. And it is not proper for one to make an interruption between the recitation of the Shema and the Shemoneh Esreh to remove his tefillin (Mikdash Me’at 37:2).

If, however, one did not put on tefillin in the morning — either because of illness, as explained in sec. 38 below, or for other reasons — he should put them on later in the day if possible.

See sec. 80:1 and 103:2 with regard to prayer; with regard to the recitation of the Shema, see sec. 80:3. See also sec. 38:1.

See also sec. 61:1, 98:1.

Sukkah 42a. See the notes to sec. 39:1.

The Alter Rebbe uses the Talmudic expression “thirteen years and one day.” By this the Sages meant that the boy has completed thirteen years of life and begun the first day of his fourteenth year. Hence it is translated here as “thirteen.”

The opinion cited in the text above is given by Baal HaItur, a prominent Ashkenazic authority of the twelfth century. Significantly, it is not mentioned by the Tur, a major source for Ashkenazic custom in the early fourteenth century. The Rama, however, subscribes to the interpretation of Baal HaItur. Sephardic custom, as defined by R. Yosef Caro in his Beis Yosef and Shulchan Aruch, is that when a minor is able to maintain a state of bodily purity while wearing tefillin, his father is obligated to buy him tefillin. The exact age differs from community to community, varying between 9 and several months before 13.

I.e., at least two pubic hairs.

I.e., in the Ashkenazic community.

This custom is stated in Magen Avraham 37:4.

The Rebbe advises that one should begin to put on tefillin two months before the bar-mitzvah. (See Sefer HaMinhagim: The Book of Chabad-Lubavitch Customs, p. 11. Regarding the tefillin of Rabbeinu Tam, see sec. 34, note 30 above.) The Rebbe also advises that if Pesach or Sukkos falls within this two-month period, the boy should compensate for the days of Chol HaMoed by starting his training in the observance of the mitzvah a week earlier (Shaar Halachah U’Minhag, Orach Chayim, Vol. 1, p. 78).

The same source states (p. 80) that during his preparatory period, a boy should begin to recite the blessing only after some time has passed, i.e., after he has acquired proficiency in putting on the tefillin in the correct manner and position.