Women
Is There a Prohibition for a Woman to Put on Tefillin?
Halacha on Women Putting on Tefillin
Question
I know that it is forbidden for a woman to put on tefillin, and I have a college lecturer who teaches me Gemara and says that there is no prohibition for a woman to put on tefillin, and that if she wants to she may. She says there are mitzvot that women are not obligated in but may nevertheless fulfill, and I agree that there are some such mitzvot, such as three daily prayers: a woman is not obligated in all three, but if she is able to, it is a mitzvah. But to say that there is no prohibition for a woman to put on tefillin, I do not believe, and I do not understand how she can say such a thing. So my question is: Is there really a prohibition for a woman to put on tefillin? Since the lecturer said this, I very much want to know the true answer, Heaven forbid that I should start putting on tefillin or anything like that. Many thanks.
Answer
Hello,
a. It is forbidden for a woman to put on tefillin - and as the Rama wrote (siman 38, seif 3) in the name of the Kol Bo, that if women wish to be stringent upon themselves and put on tefillin, we protest against them.
b. According to Targum Yonatan ben Uziel (Devarim 22:5), a woman who puts on tefillin violates the prohibition of a garment of a man upon a woman.
c. It should also be noted what was written in Shiltei HaGibborim on Rosh Hashanah (daf 9b of the pages of the Rif, ot 3) in the name of the Ri'az, that it is forbidden for women to put on tefillin even without a blessing, because it appears like the way of the sectarians who violate the words of the Sages and do not wish to interpret the verses as they do.
With blessings,
Hillel Meirs
