Is a Minor Permitted to Place the Parshiyos in the Tefillin?

May a Minor Place the Parshiyos into the Tefillin? 

The father of a boy who was approaching Bar Mitzvah wanted him to see the process of how the parshiyos (selections from the Torah) are inserted into the batim (the containers of Tefillin): how they are rolled up and wrapped with sa’aros (hairs) from the tail of a cow, tied with a matlis (single piece of plain parchment), and then tied with sa’aros again before being placed into the batim. It’s definitely a good idea to have a Bar Mitzvah boy involved in the process. A while after his Bar Mitzvah, this boy related masiach l’fee tumo (matter-of-factly) how he was not merely present, but had participated in the process by placing the parshiyos into the batim. This raised the following halachic question among contemporary poskim: Is inserting the parshiyos into the batim something that should be done only by a gadol (one who is Bar Mitzvah, and has physically matured) lishmah (for the sake of the mitzvah)? The consensus reached was that certainly l’chatchilah*, inserting the parshiyos into the batim should be done lishmah by someone over the age of Bar Mitzvah; the sofer should bear in mind throughout every stage of the process up until he sews up the Tefillin, to do everything lishmah, for the purpose of fulfilling the mitzvah of Tefillin.

* L’chatchillah means from the outset. The halachah tells us what our approach should be initially, before any action was taken. In the case of inserting tefillin into the batim, initially we must insist that it be done by a gadol. However, bedie’ved (after the fact), if the parshiyos were inserted by someone who is not a gadol, there might be room for leniency to consider the tefillin kosher, without needing to resort to removing the parshiyos and having a gadol reinsert them. #389

https://halacha2go.com?number=389

Practical Halacha: One minute a day. By Horav Yosef Yeshaya Braun, shlita, Mara D'asra and member of the Badatz of Crown Heights.