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This question concerns the Ashkenazic practice.

I was always told that the tallit katan (worn under clothing, every day, starting in preschool years) got the bracha of al mitzvat tzitzit, but the tallit gadol (worn over clothing during prayers, starting when one is married) gets lehit'atef batzitzit. (The Ramah in Shulchan Aruch says we're not sure the minor garment warrants the proper blessing of lehit'atef.)

I was also told that once you get married, you stop saying a bracha on the talit katan and just rely on the bracha you'll say that day on the talit gadol.

Is that the standard practice? And where is the source please? (I looked at a shulchan aruch and saw it talked about that occasionally you can wait for the later bracha to include it, but did it say that you should?)

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  • Related near-duplicate: judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/12810
    – msh210 ♦
    Commented Jan 25, 2012 at 18:05
  • The only connection in Minhog Ashkenaz between tallis and marriage is the fact that the kallah gives the choson a new tallis at the se'udas sivlonos, and the chuppah (where the brochos are said, etc.) is a tallis. What you are referring to is the practice that came in to being because of a material shortage in Europe that many communities forgot the reason for later on.
    – Joshua Pearl
    Commented Jul 14, 2017 at 18:20

2 Answers 2

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Mishnah Berurah (8:24) says that "in our times" it is customary to do so, and says that indeed it's better to do it this way. First of all, he says, if you say the two berachos back-to-back, then then one of those berachos is unnecessary. Second, even if you put the tallis katan and tallis gadol on at different times (and say the two berachos separately), the tallis katan may not be suitable for saying a berachah on anyway: it might be closed too far up the sides, or too small, or you might have slept in it.

See also Dayan Raskin's notes to the Rav's siddur, that another good reason for this practice is because one may put on the tallis katan while his hands are still unclean (before washing negel vasser), or before daybreak. In either of those cases he would have to touch the tzitzis later on (למשמש בציציותיו) and say the berachah "al mitzvas tzitzis," but it is a subject of dispute whether touching them is effective for this purpose.

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    "the tallis katan may not be suitable for saying a berachah on anyway: it might be closed too far up the sides, or too small, or you might have slept in it." Then why say it before you are married? And why not always wear the Talit Gadol? And what if you know it's not any of those things?
    – avi
    Commented Nov 15, 2011 at 19:45
  • Thanks! I was skimming through and must have missed that mishna brurah.
    – Shalom
    Commented Nov 15, 2011 at 19:48
  • @avi: dunno, but maybe the difference is that before marriage there's no choice in the matter (since that's the only tallis you're wearing), while afterwards you can get away with just the berachah on the tallis gadol. In other words, אין דנין אפשר משאי אפשר. (Of course, why it's אי אפשר to wear a tallis gadol before marriage... that's a whole 'nother issue.)
    – Alex
    Commented Nov 15, 2011 at 20:40
  • @Alex I think the truth is really not so complicated. It's not done that way because that isn't what the people were doing. The Mishna Berurah here sounds more like a 'yesh daat' to explain the 'current' practice.
    – avi
    Commented Nov 15, 2011 at 20:43
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    Alex, if we are so worried about the viability of a given tallis kattan to not say a bracha, why do we allow people to wear them outside an eruv on Shabbat?
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented May 21, 2013 at 22:05
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The ruling of the Alter Rebbe is when one starts wearing a tallis gadol they no longer recite the bracha on the tallis katan. The source in the sidur. Can be found in the blue annotated edition of Tehilas Hashem on page 9

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  • I just see this ואם לובשו מיד בקומו בעוד שאין ידיו נקיות כדי שלא ילך ד' אמות בלא ציצית מברך על טלית גדול ויכוין לפטור גם את זה וכן אם לובשו קודם אור היום שאינו זמן ציצית: chabadlibrary.org/books/default.aspx?furl=/adhaz/piskey
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Nov 23, 2015 at 21:25

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