Why is a tuft of hair put on the tefillen allegedly to distinguish those following Rashi from those following R. Tam? Why tuft of hair at all as opposed to any other siman?
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1related: judaism.stackexchange.com/a/8991/7539– RishMay 14, 2017 at 15:53
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3It's not there to distinguish those following Rashi from those following R. Tam– ertert3terteMay 14, 2017 at 16:14
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1It is useful to clarify what you mean and how you know it in a post. This is especially important since many people don't share the same level of background. For example, how do you know there is a tuft of hair put on tefillin? Have you seen it? Heard about it? Consider clarifying. Hopefully you get a satisfying answer.– mevaqeshMay 14, 2017 at 16:29
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1if you added some pictures to this question it would help a lot– MenachemMay 14, 2017 at 17:19
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Oh, you mean that tuft of hair is there for a reason? I thought the Sofer just didn't cut the thread close enough to the bayis.– DonielFMay 14, 2017 at 17:50
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1 Answer
You are referring to Shulchan Aruch OC 32:44
קְצָת שֵׂעָר זֶה צָרִיךְ שֶׁיֵּרָאֶה חוּץ לַבָּתִּים.
A little bit of this hair needs to be visible from the outside of the compartments.
The SA doesn't explain why.
The Magen Avraham Seif Katan 61 writes:
כתב של"ה דף קי"ו י"א שהשער צריך לצאת מפרשת קדש ואני קבלתי מפ' והיה אם שמוע ונ"ל שטוב להניחם אצל פ' והיה אם שמוע בצד הפונה לפ' קדש עכ"ל:
The Shlah writes: "The hair needs to emerge out of the compartment with the parsha "Kadesh". However I have a tradition I received that it should emerge from the parsha of "Vehaya Im Shamoah", and it appears to me it's good to place the hair next to parshas "Vehaya Im Shamoah" on the side towards parshas "Kadesh"
I'm not sure where the SA got the halacha from (I don't have access to the Beis Yosef), but the discussion about where it should come out from seemingly is related to Kabbalah. First, he's quoting the Shlah, a sefer with a lot of Kabbalistic teachings. As well, the MA quotes the Zohar, saying:
שלא יצא השער כשעורה חוץ לבתים
The hair protruding from the boxes shouldn't be the size of a grain of barley
Perhaps the SA got this halacha from the Zohar. Either way there is no mention of using it to distinguish between Rashi and RT tefillin.
Nevertheless it can be used as a Siman to distinguish them, since depending on which tefillin you are using is where the hair will come out from. It doesn't seem to be the motivation, as your question suggests, yet it does end up serving that purpose.
