Greetings.
1) How long did it take for Rashi Tefillin to be adopted by all Jews as the lechatchila shita.
2) How did this happen?
3) Do we know how Rashi tefillin were referred to before Rashi (Rabbenu Gershom Tefillin?)
4) How many different shitas of tefillin were observed by Klal Yisroel before the period of the Rishonim?
5) Would a person be yotsi the mitzva with another shita in tefillin - i.e. if a person only had Rabbenu Tam Tefillin and made a brocha on it, would he be yotsi?
Thanks.
David Goldman, USA
These are all difficult questions to answer definitively, but let's do our best.
1) How long did it take for Rashi Tefillin to be adopted by all Jews as the lechatchila shita?
This is hard to say. Rav Yosef Karo (Kesef Mishnah, Hilchos Tefilin chapter 3) says that in his time (the sixteenth century) the universal practice ("all places that I have heard of") had become to wear Rashi Tefilin. This was not the case in the times of the Rishonim. The Rambam, writing in a Teshuvah (see Kesef Mishnah, ibid), says that when he lived in Spain he laid Rabbeinu Tam Tefilin as did most people that lived in that area, but that when he moved to the East (Eretz Yisrael, Egypt) he switched to Rashi as was the practice of everyone there. So we see that there were different customs in the Jewish world in his time.
2) How did this happen?
Probably through the influence of the great leaders of the generations that espoused the Shitah of Rashi: first and foremost the Rambam in his Yad Chazakah, and after him the Ramban, Rabbeinu Yonah and the Rashbah.
3) Do we know how Rashi tefillin were referred to before Rashi (Rabbenu Gershom Tefillin?)
I don't know. Perhaps they were referred to by Rabbis as "k'Sidran Tefilin", i.e. that the parshayos are arranged in the Tefilin in the same order that they appear in a Sefer Torah, which is the hallmark of Rashi Tefilin. Rabbeinu Tam tefilin were probably referred to as the Tefilin of Rav Hai Gaon. And before Rav Hai Gaon they might of been referred to by Rabbis as "Havayos Ahadadi" - the mnemonic for remembering the order of parshiyos according to this Shitah.
4) How many different shitas of tefillin were observed by Klal Yisroel before the period of the Rishonim?
Very hard to say. See the Keser Rosh (Hanhagos of Rav Chaim Volozhiner, printed in the Sidur haGra) that writes that the GR"A was asked if one should lay Rabbeinu Tam Tefilin in order to definitely fulfill the Mitzvah of Tefilin. The GR"A replied that if one wanted to definitely fulfill the Mitzvah, he would need 64 different pairs of Tefilin. This would probably set an upper limit on the number of Minhagim in Klal Yisrael regarding Tefilin down through the ages.
5) Would a person be yotsi the mitzva with another shita in tefillin - i.e. if a person only had Rabbenu Tam Tefillin and made a brocha on it, would he be yotsi?
Today everyone agrees that Rashi Tefilin are the Tefilin one needs to fulfill the Mitvah of Tefilin (Shulchan Aruch OC 34:1). If, however, one found oneself on a desert island with only Rabbeinu Tefilin he should definitely put them on, but definitely without a Berachah.
Kol Tuv,
Yonasan Sigler
Thank you. Wasn't there a pair of Rashi tefillin found that were dated from the time of Bais Sheni, suggesting that Rashi Tefillin were always the primary set?
According to one Rabbi that is well versed in archaelogical findings here in Israel, whom I spoke to on the subject, several pairs of have been found in the Dead Sea area (the Kumran caves, etc.). Most of them followed Rashi's Shitah, none followed Rabbeinu Tam's Shitah, and one followed a Shitah that is neither Rashi nor Rabbeinu Tam. I have also been told that a pair of Tefilin were found at Masadah that followed Rashi.
Kol Tuv,
Yonasan Sigler
Why no Bracha R' Sigler?
Even those that follow the tradition of the Kabalah - which holds that both Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam Tefilin are considered valid - agree that one of the two opinions - Rashi - is the principal opinion, and the other - Rabbeinu Tam - is supplementary, and that the Berachah has to go with the principal opinion.
Yonasan Sigler
Dear Rabbi Kornfield,
I am a layman and am not qualified to make anything more than a superficial comment on this matter. I found the article very interesting.
However I was under the impression that the Rambam was not aware of Rashi's writings, or did not seem to take them into account in his works, and I also recall reading elsewhere that one of the reasons that this issue was sort of an open one, was that nobody could remember how Rav Hai wore his Tefilin.
Your Sincerely,
Moses Raymond
(a) You are correct. The Rambam did not refer to them as "Rashi" or "Rabeinu Tam" Tefillin. He referred only to the order of the Parshiyos, which we now define as Rashi and Rabeinu Tam.
(b) You will find an allusion to that confusion in the Kesef Mishnah there. The Chachmei Lunil testified that Rav Hai's Tefilin was like Rabeinu Tam's and the Ramban writes back that he heard evidence to the contrary.
Best wishes,
Mordecai Kornfeld