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My tzitzit are very shvach - barely hanging on by a thread- and I want to make some from scratch.

What is the source for the following assertion which I saw here (http://www.tallit-shop.com/tallit/tzitzit-strings/):

"Wool strings can go on any garment, but non wool strings have to go on garments of that material."

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  • The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch makes note of this briefly, but does not answer why it is so.
    – ezra
    Oct 23, 2017 at 20:31

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A brief summary of an article I came across from Aish:

"You shall not wear a garment that is made of a mixture of wool and linen together." (Devarim 22:11) "You shall make fringes on the four corners of your garments..." (Devarim 22:12)

Originally, the Gemara (Shabbos 27b) assumed that the juxtaposition of these two Pesukim means it should be read as follows: "You shall not wear a garment that is made of a mixture of wool and linen...[rather] you shall make fringes on the four corners of your garments [using these materials - wool and linen.]"

This would imply that while normally wool and linen mixtures are forbidden, it's actually preferable to use this mixture for Tzitzit.

However, this is seemingly a contradiction against the Pasuk "You shall place ont he corner Tzitzit blue wool thread." (Bamidbar 15:38) which specifically says wool.

Rava explains how this isn't a contradiction - the Pesukim in Devarim are teaching that if you have Tzitzit strings made of wool or linen, you can fulfill the Mitzvah of Tzitzit with any garment. The Pasuk in Bamidbar is teaching that if the strings are made of any other material, you can only fulfill the Mitzvah of Tzitzit if the garment is the same material.

There begins a complicated Machloket between many Halachic Poskim... I would view the full source to see the argument, but I believe this is the source of the original statement.

Full source here.

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  • This is excellent. It seems that one can also use linen threads. Oct 23, 2017 at 23:50
  • @ClintEastwood Be very careful with linen threads lest you run afoul of the prohibition of Shaatnez.
    – Double AA
    Oct 24, 2017 at 0:28
  • But I thought tzitzit is exempt from shatnes? (In any case, I Plan on cutting up t-shirts, which are made of cotton) Oct 24, 2017 at 13:59
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    @ClintEastwood I believe that's only if there's (valid) techeiles. They also sell premade Tzitzis strings which you can then add to your own garment, which is definitely a lot simpler than taking thread and spinning them Lishmah, etc. Oct 24, 2017 at 19:11

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