When One May be Exempt From Wearing Tefillin

Dear Jewish Physicians Network,

B’Chasdei Hashem, my wife, and I have just welcomed our beautiful baby girl into the world!

In this week's and last week's Parshas, we read the paragraphs of Shema, which includes the commandment of wearing tefillin every day. However, there are medical circumstances where one may be exempt from wearing tefillin. This previously written article discusses unique medical circumstances where one may be exempt from wearing tefillin or not.

Have a great Shabbos, Aharon Galandauer

When the Torah (Shemos 29:6) discusses the Kohen Gadol’s Bigdim, it is said that the Mitznefes shall be placed on the Kohen’s head and the tzitz on the forehead.

This pasuk is one of the root sources when it comes to discussions of Hilchos Tefillin. Does wearing the shel yad depend on wearing the shel rosh, or vice versa? What is considered a chatziza (a halachic separation)? A practical medical question is, can someone don Tefillin if someone comes out of surgery and has a bandage on his head? What does one do if he is accustomed to wearing a toupe? What about someone with hair implants?

One ideally should wear tefillin all day, but as the generations become weaker and our thoughts aren't as consistently pure, it was instituted that men only put on tefillin for morning prayers. A Gemara in Arachin brings up a discussion of whether Kohanim would wear tefillin during their Avodah. The pasuk (Vayikra 6:3) says that Bigdei Kehunah must be worn Al Besaro (on the skin) and the pasuk above says that they must wear the Mitznefes. The Gemara derives from here that tefillin shel yad and tefillin shel rosh do not depend on each other when fulfilling the mitzvah. It is also derived from here that Kohanim would only wear Tefillin Shel Rosh, since there was some hair shown by the mitznefes, whereas a Kohen would don tefillin.

There is a dispute amongst the Rishonim about why the Kohanim could not wear tefillin shel yad on top of the Bigdey Kehunah. The Rashba (Megilah 24b) and the Ran (ibid. 15b – Dafey Ha’Rif) hold that although there is no concept of Chatzitza in Hilchos Tefillin, the pasuk says that the Tefillin shall be ‘Lecha L’Os Al Yadecha’ – a sign for you upon your arm. I.e., it is a sign for the one who is wearing them, and it must be directly on one’s skin. The Rosh (source) disagrees and says there is a concept of Chatzitza by Tefillin because of the Gemara above and the pasuk of ‘Al Yadecha...Bein Einecha’ implies that tefillin must be directly on the skin.

The Shulchan Aruch (O.C. 27:7-8) rules that the Halacha follows the Rosh, which means that one may not have any Chatzitza between Tefillin and one’s body. If one’s head is bandaged and a Chatzitza is unavoidable, one should place the Shel Rosh on top of the bandage but does not recite a Brachah. (Alternatively, Sefardim, who do not recite the Bracha of Shel Rosh, would conduct themselves as usual).

Regarding a toupe, Rav Moshe zt”l (Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:40:18) ruled that if one is not embarrassed to remove the wig, then that is the most ideal. If one is then while in shul, he dons his tefillin as he usually would but without a bracha; after davening, in a private setting, he should remove his toupe and put on his tefillin, this time with a Bracha. Raf Shlomo Zalman zt”l (see Halichos Shlomo, Hilchos Tefilah, p42 in footnote) ruled that rather than doing this practice after, one should privately don tefillin before, then go to shul and put on his tefillin shel rosh without a bracha.

Since hair implants are impossible to remove, and a person purposely gets them, they are not categorized as a Chatzitzah. The Nishmas Avraham cites Rav Neuwirth zt”l, who advised that if one’s minhag is not to wear tefillin on Chol Hamoed, then one should time the procedure for Erev Sukkos or Pesach. Then, one will be able to recover and put on tefillin and fulfill the mitzvah to the fullest extent.