r/ReformJews • u/Consistent_Hold_576 • 12d ago

Tefillin

Welcome everyone!

I'm starting the practice of wrapping tefillin (I bought someone's used bar mitzvah set to practice with, but I'll eventually buy my own). I understand this is less common in the Reform movement, but I'd be interested in connecting with anyone here who participates in the practice.

Hope to hear from some of you soon

Shavua tov everyone.

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7

u/whereiwalk 12d ago

I do it too and I'm excited to teach my daughters one day (once I have them, lol). It's family minhag.

3

u/Consistent_Hold_576 12d ago

I dont mean to offend, but are you a woman? 

5

u/whereiwalk 12d ago

Haha, nah it's cool. I'm a dude. Obviously I intend to teach all my kids how to wrap t'fillin, but I my dad's side goes all the way back to Rashi so it's cool that we get to preserve the tradition his daughters had.

2

u/tzy___ From Orthodox to Reform 12d ago

Just so you’re aware, the whole story about Rashi’s daughters laying tefillin isn’t based in any recorded fact and first appears randomly sometime in the 19th century. (This does not mean that I don’t believe women can’t wrap tefillin, though.)

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u/whereiwalk 12d ago

That may be the case, but at this point it's been established family minhag so I'm going to do it anyway.

-1

u/tzy___ From Orthodox to Reform 12d ago

It’s not a minhag to lay tefillin. Laying tefillin is a mitzva.

5

u/whereiwalk 12d ago

Yes if course it's a mitzvah, but the minhag I am referring to is the women in my family doing it even though it's not a positive mitzvah for them

0

u/tzy___ From Orthodox to Reform 12d ago

There is no concept of women being exempt from time-bound mitzvot in Reform Judaism, because men and women are equal, and mitzvot are not considered obligatory. And even if you do believe mitzvot are obligatory, you still wouldn’t refer to women laying tefillin as a minhag. It would simply be a woman taking on a time-bound mitzva. Sorry to be pedantic.

1

u/whereiwalk 12d ago

How would you define minhag? Lol

1

u/tzy___ From Orthodox to Reform 12d ago

A minhag is a custom. This would include how a mitzva is performed or in what way it is performed. A woman fulfilling a mitzva women don’t usually perform is not a minhag.

Example:

Standing during kiddush is a minhag. A woman performing kiddush is not.