HALACHA OF THE WEEK: How Early Can One Don Tallit and Tefillin?
This coming week, sunrise will be at the latest time of the entire year. While it is true that under extenuating circumstances (e.g., a person who needs to get to work early, or one who is traveling) it is permitted to daven as early as “a lot hashachar” (approximately 72 minutes before sunrise) [Mishna Berura 58 note 12, Iggrot Moshe Orech Chaim 4:6], reciting a bracha on tallit and tefillin at that time is questionable.
In the 1970's during the oil embargo, Rav Moshe Feinstein permitted a person to make a bracha on tefillin as early as "alot hashachar, but did not extend that leniency to making a bracha on a tallit [Iggrot Moshe ibid.].
Rather, if davening as early as "alot hashachar,” a person should don his tallit without a bracha, and then once the time of mi'sheyakir [lit. recognizing] arrives, adjust the tallit and recite the bracha [Orech Chaim 18:3, Mishna Berura 18 notes 6-11]. Practically, many early minyanim do this "adjusting" following the bracha of "yishtabach".
But what is the time of mi'sheyakir?
In Shulchan Aruch [Orech Chaim 18:3; 30:1; and 58:1] it is defined as the time when a person can see his friend at a distance of four amot (approximately 6-8 feet], or the time a person can distinguish between the colors of blue and white.
While we have no definitive source for measuring this time in minutes or hours, the Kaf HaChayim [Orech Chaim 18:18] and Rav Yosef Eliyahu Henkin estimated this time to be approximately one hour before sunrise. The Pri Megadim, ruled that it was six minutes after "alot hashachar" and Rav Moshe Feinstein ruled it was 35-40 minutes before sunrise [ibid.]. Others measure the time of mi'shayakir using astronomical measures, between 10.2 and 11.5 degrees of the sun below the horizon. At K.I.N.S. we generally follow the astronomical measure of 11.5 degrees.
DVAR TORAH
At the beginning of this morning's parsha, the Torah opens with a description of the life of Sarah which presents two problems both addressed by Rashi.
The first is why does the Torah describe Sarah's age as "me’ah shanah,” one hundred years, “v’esrim shanah,” and twenty years, “v’sheva shanim,” and seven years. Why repeat the words "shana/shanim" three times?
And the second problem is that despite the fact that the verse opens with the words "Va’yihiyu chayei Sarah" and Sarah lived, why does it also conclude with the words “shenei chayei Sarah,” “[these were] the years of Sarah’s life.”
Explains Rashi, that regarding the first question, the unusual way the verse presents Sarah's age is to highlight the fact that when she was 100 Sarah was as free from sin as she bad been when she was 20, and at 20 she was as beautiful as she had been at the age of 7. While regarding the second quesiton the redundancy within the verse, Rashi understands it to mean a description of the quality – not quantity – of Sarah’s life: “kulan shavin le’tovah,” all of her years were equally good.
But were they truly good? Hadn't she spent for most of her adult life barren unable to have a child. And then, to make matters worse, witnessed her maidservant and husband produce a child with almost no delay. This is in addition to experiencing famine and having been kidnapped – twice! How can Rashi assert that all of Sarah’s years were equally blessed?
According to Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, the answer is found in the first part of Rashi's comment.
Because at different stages of life people, naturally, possess different strengths and talents. In the Rav’s words: “The child is endowed with a capacity of an all-absorbing faith and trustfulness; youth bursts with zealousness, idealism and optimism; the adult, mellowed with years, has the benefit of accumulated knowledge and dispassionate judgment.” [Reflections of the Rav, II pp. 88-89]
Therefore, Rashi is telling us that, amazingly, Sarah possessed the strengths of adulthood even when she was younger and, concomitantly, retained the strengths of youth even she advanced in age. As the Rav put it, “[The] experiences of the different ages were not one followed by the other. Rather they existed simultaneously within her.” [Shiurei Harav, pp.121-122]
In light of this understanding, R. Soloveitchik also explained Rashi’s comments about the years of Sarah’s life being “all equally good” - not "good" in experiences, but "good" in ability. Her years were “kulan shavin le’tovah,” in the sense that “The goodness of her life was equally distributed. She was at the same time a child in her total faith, youthful in her exuberant enthusiasm and an adult in her maturity and judgment.”
SEMICHAT CHAVER PROGRAM, Wednesday 8:15p
TALMUD CLASS – Shabbat, 45 minutes before mincha
