Q. When recently I was travelling a relative short Europe trip. Then our flight was cancelled and was stuck in a real foreign airport for a full day. Since I had expected to return home at night, I didn’t take my Tefillin with me. Now I faced a day without punting on Tefillin, something that since Bar Mitzva, I never did.
I saw a youngish fellow wearing a small ‘Kipah Serugah’ (woven kapel), and I asked him if he had with him a pair of Tefilin I could borrow. And surprise, surprise! He did. I asked him if i could borrow them, and agreed with a nice smile.
And then to my bad luck, I realized that the Tefilin were certainly not kosher, they were truly made of some plastic material. Since, there was no other option I wore them anyway, obviously without a brocho. I also told the owner to get a new pair and offered a contribution.
My shaila is did I do the right thing on wearing that posul (non kosher) pair of tefilin, was that better than nothing?
A. Talmud (Sukah 31b) teaches that if someone does not have an Esrog available during Sukos one should not use instead another even similar fruit, just for the sake of keeping the memory and feeling of complying with the unavailable mitzvah. The reason given is that he or others observing him may indeed next year use the non-kosher fruit as he did last year.
However the Ra’aved, Maharshal (5) and others disagree and maintain that even if one does not comply with the mitzvah. One should do as much as he possible can.
P'ri Megodim (673: 10) maintains that the same applies to one that does not have enough oil to light correctly a Chanuka Menorah, he should still light what he actually does have.
Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is that regarding Tefilin one should not use the ones that are certainly not Kosher.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by, Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit'a
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