Devar/5770/Shabbat-Pesach
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And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. (Deut 6:8)
The positive commandment of wearing "tefillin" (phylacteries) is incumbent on every Jewish male who is not exempt from reading the "shema" (Laws of Tefillin 4:13). And the requirement is to wear the tefillin every day, except for shabbat and for yom-tov (holidays): The correct time for wearing tefillin is during the day, not at night: as it says, "from year to year" (literally "from days to days") (Ex 13:10) -- "ordinance" (ibid.) is the commandment of tefillin. Similarly, shabbatot and yammim-tovim are not a proper time for the wearing of tefillin, as it says, "they shall be a sign for you" (see Ex 13:9), and shabbatot and yammim-tovim are themselves a sign. From what time must one wear them? Once one can see his fellow from a distance of four amot and recognize him, until the sun sets. (ibid 10).
But on Hol hamo`ed (the intermediary days of the holiday), one may ask: is putting on tefillin not required, because of the "holiday" aspect of the days; or on the contrary, must one wear tefillin because of the "secular" aspect of the days? Indeed, Jewish communities the world over mostly do not wear tefillin during Hol hamo`ed, and likewise (I believe) the congregations in the Land of Israel also behave. However: if there is nevertheless an obligation to wear tefillin, then they are cancelling a positive commandment from the Torah!
In my humble opinion, one may learn that there is indeed an obligation to wear tefillin from the Laws of Yom-Tov Rest: Hol hamo`ed, even though the Torah does not refer to it as shabbaton, since it is called "holy convocation", and because it was a time when the festival offerings were brought in the Temple -- it is forbidden to perform certain activities, so that it will not come to be treated like the rest of the secular days which have no holiness at all. One who performs forbidden activities on it -- is given stripes for rebelliousness, because the prohibition is Rabbinic. (Laws of Yom-Tov Rest 7:1). That is to say, there are activities which are prohibited on Hol hamo`ed -- among them, "writing": it is forbidden to write on Hol hamo`ed, even Torah scrolls and tefillin and mezuzot. (ibid 12). And continuing there: But one may write tefillin and mezuzot for himself (ibid). This expresses the rule that tefillin are among the necessities of Hol hamo`ed, and therefore it is permitted for him to engage in this activity, even though it would otherwise be forbidden.
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