Instructions to a shliach regarding certain matters

Table of contents

Search this book:

Bonding to the Rebbe Rayatz by accepting a portion of the financial responsibility for the institutions, Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, Machneh Israel, and Kehot, the support of which the Rebbe Rayatz had taken upon himself

No. 632

The name of the recipient of this letter was not released.

B"H, 19 Sivan, 5710

Greetings and blessings,

In response to your letter from Friday:

Mazel tov, mazel tov, on your engagement with your partner. May your [marriage] be a binyan adei ad, an everlasting structure, [established] on the foundation of the Torah and its mitzvos, according to the will of my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, hk"m.

In general, the [appropriate] time for weddings in these months[554] is Elul or Kislev. In this instance, the primary determining factor [for which month to choose] should be the preparations on the part of the bride.

With regard to putting on tefillin [whose passages are ordered according to the opinion of] Rabbeinu Tam:[555] I know of yeshivah students who asked my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, hk"m, if they should put on Rabbeinu Tam's tefillin and he told them, "It's a good idea."

If so, why should putting them on be delayed, [especially] since you have already decided to put them on? See Shaar HaCollel, sec. 11:39, which cites Atzei Eden; Ateres Zekeinim, sec. 34, which cites the Zohar Chadash; Os Chayim by the Munkatcher Rebbe 34:3. It is already stated by R. Chayim Naeh in his Piskei Siddur that he has not heard a reason why most yeshivah students begin to put on Rabbeinu Tam's tefillin only after their weddings.

With blessings and wishes of mazel tov,

Rabbi Menachem Schneerson

   

Notes:

554. (Back to text) [Since the engagement took place in late Sivan, it would have been difficult for the wedding to be held in the first half of Tammuz. During the Three Weeks (17 Tammuz until 9 Av), it is forbidden to hold weddings. According to chassidic custom, weddings are not held in the second half of Av, nor in the second half of Tishrei, nor in the entire month of MarCheshvan (Sefer HaMinhagim). Thus in the situation at hand, the months appropriate for the wedding would be Elul and Kislev.]

555. (Back to text) [See the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 34:3, which relates that there is a difference of opinion between Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam regarding the order in which the passages of the head tefillin should be placed. Although the halachah follows Rashi's view, the Alter Rebbe states that "A G-d-fearing person should endeavor to fulfill both opinions." Accordingly, in the chassidic community at large, it is customary to put on two pairs of tefillin, i.e., to pray in those whose passages are ordered according to Rashi's view, but afterwards put on those whose passages are ordered according to the view of Rabbeinu Tam. Nevertheless, even in such communities, it was often customary for men to refrain from observing this practice at least until several years after Bar Mitzvah.

     This was also the custom of many Lubavitcher chassidim until Purim, 5736. On that occasion, the Rebbe delivered a sichah stating that from the age one begins putting on tefillin (i.e., two months before bar mitzvah), he should also put on the tefillin of Rabbeinu Tam after prayer. See also Sefer HaSichos 5749, Vol. II, p. 632.]

Instructions to a shliach regarding certain matters

Table of contents

Search this book:

Bonding to the Rebbe Rayatz by accepting a portion of the financial responsibility for the institutions, Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, Machneh Israel, and Kehot, the support of which the Rebbe Rayatz had taken upon himself