Kesher Shel Rosh – Dalet or Square?
The Poskim mention that one of the Names of Hashem, “Shakai” (comprised of the letters shin, dalet, and yud) is present on each pair of tefillin. The shin appears on the sides of the tefillin shel rosh, the dalet in the kesher of the shel rosh, and the yud in the kesher of the shel yad.125
There are various customs followed in different communities relative to the shape of the dalet in the kesher shel rosh.
Question: Regarding the kesher shel rosh, which is more correct – when it is made like a dalet or like a square?
Discussion: Most Poskim throughout the generations have used the square kesher.
Rambam famously wrote126 that the kesher of the tefillin is a “square kesher, like a dalet,” and that it “cannot be described in print, rather it must be seen.” Nonetheless, a number of Poskim have gone through the trouble of describing, in print, how to create the kesher shel rosh. Beis Yosef127 quotes these Poskim and, indeed, when a person follows the instructions provided, he will have made a square kesher.
Earlier Acharonim128 have written about this kesher as well, and it is clear from their words that they used a square kesher and that this was the universal custom of Ashkenazic Jewry.
Question: But how does a square resemble a dalet?
Discussion: There are three approaches to answering this question.129
1. There are two dalets in the square. One right-side-up and a second one upside-down.
2. Only three of the four boxes of the square represent the dalet.
3. The dalet is comprised of the retzuos exiting the kesher rather than the kesher itself.130
Question: But doesn’t Mishnah Berurah say that the dalet kesher is more correct than the square kesher?
Discussion: The words of Mishnah Berurah are addressing the Shulchan Aruch who says to make a kesher like a dalet (which we know from the Beis Yosef means a square), and this is what he says:131
“There are those who make the kesher like a mem setumah which looks like two dalets from two sides – the leg of one beside the head of the other. See what is written in the Tiferes Arieh,132 who quotes the Teshuvah Me’ahavah133 and agrees with his halachic conclusion that those who make the kesher dalet are more halachically correct.”
Indeed, it seems that the Mishnah Berurah endorses the dalet kesher over the square kesher.
However, a deeper look reveals exactly the opposite. Mishnah Berurah is merely quoting a Tiferes Arieh. When one looks inside the sefer Tiferes Arieh,134 one will see that he is addressing a question which was asked of him: “Should the questioner remain with the kesher which is customarily used by most Jews, or should the questioner switch to a kesher which has a hollow middle used by some very pious individuals.”
The Tiferes Arieh launches into a lengthy and passionate defense of the “custom of all Jews” to use the square kesher. He deals with the questions asked above and brings proofs from many Rishonim, including Rashi135 and the Maharil, that the square kesher is indeed the correct kesher. He concludes by stressing that this is the correct kesher for one to use and God forbid to switch to a different kesher.
So, it would appear that the “halachically more correct” kesher that Mishnah Berurah was referring to was actually the square kesher and NOT the dalet.136
Nonetheless, it must be acknowledged that this is not the simple understanding of the words of Mishnah Berurah, and indeed, a number of Gedolim137 have understood Mishnah Berurah to be referring to the dalet regardless of the fact that this does not fit with his citing the Tiferes Arieh.
Question: If a person has been wearing the dalet kesher, should he switch to the square kesher?
Discussion: Certainly not. The dalet kesher has robust5 support as well138 and, without question, each person should continue his family custom.
Question: If a person is newly religious or not part of a community or family that has a specific custom, which kesher would be preferrable for him to use?
Discussion: Rav Elyashiv was of the opinion that in such an instance one should use the dalet kesher since that is the kesher used by the majority of (non-chassidic) Ashkenazic Jewry.139 Others argue that since, as mentioned earlier, the vast majority of Gedolim throughout the generations have used the square kesher, that would be the recommended decision.140
125 Shulchan Aruch 32:52.
126 Hilchos Tefillin 3:13.
127 Near the end of 32.
128 R’ Yedidya Weil, Responsa 12, who proves that this is the correct kesher and says that this is what his father (the Korban Nesanel) and his Rebbi (Rav Yonason Eybeshutz) wore as well.
129 See Pri Eliezer, Chapter 4.
130 Malbushei Yom Tov 27:5; Eliyah Rabbah ibid. 12; Mishnah Berurah 27, note 37.
131 32, note 233.
132 Written by Rav Moshe Leib Litesh Rosenbaum, who was a talmid of the Chasam Sofer and a Dayan in Pressburg.
133 Written by Rav Eliezer Fleckles, talmid of the Noda B’Yehudah, who took over as Chief Rabbi of Prague when his Rebbi passed away.
134 Orach Chaim 32, 50:3.
135 Shabbos 62a, ד"ה התם.
136 Some say that from fact that the Chofetz Chaim himself wore a dalet kesher and not a square, we can derive that in Mishnah Berurah his intent really was to endorse the dalet kesher.
However, this argument is questionable since it is well documented that the Chofetz Chaim continued performing mitzvos according to his family custom, regardless of what he wrote in Mishnah Berurah.
137 Rav Nissim Karelitz (Chut Shani, pg. 156) in the name of Chazon Ish and Rav Chaim Kanievsky (Da’as Notah, questions 598 and 600).
138 Perhaps most notable, Keses Hasofer 23:5.
139 Zichron Eliyahu 16:4. This is also the opinion of Rav Chaim Kanievsky and Rav Nissim Karelitz ibid.
140 See Beiur Hasofer 23, ד"ה ויש שעושין, and Piskei Teshuvos 32, footnote 567, who bring many sources for this.