Date: 13 Jul 2004
Time: 07:06:55 -0700
Once again, even in the time of the Talmud wearing Teffilin all day was most prabably a custom of piety and certainly not practiced by all. The custom of wearing Teffiln all day went out at the latest during the period of the early geonim. Rabbeinu Asher a rishon (1250-1327) and resident of Spain writes, as a matter of fact, in one of his Teshuvot, "and today, since we no longer wear Teffilin throughout the day any more etc etc etc... While the Rambam did not write something as explicit as this that i have found, there seems to be more evidence that the Rambam did not wear Teffilin all day. The Rambam also wrote about ritual sacrifice, it does not mean that he encouraged the practice of this. There are many things that the Rambam wrote about and codified realizing full well that some of the things are not and cannot be practiced today. The onus seems to be upon you to prove that the Rambam did indeed wear Tefillin all day. (I am speaking of the Rambam and not his son). Just look at the Babylonian talmud and see how many times an opinion was rejected even though everyone knew that it was the correct opinion. Being too rigid with Halachah and worse yet Minhagim (things that are simply not all that important) will not serve one well. In fact the pasuk says "HaEmet VeHashalom Ahevu" The truth goes together with peace, they are not mutually exclusive. Perhaps people might need to sit and learn the breadth of Halacha and its varied opinions and the Talmud before making any hasty judgments. Let us not forget that having tunnel vision does not make for an expert opinion.
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