Guide for Buying a Tallit

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Historical Origin
• Who wears a Tallit
• Material of the Tallit
• Sizing a Tallis
• Threads and Knots
• Techelet
• How To Wear a Tallit
• Blessings For putting on a Tallit Gadol
• Additional Features to Add to a Tallis
• Frequently Asked Question about the Talis

Introduction

The Talis Gadol Buying Guide, a guide for buying your Talit, will help you determine how to buy your Talis / Prayer Shawl.

Tallit טלית (or Tallet/Tallith) in Hebrew, or Tallis in Yiddish, is a prayer shawl "cloak" that is worn during the morning Jewish services (the Shacharit prayers) in Judaism. It has special twined and knotted "fringes" known as Tzitzit of about six inches attached to its four corners. The Tallit is sometimes also referred to as the Arba Kanfot, meaning the "four corners".

According to classical Rabbinic Judaism only boys and men are required to wear it at various points of their lives as Jews, and many regard it as compulsory. This is still practiced by Orthodox Judaism. Historically, women have been either permitted (mainly Sephardi and western Ashkenazi rishonim), seen as obligated (mainly Karaim), or forbidden (mainly eastern Ashkenazim) to wear it. Many modern, mainly non-Orthodox, groups have allowed women to wear them if they so desire.

Historical origin

The original Tallit probably resembled the "'abayah," or blanket, worn by the Bedouins for protection from sun and rain, and which has black stripes at the ends. The finer Tallit, very likely, was similar in quality to the Roman pallium, and was worn only by distinguished men, rabbis, and scholars (B. B. 98a; Midrash Genesis Rabbah xxxvi.; Midrash Exodus Rabbah xxvii.). The tallit was sometimes worn partly doubled, and sometimes with the ends thrown over the shoulders (Talmud references Shab. 147a; Men. 41a).

Who wears a Tallit

The prayer-shawl is worn over one's clothes, and is traditionally worn by Sephardi men from early childhood and by the majority of Ashkenazi men only after marriage; although many Ashkenaz criticize this practice as it delays an important mitzvah beyond the time a Bar Mitzvah boy is responsible for it. In some Ashkenazi communities, especially western European Ashkenazim, one accordingly has the practice of all men over 13 wearing the Tallit Gadol.

Threads and Knots

The fringe (Tzitzit) on each corner is made of four strands, each of which is made of eight fine threads (known as Kaful Shemoneh). The four strands are passed through a hole (or according to some: two holes) 1-2 inches away from the corner of the cloth.

There are numerous customs as to how to tie the fringe. The Talmud explains that the Bible requires a Kesher Elyon and one wrapping of three Chulyas. The Talmud goes on to explain that the Rabbis enjoined that between 7 to 13 Chulyot be tied, and that the initial and final winds must be the color of the garment, the interving ones being the color Techelet. As for the making of knots in between the Chulyot, the Talmud is inconclusive, and as such poskim throughout the ages have varyingly interpreted this requirement. The Talmud described tying assuming the use of Techelet, however, following the loss of the source of the dye, various customs of tying were introduced to compensate for the lack of this primary element.

Though many methods have been proposed the one that gained the widest acceptance can be described as follows:

• The four strands are put through the hole in the corner of the garment, thus making two sets of four threads (one set on each side of the hole). The two sets of stands are knotted together twice, and then the Shamash is wound around the remaining seven strands a number of times (see below). The two sets are then knotted again twice. This procedure is repeated three times. A commonly formed pattern of windings is 7-8-11-13 (totaling 39 winds - the Gematria of the "G-d is One"). Others, especially Sephardim, have 10 and 5 and 6 and 5, a combination that represents directly the spelling of the Tetragrammaton.
• Rashi/רש"י, a prominent Jewish commentator, bases the number of knots on a Gematria: the word Tzitzit (in its Mishnaic spelling) has the value 600. Each tassel has eight threads (when doubled over) and five sets of knots, totaling 13. The sum of all numbers is 613, traditionally the number of Mitzvot in the Torah. This reflects the concept that donning a garment with Tzitzit reminds its wearer of all Torah commandments.
• The Ramban/רמב"ן disagrees with Rashi, pointing out that the Biblical spelling of the word Tzitzit has only one Yod rather than two, thus adding up to the total number of 603 rather than 613. He points out that in the Biblical quote "you shall see it and remember them", the singular form "it" can refer only to the Petil of Techelet, and that the reason for remembering the Mitzvot is the color of the Tekhelet, which resembles the ocean, which in it's turn resembles the sky or heaven.

Tags: Chuliot, Chulios, Chuliyot, Chuliyos, Chulyot, Chulyos, חליות.

Techeiles

The Inyan/ענין of Techeles/תכלת began to be debated during the late 1800s, due to the efforts of Rabbi Gershon Henich Leiner, the Radzyner Rebbe, to restore this mitzvah

According to Rabbinic tradition, Tekhelet (תכלת) which appears 48 times in the Tanach - translated as "blue" - is a specific dye of blue produced from a creature referred to as a Chillazon, other blue dyes being unacceptable. Since the source of the dye was lost, Jews wear plain white Tzitzit without any dyes. Some explain the black stripes found on many traditional Talleisim as representing the loss of this dye.

The advent of the 19th century has seen a number of attempts to identify the ancient source of the dye using relevant Talmudic sources. On the whole, Orthodox Jews have been slow to accept the findings of this research. Many Poskim maintain that it is better to use no dye at all rather than rely on evidence, though they agree that there is no transgression involved with wearing colored strands. Some also claim that Tekhelet was removed for a divine purpose to be revealed by the Messiah at the time of the ultimate redemption.

Tags: Techeilet, Techeiles, Techelet, Techeles, Techailet, Techailes, Techalet, Techales, Tekhelet, Tekheilet, תכלת.

How To Wear a Tallit

Wearing a Tallis like a Prayer Scarf

Wearing a Full-Length Tallis

Before Wearing the Tallit

Prior to donning the Tallit, one should have made a thorough inspection of the Tzitzit strings to ensure that none of these are torn. This is in fact the practice that is followed day after day and the significance of doing so is to have the prayer shawl always maintained in a condition of kosher. In the course of the examination, any entangles fringes are disentangled. It is necessary to have these fringes in a singular orientation as each of these depicts a unique Mitzvah.

Wearing the Tallit

Right before putting on the Tallit, one should recite the appropriate Beracha. See the section on Blessings For putting on a Tallit Gadol, for the appropriate Berachos.

Tags: Tzitzit strings, Tzitzis strings, Wearing the Tallit, Wearing the Tallis, Inspection, ציצת, ציצית, Full-Length, Shawl, Scarf.

Material of the Tallit

The Tallit may be made of any material, but must not be made of a combination of wool and linen, because that combination is forbidden on any clothing.

Tags: Wool, צמר, Linen, פשטן, שטנז, Shatnaz, Material.

Sizing a Tallis

This section will give you information on how to figure the most appropriate size of the Tallis.

Please note that a Tallis always measures longer from right to left, then from head to tow.

Tags: Size, Sizing, Talis, Tallit, Tallis, Tallith, Talith, Talit, Full-length, Scarf, Shawl, Modern Orthodox, Orthodox, Ultra Orthodox, Traditional, Length, Width.

Blessings For putting on a Tallit Gadol

On inspection of the Tzitzit

Before putting on the Tallit

After wrapping the Tallit around the body

Additional Features to Add to a Tallis

Lining

A lining is a cotton material placed on the upper third (approx.) of the Tallis from the inside, to protect from sweat and grease from the head and shoulders.

Sideband

A sideband is a thin ribbon (approx. 1" wide) running from right to left on top in the inside, to protect the Tallis from fraying from use.

Middle-band

A Middle-band is a thin ribbon (approx. 1" wide) running from right to left in the middle on the outside, to help the folding of the Tallis.

Frequently Asked Question about the Talis

What's Next?

• Go to the previous page
• See the Tallit section