We have finished siman 5, and are clarifying the halachos of one who interrupts birchos kriyas shema and takes off their tallis and tefillin to go to the bathroom. We learned that when one takes off their tallis and tefillin, they do not need a new bracha on their tallis, but they would need a new bracha on their tefillin. Today, we will clarify more about these brachos.
For Ashkenazim, one makes the bracha of lehaniach tefillin on the shel yad, and al mitzvas tefillin and baruch sheim on the shel rosh. Additionally, many recite other pesukim. The pesukim are certainly not a necessary addition to the mitzvah, so one does not recite them should they need to remove and put back their tefillin during birchos kriyas shema, as we wish to minimize interruptions at that point of davening. Thus, it would seem that a person would recite only the brachos. However, we know that the second bracha is a machlokes (hence the immediate recitation of baruch sheim), so maybe it should be argued that in birchos kriyas shema, where we wish to minimize interruptions, one should not recite it. Therefore, if one puts back their tefillin bein haperakim (between yotzer hame’oros and ahavah rabba, or between habocher b’amo yisroel and shema), they recite both brachos and baruch sheim. If one puts on their tefillin during one of the brachos, or during go’al yisroel, they only recite the first bracha of lehaniach tefillin.
These halachos apply both to situations in which one went to the bathroom, and also to a situation in which one did not receive tefillin until these places in davening.
Theoretically, if one were to relieve themselves for ketanim, they could keep on their shel yad. Therefore, even if they removed the shel yad, it would not need a new bracha, similar to the halacha of a tallis (see shiur 1508). However, practically speaking, walking into a place defined as a beis hakisei kavuah (permanent bathroom) inherently requires one to remove both of their tefillin, regardless of the purpose for which they entered. Therefore, practically speaking, a person will always have to make new brachos on their tefillin.
We need to correct a halacha we learned previously. We had learned (shiur 1503) that if one has an urge which they estimate they can hold for longer than 4 mil, they can learn or daven lechatchilla. This is incorrect. Even if one can hold the urge for longer than 4 mil, lechatchilla they should take care of the urge. However, one needs to remember that there are urges and there are urges, and only a true urge requires interruption. If one knows that they can get absorbed into something and completely forget about the urge, they can learn, daven, and even recite shemoneh esrei in that case.
We have completed the halachos of preparing for davening. We will next discuss the presence of waste products and how that affects one’s right to daven.
Summary
- If one needs to take off and put back their tefillin during birchos kriyas shema, if they are between yotzer hame’oros and ahavah rabba, or between habocher b’amo yisroel and shema, they can recite both brachos and baruch sheim. If they are at any other point, they only recite the bracha on the shel yad.
- Either way, one does not recite a bracha on their tallis.
- Even if one can wait 4 mil, lechatchilla they should take care of their urge before learning, davening or reciting shemoneh esrei.
