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Translation:Shulchan Aruch/Orach Chaim/25

From Wikisource
Translation:Shulchan Aruch
by Yosef Karo, translated from Hebrew by Wikisource
Orach Chaim 25
Specification of the Laws of Tefillin
1352748Translation:Shulchan AruchOrach Chaim 25
Specification of the Laws of Tefillin
WikisourceYosef Karo

25: Specification of the Laws of Tefillin.

1 After putting on a tallit with tzitzit, one then puts on tefillin, due to "progressive increase in sanctity". And those who put their tefillin pouch and their tallit into one pouch must be careful not to put the tefillin container on top, so that he is not met with them first, in which case he'd be required to put them on before the tallit in order to avoiding passing over the commandment. Gloss: Nevertheless, if tefillin are ready at hand but lacks tzitzit does not have to wait for tzitzit; instead he puts on the tefillin and when a tallit is brought to him he wraps himself in it (his own words)

2 One who is careful to wear a tallit kattan wears it and puts on tefillin at home and goes wearing tzitzit and crowned in tefillin to the synagogue and wraps himself in the tallit gadol there. Gloss: And it is the universal custom to wrap oneself in the tallit gadol, say the blessing over it, and then put on tefillin and only after this walk to the synagogue.

3 The Rosh said the morning blessings up until "Who crowns Israel with glory" and then put on his tefillin and said "Who crowns Israel with glory"

4 One must be wearing tefillin during the reading of the Shema and during the tefillah.

5 One should have intent when putting them on that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, commanded us, to put these four sets of verses, that have in them the oneness of His Name and the exodus from Egypt, on the arm next to the heart, and on the head next to the brain, in order that we should remember the miracles and wonders that He performed for us, which teach us about His oneness and that he has the power and the dominion in the high places and in the low places to do in them as he wishes, and one should enslave to the Holy One, Blessed Be He, his soul which is in the brain, and also the heart which is the source of the desires and the thoughts, and with this one will remember the Creator and will reduce his enjoyments. And one puts on the tefillin of the arm first and says the blessing "to place tefillin" and then puts on the tefillin of the head and only says one blessing for the two of them.

Gloss: And there are those who say to bless on the tefillin of the head "on the mitzvah of tefillin" even if one did not pause in between them [The Rosh, Laws of Tefillin] [and this is the custom for Ashkenazim that one says two blessings], and it is good to always say after the second blessing "Blessed is the name of his glorious kingdom forever and ever" [Rabbi Jacob ben Habib; Agur Chapter 38].

6 If one touched that of the head first one must skip that mitzvah and put on that of the hand first and then that of the head.

7 During the blessing, one pronounces the hay in להניח with a kamatz and not with a patakh and a dagesh.

8 One says the blessing for all commandments before performing them and so one says the blessing on that of the hand after putting them on the bicep but before tightening it because the tightening is the actual mitzvah. [Gloss: And similarly for that of the head we bless before fastening it. Tur].

9 One may not stop to talk between putting on the tefillin of the hand and the tefillin of the head and if one did stop one blesses on that of the head "on the mitzvah of tefillin". Gloss: And since our custom is to say two blessings even if we do not pause, one must return and say on that of the head "to place" and also "on the mitzvah" [his own words].

10 If one says something for the purpose of tefillin one does not have to go back and make another blessing. If one hears the Kaddish or the Kedusha in between putting on the tefillin of the hand and the tefillin of the head one does not pause to respond; instead one should be quiet and listen and pay attention to what it is being said.

11 After one has tightened that of the hand on the arm one puts on that of the head before wrapping the strap around the arm and there is an opinion that it is prohibited to take the tefillin of the head out of the bag until the tefillin of the hand is put on. Gloss: And even if both are out of the bag it is not correct to open the tefillin of the head until after putting on that of the hand [Rabbi Isaac Aboab and Rabbi Jacob ben Habib]. There is one who wrote to put on that of the hand while sitting and that of the head while standing [Agur in the name of the Zohar, Chapter 84] and in these countries this is not the practice; rather we put on both while standing.

12 If one puts on tefillin several times in the day one must say a blessing on them each time. If they fall out of place and one has to touch them to move them back to their place, one must say a blessing. Gloss: And if one has to put one of them back in place one blesses as if one has just put on one tefillin as discussed below in Chapter 26 [his own words]. If one has moved them from their place and had thought to return them immediately one must say a blessing. Gloss: And there are those who say not to make a blessing. [Tur Chapter 8] and this is our practice and was already clarified above in Chapter 8, paragraph 14. One who puts on tefillin of the hand and says the blessing and at the beginning of tightening it the tefillin-knot comes apart, requiring tying a new knot, if one's concentration has indeed not faltered, one does not need to make a new blessing. If that of the hand loosens before one puts on the that of the head, one tightens it and does not need to make a new blessing, but if one has already put on that of the head and only later does that of the hand come loose, one then has to tighten with a blessing. It is permitted to say a blessing on borrowed tefillin, but not on stolen ones.

13 It is the universal practice not to take off the tefillin until after the prayer "And shall come to Zion". [And there is one who wrote on the side of the kabbalah not to remove tefillin until one has said with them three kedushot and four kaddishes, meaning after the Mourner's Kaddish; and this is the practice of the stringent] [Petach Enayim, Sefer Hamusar Chapter 4]. And on the days that there is Torah reading the practice is not to remove them until the Torah is returned to the ark. Gloss: And this is the case in places where the Torah is returned to the ark after "And a redeemer shall come to Zion" but according to the practice of these countries where the Torah is returned to the ark immediately after the Torah reading one may not remove them except as on the other days [his own words]. And on the first day of the month one removes them before the Musaf prayer.
Gloss: And this is the law during Chol Hamoed. And particularly in a place where they say "Kedushat Keter" during Musaf. However, the practice is to remove them before Musaf in any place [Beit Yosef].