Is it Permissible to Put on Tefillin Before Bar Mitzvah Age?

Shalom honorable Rabbi, my firstborn son will be reaching Bar Mitzvah age in the coming months. Can he already put on tefillin now, and when there's a shortage in the minyan at the synagogue, can he complete the count as the tenth person, even though he is not yet Bar Mitzvah?

Before we begin with the answer, it's clear that according to halacha, the determining age is based on the Jewish calendar and not the secular one, God forbid.

1. We learned in the Baraita (at the end of chapter "Lulav HaGazul" in Sukkah 42a) that a minor who knows how to preserve the sanctity of tefillin, his father is obligated to purchase tefillin for him. Rashi explains - meaning that he should be clean to keep them in purity like Elisha Ba'al Kanafayim, not to sleep with them, etc. And so wrote the Semak, and his words were brought in the 'Beit Yosef' (Orach Chaim section 37). And so ruled the Shulchan Aruch (section 3) in these words: A minor who knows how to keep tefillin in purity, not to sleep or pass gas while wearing them, his father is obligated to buy him tefillin to educate him.

2. From the plain meaning of the aforementioned Baraita, it appears to refer to a truly young child who has not yet reached the age of thirteen years and one day, as written by Maran the Beit Yosef. The main thing is that he knows how to keep them in purity, as written in the Shulchan Aruch, which added the word 'in purity'. This is the condition for early tefillin laying - that he preserves the tefillin in holiness and purity.

3. There are authorities who wrote moral rebuke against those people who have the custom to let their sons put on tefillin after turning thirteen by several days or months, until they can arrange a celebration. And they are not acting properly. If so, we Sephardim have only the words of Maran the Shulchan Aruch. And it is permissible to start putting on tefillin even before the age of thirteen. And there is one of the Moroccan sages who wrote in his book the following words: I myself remember that at the age of nine I put on tefillin, and thank God I kept them in purity and cleanliness as required. And so was the custom throughout Morocco, to educate their sons one or two or three years before.

And the Magen Avraham wrote that nowadays the custom is to put on tefillin two or three months before the age of thirteen years and one day.

Regarding Counting a Minor for a Minyan

 4. Maran the Shulchan Aruch wrote (section 55, paragraph 4) that there are those who permit counting a minor who is more than six years old and knows to whom we pray, but he concluded that their words do not seem correct to the leading authorities. And from his words it appears that even in pressing circumstances, one should not count him. However, the Rema wrote that some have the custom to count him in pressing circumstances. And the Levush wrote that he did not see anyone who has the custom to count him for a minyan even in pressing circumstances. And so wrote the Nachalat Yaakov (in section 9) like the words of the Levush. And so ruled the Bach, and there are those who wrote there that even the Rema did not intend to practice this way, God forbid, but wrote that some have such a custom.

5. And the book Kaf HaChaim (sign 42) has already written in the name of other later authorities that regarding the halacha, it is forbidden to count him for a minyan unless he has reached the age of 13 and one day.

Summary of the Halacha: A young child who has reached an age where he knows how to keep his body in purity and cleanliness properly, it is a mitzvah to educate him in the mitzvah of tefillin, even though he has not reached the age of thirteen years. And he is permitted to make a blessing on the mitzvah of tefillin, as is the law for all mitzvot that one blesses before performing them. However, one should warn the congregation in the synagogue where the youth prays not to mistakenly count him for a minyan or for Kaddish and Kedusha until he reaches the age of thirteen years and one day. This was also ruled by Maran Rabbi Ovadia Yosef of blessed memory in Responsa Yechaveh Da'at Part 2 Section 4.

Rabbi Shai Amar is a rabbi in the Halacha department of Hidabroot

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