Tefillin for a Mourner When a Relative Passes Away on Purim
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Question
If someone's relative passed away and was buried on Purim, does he put on tefillin?
Answer
He does not put on tefillin.
Source
Magen Avraham, Siman 696, S"K 16 "It seems to me that he still does not put on tefillin, as it is called an adornment". And so writes the Mishnah Berurah there, S"K 26.
Regarding Chol HaMoed, Magen Avraham writes Siman 548, S"K 5 (for those who put on tefillin during Chol HaMoed): "It seems to me that he puts on tefillin on the first day, as the Rosh writes in Perek A"M that the reason a mourner is forbidden from wearing tefillin is because it is a bitter day for him, and a mourner sprinkles dust on his head, and this does not apply to Chol HaMoed where mourning is not observed". And so writes the Mishnah Berurah in Siman 38, S"K 15.
In Rabbi Akiva Eiger, Tractate Berachot, Chapter 3, the question is raised about the contradiction in Magen Avraham's words: "And it is difficult to understand what he himself writes in Siman 696, S"K 16, that a mourner on the first day of Purim is exempt from tefillin because it is called an adornment, but as we know, mourning is not observed on Purim, and this does not apply to Chol HaMoed".
I have seen the resolution to Rabbi Akiva Eiger's question, that Chol HaMoed is not similar to Purim, because in Chol HaMoed, although he is comforted, it still does not count towards the seven days of mourning and is not part of the mourning days at all, but on Purim, even for those who follow the Rema in Siman 696, paragraph 4, that mourning is not observed on Purim, still private matters are observed and it counts towards the seven days, and even if he died and was buried on Purim itself, as explained in Mishnah Berurah there, S"K 14. Therefore, on Purim he does not put on tefillin, because by wearing tefillin he shows that he is not a mourner, as Rashi writes in Tractate Sukkah, page 25: "And a mourner is not adorned, and when he adorns himself, he shows that he is not a mourner", and he is obligated in mourning, unlike Chol HaMoed, which is not part of the mourning law at all.