[Avodah] Chabad and Putting on Tefillin on Chol Moed

[Zev Sero]

On 28/11/2011 11:38 AM, Prof. Levine wrote:
> At 10:52 AM 11/28/2011, Zev Sero wrote:
>> Do you really wonder? How is it not absolutely obvious to you that he
>> did not? The first and most obvious proof is the fact that L chassidim
>> don't. If the AR wore tefillin on CHM then so would his chassidim,
>> regardless of what other chassidim do. The second and equally obvious
>> proof is from the fact that his rebbe, the Mezritcher Maggid, and his
>> rebbe's rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov, did not. It's inconceivable that he
>> would wear tefillin when they did not.

> A friend of mine told me that the Chabad Library in Crown Heights has
> a siddur that the Baal Shem Tov used. It is hand written. He told me
> that he saw it and that it is *Nusach Ashkenaz*!!!!! I know this fellow
> and have no reason to doubt what he told me. Based on this I conclude
> that the Baal Shem Tov davened Nusach Ashkenaz, yet his followers of
> later generations did not. So, it is also possible that the Baal Shem
> Tov did put on tefillin during Chol Moed, and the Mezritcher Maggid and
> even the AR and yet their followers of later generation did not follow
> what they did. I have no proof of this, but I just wanted to point out
> that your argument does not seem to be on a solid footing. YL

I don't know on what basis your friend determined the exact nusach.
Perhaps he did so by noting that Baruch She'amar appears before Hodu
(twice, since the first section was pasted in from another siddur),
but see this article http://1v9.bm.sl.pt by R Yehoshua Mondshein.
Particularly these excerpts:

1. "It's impossible to know for certain who wrote the siddur, but the
many errors in the nusach hatefilah seem to indicate that they did not
emerge from the hands of a great man." [search for the word "gavra"]

2. "Note that before Baruch She'amar (in the first section) there is a
note that according to the nusach of the Ari Zal Baruch She'amar belongs
on the page before Mizmor Lesoda, as above, meaning as was explained in
the kavanos before Baruch She'amar, where it is explained that Baruch
She'amar continues from Hodu." [search for the word "tofa`a"]

3. "There is no basis for the assumption that the Baal Shem Tov davened
according to the nusach in this siddur; for it is certain that he did not
say Baruch She'amar before Hodu. And many tzadikim would look at a siddur
with kavanos, but would not read the nusach of their prayers from it."
[go to the bottom]


On 28/11/2011 1:39 PM, Micha Berger wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 11:38:58AM -0500, Prof. Levine wrote:
>> A friend of mine told me that the Chabad Library in Crown Heights has a
>> siddur that the Baal Shem Tov used.  It is hand written.  He told me that
>> he saw it and that it is *Nusach Ashkenaz*!!!!! ...

> That's mistaber. Nusach Ari was compiled by R' SZ of Liadi -- why
> would he do so if Nusach "Sfard" was already coined by the Besh"t? The
> diversity among the various chassidic attempts to fuse Lurianic kavanos
> with something as close to Nusach Ashkenaz as they could manage post-date
> Chassidus having a single unified leadership.

This is true. Nevertheless, highly visible differences such as which
way around Baruch She'amar and Hodu go would have been known earlier.
I just sent a link to an article by R Yehoshua Mondshein, in which he
takes it for granted that it's inconceivable that the Baal Shem Tov said
B"Sh before Hodu.

In general, before the AR compiled his siddur, chassidim used to use
the siddur of the Shelah, making various changes to it according to oral
traditions they had received.

-- 
Zev Sero
zev at sero.name