[Avodah] Two Rabbis and Tefillin

[Mandel, Seth]

From: Professor L. Levine <llevine at stevens.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, April 4, 2018 12:58 AM
> My understanding is that in a shul where the minhag is to not wear
> tefillin during Chol Moed, one who does wear them should not wear them
> in such a shul. On the other hand, in a shul wear the minhag is to put
> on tefillin during Chol Moed, one who does not put on tefillin should
> not display this publicly. I was told that in Rabbi Heineman's shul in
> Baltimore, those who do not put on tefillin during Chol Moed daven in
> the ladies section.

This was true in Europe, where there was such a thing as 'mnhag hamokom."

But in America, most shuls are composed of people from Lita, from
Poland, from Hungary, from Galicia, and from Germany, all of whom came
from different places with different minhogim. According to halokho,
what the acharonim say about wearing t'fillin or not halakhically does
not apply here.

Quoting the Mishna Brurah is not an excuse. He was from Lita, where
there was a mnhag hamokom.

Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel
Rabbinic Coordinator
The Orthodox Union