Wife Help with Tefillin

Question: I have broken my right arm and shoulder and cannot put tefillin on myself. Can my wife help me put them on?

Answer: The Gemara (Avoda Zara 39a; Bechoros 30b) records a case in which a woman married to a talmid chacham tied tefillin for her sick husband.

Tosafos (Gittin 24a) discusses a machlokes regarding whether women may perform preparatory acts for mitzvos from which they are exempt, such as tying tzitzis or binding the lulav. Rabbeinu Tam rules that since women are not obligated in tzitzis or lulav, they should not tie the strings of the tzitzis or assemble the lulav. The Shulchan Aruch (OC 14:1), however, rules that women may tie tzitzis, although the Rema adds that it is preferable for men to do so.

The Hagahos Maimonis (Tzitzis 1:12) explains Rabbeinu Tam’s position regarding the Gemara’s story in two ways. One approach is that the woman did not actually tie the tefillin but merely assisted her husband. Alternatively, since the tying itself is not the mitzva but rather the wearing of the tefillin, even Rabbeinu Tam would agree that a woman may perform the tying.

On this basis, the Mishna Berura (27:6) rules that one who cannot tie his own tefillin should ask another person to assist him.

The Maharam Shick (OC 15) writes that even if a person is completely passive and cannot assist at all, he nevertheless fulfils the mitzva if the tefillin are on his body. Although women do not themselves wear tefillin, they can serve as a shaliach to tie them, since they generally have the capacity to fulfil time-bound mitzvos. R’ Shmuel Wosner (Shevet Halevi 1:8) challenges this reasoning, noting that in practice women do not wear tefillin. Nevertheless, he agrees that the primary mitzva is the wearing of the tefillin rather than the act of tying them, and therefore rules that in the absence of a man, a woman may tie her husband’s tefillin.

R’ Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Minchas Shlomo 2:4:2) writes that the consensus of the poskim is that a woman may assist even when others are available, since the mitzva is defined by the wearing, not by the tying. Similarly, R’ Moshe Stern (Baer Moshe 4:6) and R’ Ovadia Yosef (Taharas Habayis 2:12:45), citing the Maharam Shick, rule that a woman may tie tefillin for her husband, who then makes the beracha in the normal way (see Avnei Yashpe 3:2).

In conclusion, a woman may tie tefillin onto a man when necessary, and the man fully fulfils the mitzva by wearing them.