12 Mar SOLDIERS CARRYING TEFILLIN

When a soldier moves
position on Shabbos, he
has to carry with him his

gear as a matter of self-
preservation, piku’ach

nefesh. What about his
personal items? Can
he carry his tefillin with
him so he can continue
fulfilling the important mitzvah on weekdays?
I. Russian Soldiers
Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan (the Chofetz Chaim,
20th cen., Poland) discusses this in a footnote
to his halachic guide for soldiers, Machaneh

Yisrael. In 1943, the Chofetz Chaim’s son-
in-law, Rav Mendel Zaks, republished the

book for American soldiers in a simplified
format that changes the chapter numbers and
removes the footnotes. This revised version
is included in the three-volume collected
writings of the Chafetz Chaim. In the original
1881 edition, the Chafetz Chaim includes a
lengthy footnote about this subject. In the
main text (31:2 in the original edition, part 2
7:2 in the 1943 edition), the Chafetz Chaim
writes that a soldier is not allowed to carry on
Shabbos personal items on their own that the
army has not ordered him to carry. However,
if he carries them together with required
items, it is possible that this is permitted.
Although it is best, if possible, to ask a gentile
to carry the items for him. Before we discuss
the footnote, it is important to note the

Chafetz Chaim’s valuable practical advice
that applies to anyone who works in a gentile
or secular workplace.
The Chafetz Chaim (31:6-7; II:7:6-7) writes
that if you want to find favor in the eyes of
both G-d and man (Prov. 3:4), you should
work extra hard during the week and do more
than your share. Even on Shabbos, you do
what is halachically allowed to the best of
your ability. If people see that you are not
lazy but rather hardworking and principled,
they will not resent you refraining from
forbidden work on Shabbos.
Going back to the footnote, the Chafetz
Chaim quotes the Gemara (Yoma 84b) that
if a child falls into the sea, you may spread
a fisherman’s net to fish out the child even
though you will also catch fish in the net,
which is a forbidden Shabbos labor. Rambam
(Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Shabbos 2:16) says
that you may do this even if your primary
intention is to catch the fish. Since you also
save the child, you are exempt from Shabbos
liability. This implies that ribuy shi’urim,
doing more than necessary, is permissible
once the Shabbos labor is allowed. Similarly,
once you are allowed to carry your army
gear, you may carry your personal items
also. R. Nissim of Gerona (Ran, 14th cen.,
Spain; Commentary to Rif, Shabbos 106b
[38a], s.v. ha) quotes R. Shlomo Ben Aderes
(Rashba, 13th cen., Spain) who sees this as a
general rule for Shabbos labors. Once an act

is permitted, you can add onto it otherwise
forbidden acts. For example, Rashba says,
based on a Yerushalmi, that if you close the
door to your house for your own needs, you
may do so even if you also intend to trap an
animal in the house. Ran disagrees and only
allows closing the door and trapping the
animal if you lack intent to trap the animal.
Rav Avraham Gombiner (17th cen., Poland;
Magen Avraham 316:11) quotes both views
and says “you should not be lenient.”
Chafetz Chaim argues that since carrying
nowadays is only forbidden rabbinically
because there is no formal public domain,
and since this is a case of great potential loss,
we can follow Rashba and allow a soldier
to carry his personal items in the same bag
as his military gear. He questions whether
the soldier may carry his personal items in
another hand or bag, or he must carry them in
the same bag as his military gear. He leaves
this question open and therefore the soldier
must put his personal items in the same bag
as his military gear.
Rav Aryeh Tzvi Frommer (20th cen., Poland;
Responsa Eretz Tzvi, no. 75) explicitly
disagrees with the Chafetz Chaim on this.
Rav Frommer quotes the Gemara (Shabbos
93b-94a) that if someone carries fruit in a
bowl on Shabbos, he violates the prohibition
twice and is obligated in two sin-sacrifices
if he becomes aware of each violation
separately. According to the Chafetz Chaim,
this should be only one violation due to ribuy
shi’urim. Instead, Rav Frommer proposes a
radical understanding of the prohibition of
carrying which would permit ribuy shi’urim
on carrying. Why does the first Mishnah in
Shabbos refer to “yetzi’os” (the goings out)
of Shabbos and not “hotza’os” (the takings
out)? Tosafos (Shabbos 2a, s.v. yetzi’os 2)
explains that the Mishnah uses the language
of the Torah, “No man may go out of his
place on the seventh day” (Ex. 16:29). Rav
Frommer adds that hotza’ah, removing an
item from its domain, is unique among
Shabbos labors in that it involves a person
leaving his domain also (throwing an item
and handing it over are separate issues).
In hotza’ah, a person is not only the actor
of the labor but also part of its object.
Therefore, if a person is leaving his domain
carrying an object in a permissible manner,
there is room to say that he may also carry
other, otherwise forbidden objects.
II. Soldiers During the World Wars
Rav Moshe Tzvi Landau (20th cen.,
Hungary) was a somewhat controversial
halachic writer, most famous for bringing
wrath upon himself by disagreeing with the
Minchas Elazar, whose students defended
him by attacking Rav Landau. In his 1931
Shulchan Melachim commentary on Kitzur
Shulchan Aruch (pp. 278b-279a), Rav
Landau discusses questions he was asked
by soldiers during World War I. Regarding
a soldier carrying his tefillin on Shabbos,
Rav Landau advances a similar argument
to the Chafetz Chaim: 1) carrying is only

forbidden rabbinically because there is no
formal public domain today, 2) the soldier
carries it indirectly, 3) the Rashba allows
ribuy shi’urim. Rav Landau says that Rav
Mordechai Winkler (the Levushei Mordechai,
20th cen., Hungary) agreed with this line of
argument.
During World War II, Rav Mordechai
Ya’akov Breisch (Switzerland; Chelkas
Ya’akov, Orach Chaim, no. 110) was asked
about a Jewish soldier in the Swiss army
who had to travel on Shabbos. He refers to
a recently republished book that quotes the
Levushei Mordechai (clearly Rav Landau’s
Shulchan Melachim, which he chose not to
name, probably due to the controversy) and
the Chafetz Chaim’s Machaneh Yisrael as
permitting. He also points out that we permit
someone to carry his wallet in an unusual
way on Shabbos rather than risking losing it
(Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 301:33 and
Magen Avraham, ad loc.). That applies to
other valuables, as well.
However, one authority disagrees. Rav
Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum (20th cen., Hungary)
was the older brother of Rav Yoel Teitelbaum,
the Satmar Rav. He passed away young, in
his 40’s. In a responsum that seems to be
from World War I, he discusses whether a
soldier may carry his tefillin while changing
his position on Shabbos (Responsa Atzei
Chaim, no. 26). Rav Teitelbaum argues
that ribuy shi’urim only applies when the
additional labor involves no additional effort.
For example, if you need only two dates and
you pull a bunch off of a tree. Since you are
pulling a single bunch, it does not involve
any additional to pull off two or three.
Either way, it’s a single pull. However, when
you carry, every item adds more weight.
Therefore, carrying your personal items with
your military gear does not constitute ribuy
shi’urim. Rather, it is more carrying, which
is forbidden.
Rav Gedaliah Felder (20th cen., Canada), in
his 1986 fifth volume of Yesodei Yeshurun
(pp. 238-239) seems to view Rav Teitelbaum
as a lone voice of stringency and leans toward
the view that permits. Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank
(20th cen., Israel; Responsa Har Tzvi, Orach
Chaim, no. 177) defends the Chafetz Chaim’s
ruling against challenges. In his 1979
collection of responsa, the recently deceased
Rav Pesach Eliyahu Falk of Gateshead
accepts the Chafetz Chaim’s ruling, as well
(Machazeh Eliyahu, no. 35, sec. 4).