Here are two halachic issues about which you may or may not care:
- If one intends to put on Rashi t'fillin and after he made the bracha realizes that he accidentally put on Rabeinu Tam t'fillin, then he should just remove them an put on his Rashi t'fillin without making a new bracha.
- If one accidentally says ותן טל ומטר לברכה instead of ותן ברכה at the wrong time of year on Shabbos, when he shouldn't be saying either and then corrects his שבת שמונה עשרה by adding adding the appropriate Shabbos insertion, then one need not repeat שמונה עשרה.
Perhaps you would like a skosh more explanation of #2. In fact, perhaps you are wondering what's the חידוש of #1. Perfectly reasonable thoughts, which we shall address one at at time, in order, בעזרת השם.
The interesting factor in #1 is that we pasken that Rabeinu Tam t'fillin are pasul. Certainly if one made a bracha and then put on t'fillin that were, in fact, devoid of any parchments, one would certainly need to make a new bracha! Not much different than making the bracha of "ha'motzi" and then eating an apple. On the other hand, Rabeinu Tam certainly did not pasken that Rabeinu Tam t'fillin are pasul -- he would pasken that Rashi t'fillin are pasul. Hence the uncertainty.
Situation #2 is a bit more complex. Suppose one finds himself (or herself) saying a weekday שמונה עשרה on Shabbos (ma'ariv/shacharis/mincha -- not mussaf) -- the halacha in that case is to finish the bracha in which he finds himself with Shem and Malchus and then return to the usual Shabbos bracha. The reason is, by the way, that really is is perfectly appropriate to say a regular weekday שמונה עשרה, but Chazal wanted to keep us from getting distracted from the sanctity of Shabbos so they replaced the weekday requests with a bracha on an aspect of Shabbos. (Interestingly, Shabbos is the only special שמונה עשרה that has a different nussach for each service. That thought is worthy of some quality time for consideration.) Further suppose he is so lost in this own thoughts, that is he already in the middle of ברך עלינו. So, as noted already, he'll need to finish that bracha. And here we come to the problem: he said ותן טל ומטר לברכה when he should have said ותן ברכה; or vice versa. Do we say the usual halacha that we say if this happens during the week -- namely, that he need to repeat the (correct, this time) שמונה עשרה? Or do we say that he wasn't even supposed to be saying this in the first place on Shabbos, so no repetition is necessary (nor even allowed, actually)?
Now to the point of this TftD. I asked R' Fuerst these two questions. Not so much for the answers -- I do not, after all wear Rabeinu Tam t'fillin, and the second question really, really doesn't come up very often (if only because I am pretty good about knowing the time of year when I am davening) -- but to learn how the dayan approaches questions like this. Moreover, I did not call him, but accosted him after ma'ariv to get the full experience.
On question #1, R' Fuerst simply said, "Rabeinu Tam is a also a kosher Jew."
On question #2, the rav said, "The Sha'arei T'shuva addressed it in siman רס''ח". Yes, he said it that fast, no hesitation. I know I should be used to that, but I am not. How I can bring up the must obscure corner case, and R' Fuerst has not only considered it, but has the sources on the tip of his tongue.
I got one more insight as I was walking with the dayan to his car. Before getting into his car, R' Fuerst turned to me and said, "But who is so distracted that he gets that far into a weekday שמונה עשרה on Shabbos!?"
Fortunately I was wearing a mask...
Comments