Is Walking to Shul While Wearing a Tallis and Tefillin Preferable to Putting Them on in the Courtyard of the Shul?
As seen in Mishnah Berurah,18 the idea of leaving one’s home adorned with tallis and tefillin is considered extremely praiseworthy. This concept actually encompasses two ideas. One is leaving the home while wearing a tallis and tefillin. The other is entering the shul while wearing them. Indeed, Mishnah Berurah mentions19 that even when it is impractical to put on one’s tallis and tefillin at home, it is still recommended to put them on in the lobby or courtyard outside the shul.
Question: What is the source and the reason behind this idea?
Discussion: The source of this idea is found in the Zohar20 and is cited in Beis Yosef.21 The Zohar says as follows:
“When one wakes up at midnight and learns Torah until daybreak, at which point he dons his tefillin and tallis, and then gets ready to leave his home, at the doorway he passes the mezuzah which has Hashem’s name (Shakai) on it. [At that point] four holy angels attach themselves to him and accompany him to shul … The Shechinah then rests upon him, and it calls out ‘[This is] the Jewish people through whom I am glorified…’
“[However], one who enters the shul after leaving his home unadorned with tallis and tefillin and says, ‘Eshtachaveh el heichal kodshecha b’yirasecha’22 causes Hashem to say, ‘Where is his awe (yirah) of Me? [This person] bears false testimony!’”23
Aruch Hashulchan writes24 that if a person is not adorned with tefillin, he should actually skip this pasuk of “Eshtachaveh”, etc.”
Furthermore, Darkei Moshe quotes the following section from the Zohar (Zohar Chadash, Megillas Rus 43a):
“Rav Nehorai said, ‘If a person leaves his home adorned with tallis and tefillin, he is met by the Shechinah, and two angels accompany him to shul and bless him. One prosecuting angel trails behind and, against his will, answers “Amen” to these blessings.
Question: Sometimes, due to social or halachic considerations, it is impractical to wear tallis and tefillin in the street. If so, which would be preferrable: To wear the tallis and tefillin and have them covered with a coat and hat, or to put them on in the shul courtyard or lobby?
Discussion: Mishnah Berurah25 discusses the correct procedure for one who can’t follow the ideal due to non-Jews in the street who will mock him. He says that in such an instance, the tallis and tefillin should be put on in the lobby or courtyard of the shul.
Similarly, if there is filth in the street, he should not don his tefillin at home but rather only put them on in the courtyard of the shul. Although, one might have thought that in such a case, it would be better to put the tallis and tefillin on at home and then just cover them, rather than putting them on before entering shul, Da’as Notah26 explains that wearing tefillin in an area containing filth – even if they are covered – is considered a lack of respect. If it is not possible to put them on in the courtyard, they should be put on at home and covered such that they remain unseen.
Other Acharonim27 disagree with Mishnah Berurah and, indeed, say it would be better to put them on at home and cover them.
Note that Mishnah Berurah28 writes that it is perfectly acceptable to leave one’s house without tefillin, if one does so early in the morning before the obligation of tefillin begins. Indeed Kaf Hachaim29 presents this practice as an option for somebody who is unable to don tefillin at home, and quotes R’ Chaim Vital who recommended coming to shul before alos hashachar (which is a bit before the obligation of tallis and tefillin begins), so as to be among the first ten people in shul.30 Note, that somebody who arrives in shul before the time of tefillin has arrived, should ideally go out into the shul’s courtyard in order to put his tefillin on.31
18 25, note 8.
19 25, note 10.
20 Parshas Va’eschanan, page 265a.
21 Chapter 25.
22 Part of the “Mah Tovu” prayer recited upon entering shul.
23 Wearing tefillin generates fear of Heaven. Hence, when one enters shul without wearing tefillin and says that he has entered shul in awe, it is viewed as false testimony.
24 93:8.
25 25, note 8.
26 III:62. See also a unique idea presented by Rav Moshe Feinstein in Dibros Moshe, Shabbos 49, in the first two paragraphs of anaf 6.
27 Rama MiPano 59, Eliyah Rabbah 25:6. Eliyah Rabbah points out that passing the mezuzah of one’s house while wearing tefillin is an equal part of the idea, hence when donning the tefillin in the courtyard of the shul, one has missed out on that.
28 25, note 8.
29 25:16.
30 Some say (Magen Avraham 25:3) that Arizal prioritized walking to shul in tallis and tefillin above being one of the first ten in shul. Others disagree (Artzos Hachaim, Hamei’ir La’aretz 18).
31 Mishnah Berurah ibid.