עברית
Prayer and Blessings
Is it permissible to pray Shacharit without Tefillin, and can one recite the Shema without Tefillin?
Question
Shalom, esteemed rabbi. We have a disagreement in our study group, and the following questions will help us resolve it or continue onward. The questions are simple and perhaps even a bit convoluted (I request that no reader on the site infers from the answers any halachic rulings!!!). However, they contain, in my opinion, relevance to our lesson. A certain individual who does not possess Tefillin for any reason and does not make an effort to obtain them (i.e., is not compelled) or who has Tefillin and chooses for some bizarre reason not to bring them. Can he pray Shacharit without Tefillin, and is it permitted for him to recite the Shema without Tefillin? And if he put Tefillin without reciting Shema, does he fulfill the mitzvah of Tzitzit alone?
Answer
Shalom u'vracha
Certainly, he may pray Shacharit and recite the Shema, even though he is missing the great mitzvah of Tefillin.
It is permissible to read the Shema without Tefillin, although it is not proper, as mentioned in the Gemara (Berakhot 14b) that anyone who recites the Shema without Tefillin is bearing false witness against himself.
Putting Tefillin without reciting Shema does not negate the mitzvah of Tefillin.
B'rakha - Binyamin Shmueli
