Question: My family custom is not to don tefillin on Chol HaMo’ed. What should I do if I come to a shul where it’s the custom to don tefillin on these days?
M. Jakobowitz
Answer: To answer this question, we have to understand the fundamental reasons behind the two customs.
The Torah states (Exodus 31:16-17), “Ve’shamru [B]nei Yisrael et haShabbat la’asot et haShabbat ledorotam brit olam. Beini u’vein Bnei Yisrael ot he le’olam ki sheshet yamim asah Hashem et hashamayim ve’et ha’aretz u’vayom hashevi’i shavat va’yyinafash – The Children of Israel shall observe the Sabbath [and not defile it – see Ibn Ezra ad loc.], to make the Sabbath an everlasting covenant. Between Me and the Children of Israel it is a sign forever that in six days G-d created the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work (shavat) and was refreshed.”
We see from this text, which is read in most congregations on Friday evening, that Shabbat was given to the Children of Israel as a sign that Hashem created the world in six days. And since the Talmud states (Shabbos 60b) that there is “no difference between the festivals and Shabbat except for [the preparation of] food for a person” (see Tosafot, ad loc.), Yom Tov is also regarded as a sign.
Yet another sign are tefillin. The Torah states (Exodus 13:16), “Ve’haya le’ot al yadcha u’letotaphot bein einecha ki bechozek yad hotzianu Hashem miMitzrayim – And it shall be a sign upon your arm, and frontlets between your eyes, for with a strong hand did G-d bring us forth from Egypt.” Donning tefillin serves as a sign to remind us of the omnipotence of the Creator who molded us into a nation.
We find a baraita in Tractate Menachot (36b) in the name of Rabbi Akiva: One might have thought that one should don tefillin on Sabbaths and Festivals; therefore, Scripture says (loc. cit.), “‘and it shall be a sign upon your arm’ – that is, [only on those days] that need a sign, but Sabbaths and Festivals are excluded since they themselves are signs.”
Now, even though work is permitted on Chol HaMo’ed, they are still an integral part of the sign of Yom Tov, which manifests itself in the prohibition to eat chametz on these day or, alternatively, to eat in a sukkah (if we’re talking about Chol HaMo’ed Sukkos).
Tosafot quotes a passage from Mo’ed Katan (19a), which seems to indicate that one is required to don tefillin on Chol Hamo’ed, and seeks to reconcile the two Talmudic passages. There is, however, no clear statement in the Talmud regarding the donning of tefillin on Chol HaMo’ed.
The Tur (Orach Chayim 31:2) states that there is a doubt, according to some authorities, whether donning tefillin is required on Chol HaMo’ed, and therefore we should put them on but without reciting the blessing. Others rule that the beracha should be recited b’chasha’ei (in a silent hush).
According to Darchei Moshe (Rema’s commentary on the Tur), people should don tefillin on Chol HaMo’ed and say the blessing quietly. It’s interesting to point out that Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, zt”l, notes that even if the blessing is not recited, one may not talk between donning the hand phylactery and the head phylactery, except when responding to Kaddish and Kedushah.
Rabbi Yosef Caro, in his longer Bet Yosef commentary to the Tur (Orach Chayim, ibid.), discusses this issue at some length and concludes by leaning to the opinion that tefillin should not be donned on Chol HaMo’ed. The Rema, though quotes him citing the Rosh, who rules that one should don tefillin on Chol HaMo’ed.
The Mishnah Berurah (ad loc.) writes that those who don tefillin on Chol HaMo’ed take them off before Hallel or after the Kedushah of Shacharit. He also quotes the Pri Megadim who says Rabbeinu Tam tefillin should not be donned on Chol HaMo’ed.
The Aruch HaShulchan (ad loc.) notes that the Talmud, Rambam, and Rif don’t state whether putting on tefillin on Chol HaMo’ed is required, but stresses that the Rosh and Mordecai rule that since we are permitted to engage in work, we are also required to don tefillin. He lists numerous other early poskim who rule that it’s required (as well as those who rule that it’s not required).
Noting the conflicting opinions of the Beit Yosef and Rema, the Aruch HaShulchan writes, “All the Sefardim don’t put on tefillin [on Chol HaMo’ed] while all the Ashkenazim do, but without reciting the blessing, and this is the proper way. Many of gedolei haAcharonim continue the discussion…and therefore each should follow his minhag. There are now many Ashkenazim who do not don tefillin on Chol HaMo’ed.”
The Gaon Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (Igrot Moshe, Orach Chayim, chelek 5, responsum 24) discusses this matter at great length, including the problem of violating the prohibition of “lo titgodedu,” which is expounded in Yevamot 14a as: you shall not form separate sects.” We may not have two different customs in one community. If we did, Rashi explains (Yevamot 13b s.v. “lo ta’asu agudot, agudot”), it would appear as if there were two sets of Torah laws.
Rabbi Feinstein seems to conclude that as long as the existence of two established customs is generally well known, a person is allowed to not don tefillin on Chol HaMo’ed – if that’s his custom – even if he joins the prayer service of a shul where it’s the custom to don tefillin.
This reasoning behind this ruling appears in two adjacent teshuvot (Igrot Moshe, O.C. chelek 4, responsa 33, 34). In the first responsum, he permits several families who follow nusach Ashkenaz to become members of a congregation that follows nusach Sefarad, and in the second, he doesn’t allow individuals to practice customs that are obviously different from the local practice.
The first responsum concerned New York where there is no defined established custom, and the second concerned Paris (several decades ago), where there is an established age-old custom (nusach Ashkenaz). In ruling as he does, Rabbi Feinstein refers to the Biblical principle of “lo titgodedu” as well as to the Rabbinic injunction to avoid dispute (see Pesachim 50).
To answer your question directly, since America is a new settlement, there is no set custom and therefore one should follow the custom of one’s family. Yet, there are some synagogues that take great pains to create separate minyanim, where each can follow his own minhag.