Is it Halachically permissible to use tefillin peshutim if one cannot afford better tefillin?

Question

I would like to buy my first Tefillin. I was raised in a semi-secular household, and thus do not own a pair of my own.

However, being a student, I am tight with my money. I understand that there is some controversy regarding the use of tefillin peshutim due to their cheaper preparation. There was a brief discussion of this here, but my specific question is not answered.

Is it permissible for me to use such tefillin because they are cheaper? Is there any law that suggests that I should wait until I can afford better tefillin?

Answer 1

There are two issues at play here. First is whether the tfilin are kosher now. Second is how they will keep over time.

On the second, it is clear that pshutim don't hold very well over time and for sure not as well as gassot which can last dozens of years when well maintained.

On the first issue, whether pshutim are kosher at the moment you buy depends who you buy from. Reliable sources can sell you kosher pshutim - you are just losing a lot of enhancements. On the other side lots of "cheap bar mitsva tfilin" are not really kosher or only b'di eved (after the fact). They should be avoided at all costs.

In all cases, it is infinitely better to star putting on tfilin right now even if they are not at the optimal level rather than delay the mitzva. Remember that Moshe Rabbenu and the Rambam's tfilin were far inferior technically to the ones we wear today. Someone explained that by saying that as the generations descend spiritually, we are compensating by more beautiful physical objects used for mitzvot (think tfilin, megillat Esther, etc.)

If you live near a chabad center (see chabad.org) they will be able to lend you a pair to wear every day until you have your own.

I referred here (Where can I buy kosher tfilin scrolls?) to a number of very reliable sources I used to personally purchase tfilin who also sell through the Internet.

Answer 2

To add to Michael Bloch's important points regarding purchasing t'fillin from a reliable seller and borrowing t'fillin for use in the meanwhile:

I'd advise you to CYLOR, but it seems from the Mishna B'rura (32:172) and his extended discussion in Bei'ur Halacha on 32:38 (s.v.v. "יעשה" and "מעור אחד") that one can rely on the lenient opinions regarding p'shutim if necessary.

It is probably not advisable to wait if this means not wearing t'fillin at all in the meanwhile. The Talmud (Rosh HaShana 17a) categorizes people who avoid wearing t'fillin as "Jews who sin with their bodies,"¹ and the Bach (OC 37) interprets this stringently as even including people who have nothing against wearing t'fillin but miss wearing them because they are busy with other activities or with work.

Perhaps the Bach would not apply this category to people who temporarily miss wearing t'fillin in order to save up money to eventually fulfill the mitzva in a better manner. However, due to the principle of chaviva mitzva b'sha'ata ("a mitzva is most dear when performed in its proper time," P'sachim 68b), it may very well be better to wear inferior t'fillin now than to continually miss the mitzva until you finally obtain a superior pair.

There is a lot more to be said on each of these points, and there are various opinions regarding just about all of the aforementioned. In the spirit of this topic, however, I figured I would post a bare-bones answer now, rather than not posting anything until later.

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¹ _{See the P'ri M'gadim (Eshel Avraham 37:1) who cites the strict opinion of the Nachalas Tz'vi that this even refers so someone who misses wearing t'fillin for one day: "עיין מ"א אבל בעטרת צבי ס"ק ב ונחלת צבי ס"ק א פירש דברי השו"ע כמו שכתב בב"י ד"ה וכל דאפילו אין מניחן מאיזה טעם שיהיה הוה בכלל פושעי ישאל בגופן ועיין ב"ח ד"ה גדולה מלת בכלל ואפילו יום א' שמבטל ולא הניח הוה בכלל פושעי ישראל כמו שכתב בנחלת צבי שם יע"ש".}