Wearing Watch While Wearing Tefillin

 

Is it permitted to wear a watch on the wrist while you are wearing tefillin? According to the basic halachah it is permitted, however it is a very positive thing to remove items such as watches. Reb Avraham Tzvi Wosner.

Asking a Child

Sometimes we are not sure if a letter is kosher. Since we know what it is supposed to be we cannot rely on our own judgment. In cases like this sometimes the halacha dictates that we ask a child who is neither a fool or a chochom (wise person). This means that the child should know how to read the letters but not understand what he is reading. In a case where there is a 50% chance that the child will read either one of two possibilities we can rely on his ‘psak’ (decision). If you look at the vov in the picture you will see that it is touching the lamed underneath. When we covered up the bottom part of the Lamed (which was necessary) the child read it as a nun. If the sofer would scrape away the part that was touching he would be turning a nun into a vov out of order, rendering the mezuza posel. By the way this would also be chok tochos (creating a letter by carving with a knife instead of by writing with ink).

What in the world are 'phylacteries"?

I have always wondered why tefillin are referred to as ‘phylateries’. I found the answer on aish.com.

Tefillin are sometimes referred to as phylacteries. This stems from the ancient Greek phylakterion, which means a safeguard. Apparently, the Greeks misunderstood the Tefillin to be some sort of amulet or charm. Actually, Tefillin serve not as a superstition, but as a bona fide connection to God.

The Essence of Tefillin

Reb Yonason Eivshitez refers to tefillin as חותמא דמלקא קדישה, the ‘seal of the the holy king’. When you are getting ready to own a new set of tefillin, keep this description in mind. Tell me, who wouldn’t want to wear the seal of the holy king? Who wouldn’t feel a sense of majesty when when adorning himself with such an object?

Should Tefillin Cost More than a New Suit?

I was learning a piece from Reb Yonason Eibshitz this morning that confirmed a thought that I had about the price of tefillin. He writes about how much money people would spend for a hat (even back then), how the hat had to be perfect, exactly what was in style, not even a drop too tall, short, etc. Shoes, he notes, are something that people will pay twice what they are worth even though they only last a few years. But when it comes to tefillin, those same people want to save money at the expense of doing the mitzvah in the best way possible.  Back then a good set of tefillin lasted 10 or 15 years, whereas nowadays the kind of tefillin that I enjoy selling will last a lifetime–guaranteed. If you spent even $1,000 or $15,000 on tefillin and divide that price by the number of years a lifetime set will last, you will see that expensive sets of tefillin are quite cost effective. If a person spends $1,000.00 on tefillin and uses them for fifty years that comes to only $20.00 per year!