Quadruplets Mayer & Yitzy Herskowitz, Put On Tefilin By Reb Shlomo Halberstam Shlita
PHOTOS of quadruplets Yitzy & Mayer Herskowitz, sons of R’ Hershel Herskowitz, putting on Tefilin for the first time, this morning, by Harav Shloime Halberstam Shlita of Khal Divrei Chaim.
There are 8 Comments to "Quadruplets Mayer & Yitzy Herskowitz, Put On Tefilin By Reb Shlomo Halberstam Shlita"
PuttinG
Hershel – may you have much yidishe nachas from your mishpacha. Keep up the good work
asach yiddish naches
are you opening a new mesivta for them or a new BY for ur daughters?
Isnt it mitzva bo yoser mibeshlucho? let the boys do their own mitzva of putting on tefilin, were does this minhag taus come from?
To Kim (#4).
Permit me to respond to your question. (Although it does come across somewhat rhetorical.) It may be that “Mitzvah Bo yoser mibeshulcho” applies when the concept of “shlichus” i.e. agency is involved, for example, kidushin. It is preferable that one performs “kidushin” himself rather than employing a shaliach. Another example is the “bris milah” of one’s own child, where it is preferable that the father perform the miitzvah, if he is capable and competent.
Tefilin, however, is a “mitzah shebegufoh”. It MUST be performed personally. One cannot hire or engage another to don tefilin for him. No shelichus may be involved. Eating matzoh at the seder would be another example of a “mitzah shebegufoh”. There too, one cannot eat matzoh as a shaliach for another.
However, when one assists another in the proper performance of the mitzvah of tefilin, and provides encouragement and inspiration, in no way does this diminish the personal nature of the performance; it enhances it.
I am not presenting this response with the same level of assurance that you project when posing your question. After all, I am not a Talmid Chochom, merely a Talmid. My contribution is one of “BeDerech Ulai”, perhaps this might me a justification of this widespread and rather traditional custom.
“Hanach livnai Yisroel. Ihm Aynom Nevi-im Haim, Bnai Nevi-im Haim” I would be more hesitant to condemn as a “taus”, a minhag carried out by thousands of Jews for hundreds of years. If your objection would be valid, surely some Rabbis would have lodged a protest in all this time.
Rabbi Halberstam is real ish emes, no one really knows him
Fortunately, this was not on an airplane.
With your koach hasborah and your writing talent you should be working on the artscroll shas. Seriously.