Menachot 36b — the Talmud in English

And we raise an objection:

But did Rav Hisda and Rabba bar Rav Huna not pray with them in the evening?

And we conclude:

That one is disputed,

for there is a dispute among the amoraim as to whose opinion the halakha follows.

And we raise an objection:

And did Rabba bar Rav Huna say this,

that the halakha follows Rabbi Yaakov?

But Rabba bar Rav Huna said: If it is doubtful whether it has become dark or doubtful whether it has not become dark, one neither removes the tefillin that are upon him nor puts them on,

if he has already removed them; and it is proven from his words

that

if tefillin were placed upon him at a time when it was

certainly dark, he removes them!

And this is difficult, for if so there is a contradiction between this statement of Rabba bar Rav Huna, that when it is certainly dark he removes them, and the practice of Rabba bar Rav Huna, who would pray the evening prayer at night while wearing tefillin. And we answer:

There

where he is obligated to remove them when it is certainly dark,

it was stated with regard to the eve of Shabbat,

and he holds that Shabbat is not the time for tefillin, and therefore, when it is certainly dark, he is obligated to remove them. And we inquire:

What does he hold,

Rabba bar Rav Huna?

If he holds that night is the time for tefillin, Shabbat too is the time for tefillin

as will be explained below;

if he holds that night is not the time for tefillin, Shabbat too is not the time for tefillin

for both are learned from one verse,

for from the place from which Shabbat is excluded

from the mitzva of tefillin,

from there

from that same verse

they exclude

also

nights. For it was taught:

It is written: “

And you shall observe this statute at its appointed time, from days to day,

” and they learn:

Days

are the time for tefillin

but not nights,

and they further learn: from the fact that the verse says

from days

and the verse added the letter mem, teaching us:

but not all days

are the time for tefillin—

excluding Shabbatot and festivals; these are the words of Rabbi Yosei HaGelili.

Rabbi Akiva says:

The verse

“this statute” was stated only with regard to Passover,

and the verse comes to say: perform Passover from year to year!

And since Shabbat and nights are excluded by the same verse, it is difficult: from where does Rabba bar Rav Huna derive the exclusion of Shabbat, and not the exclusion of night?

And we answer: Rabba bar Rav Huna

derives it

to exclude Shabbatot and festivals

from the place from which Rabbi Akiva derives it

to exclude Shabbatot and festivals, and not from the verse by which nights are excluded.

For it was taught: Rabbi Akiva says: One might think that a person may put on tefillin

also

on Shabbatot and festivals; the verse says: “And it shall be for a sign upon your hand and for frontlets between your eyes.”

“Whoever requires a sign”

must put on tefillin

which are called “a sign”;

Shabbatot and festivals, which are themselves a sign, are excluded,

and there is no need for an additional sign of tefillin!

Rabbi Elazar said: Anyone who puts on tefillin after sunset transgresses a positive commandment,

as is explained below.

Text missing

And Rabbi Yohanan said:

One who puts on tefillin after sunset

transgresses a negative commandment.

Shall we say

that Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yohanan are included in this statement that

Rabbi Avin said in the name of Rabbi Ila: They disagree, as Rabbi Avin said in the name of Rabbi Ila:

Everywhere that the Torah uses the expression

“observe”

or uses the expression

“lest”

or uses the expression

“do not,” it is only a negative commandment!

And here, with regard to tefillin, the expression “observe” is written [“And you shall observe this statute”],

for

Rabbi Yohanan

has

this statement of Rabbi Avin in the name of Rabbi Ila, that one transgresses a negative commandment wherever the expression of guarding is written.

And

Rabbi Elazar

does not have

what Rabbi Avin said in the name of Rabbi Ila.

And we reject this:

No,

Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yohanan did not disagree regarding what Rabbi Avin said in the name of Rabbi Ila. Rather,

everyone has

this principle

of Rabbi Avin in the name of Rabbi Ila. And here they disagree about this.

One

Rabbi Elazar

holds: “Observe,” when it is written with regard to a

a

negative commandment

—that is, in a matter in which the verse came to prevent one from doing something—is a

negative commandment, and “observe,” when it is

written with regard to a positive commandment—that is, where it came to teach us to do something—is a

positive commandment.

And with regard to tefillin, this is indeed a positive commandment, to put on tefillin.

And

Rabbi Yohanan

holds: “Observe,” when it is written with regard to a

positive

positive commandment,

such as tefillin, where the meaning of the guarding is to guard in order to perform the mitzva,

is also a negative commandment

!

And Rabbi Elazar said:

Even though it is forbidden to put on tefillin after sunset, nevertheless

if

he puts them on in order

to safeguard them,

so that they will not be lost,

it is permitted

to put them on after sunset. [And even according to the one who says that night is not the time for tefillin, it is permitted to put them on in order to safeguard them; see the Biur of the Vilna Gaon, section 30, paragraph 3].

And Ravina said: I was sitting before Rav Ashi, and it became dark

during the day,

and he put on

the tefillin.

And they said to him

—to Rav Ashi—

“Does our master need them in order to safeguard them?”

Did he put them on because he wanted to safeguard them?

And he said to me: Yes,

that is correct; I need them in order to safeguard them. Nevertheless,

I saw his intention

—Rav Ashi’s—

that he did not put them on in order to safeguard them,

but because he

held

that night is a time for phylacteries. This is

the halakha, but one should not instruct others to act this way,

lest they forget that the phylacteries are on their heads and fall asleep while wearing them. Therefore, Rav Ashi justified his conduct by saying that he needed them in order to safeguard them, rather than stating his view that night is a time for phylacteries.

Rabba bar Rav Huna said: A person is obligated to touch

his tefillin at every moment [

At every time he remembers them, so that he does not come to distraction from them] And this law—that it is forbidden to divert one’s attention from tefillin—is learned by

a kal va-chomer from the frontplate. What is the case with the frontplate, which contains only one mention

of the Name of Heaven?

The Torah said, “And it shall be upon his forehead always,” so that he should not divert his attention from it. Tefillin, which contain many mentions

of the Name of Heaven,

all the more so

that it is forbidden to divert one’s attention from them.

The Sages taught:

“Your hand,” stated with regard to tefillin,

this

is the hand

of the left. You say:

this is the hand

of the left, or is it only

the hand

of the right?

And from where do you know that this is the left hand?

The verse says:

from what is written in the verse,

“My hand also founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens,”

for the “hand” stated in the verse is the left, since beside the right hand it calls it “My right,” and the left hand “My hand.”

And it says,

and it is further proven so from what is written in the Song of Deborah concerning Jael:

“Her hand she sent forth to the tent peg, and her right hand to the laborers’ hammer.”

And it says,

and it is further proven so from the verse:

“Why do You withdraw Your hand, and Your right hand from within Your bosom—consume it!”