14
One must attach the tzitzis to a piece of cloth that is at least three by three agudlin (three agudlin being between 2 2/3 and 3 inches). The custom is to sew an appropriately sized piece of cloth on the corners because in many garments, even new, there are pieces of cloth sewn together that are not the correct size. Therefore, we put the correctly sized ...
13
My understanding is it's just reinforcing. Even so, over time you'll see the strings keep pulling towards the edge.
If an edge is broken, you can't just mend it: you have to take off the strings, restore the garment to its four-cornered nature, then reattach the strings.
13
See Aruch HaShulchan OH 302:12 where he explains the common custom to fold our tallis on Shabbos because our folding does not fall under the category of fixing nor is it difficult to do.
ובזמנינו יש הרבה שמקפלין טליתותיהם בשבת, ויש לומר דסבירא ליה
דבקיפול שלנו ליכא
שום תיקון, וטעמא דטירחא לא סבירא ליה, כדעת רש"י והרמב"ם והטור והש"ע
And in our ...
11
There is much discussion in Jewish literature about this subject, and there is also a difference between a woman wearing a tallit and tefillin. It is easy to show what the Gemara and the Rema say, but leaving out all of the rishonim and acharonim on the topic would prevent learning where the halakha stands. But here is a start.
Regarding tefillin
Mishna - ...
10
Tzedaka U'Mishpot 16:2 note 3 indictaes that he has been unable to find a source for this Minhag.
וראיתי נוהגים כשמוליכים ס״ת ביחיד עוטפין אותו בטלית ולא מצאתי עדיין
מקור לזה.
I have seen people who wrap the Sefer Torah in a Tallis when they take
it from place to place; I have not yet found the source for this
custom.
10
First of all, welcome.
The top of your tallit has the blessing. With nikkud (the vowelization), it reads:
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּנוּ לְהִתְעַטֵּף בַּצִּיצִת
Translation:
Blessed are you, Eternal, our G-d, King of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with your Commandments and commanded us ...
9
In Shulchan Aruch O"C 14:1 it says:
ציצית שעשאן אינו יהודי פסול, דכתיב: "דבר אל בני ישראל", לאפוקי אינו יהודי
Tzitzis that a non-Jew made are invalid, for it says, "Speak to the Children of Israel (Num. 15:38)" to exclude a non-Jew.
And the Mishnah Berurah there:
...שעשאן — פי' שהטילן בבגד פסול אפילו בישראל עומד על גבו ומלמדהו לעשות לשמה
...
9
The Targum Yonasan to the verse prohibiting a woman to wear men's gear says specifically it includes Tallis and Tefilin. However, that doesn't seem to be the prevailing opinion. The Aruch HaShulchan and Rav Moshe Feinstein both address the issue of women wearing Tefilin, and neither of them concludes that it's prohibited because of that Targum Yonasan.
At ...
8
The Aruch HaShulchan - Siman 8 Seif 10 - who to my knowledge was not a Sefardi - writes:
וכן נכון לעשות שלא יהיה בהטלית רק צמר
And so it is correct to do: to make the tallit only out of wool.
It is interesting that Ashkenazim do not seem to be particular about this, yet Sefardim are!
8
I emailed Rabbi Eliezer Zalmanov (from Chabad.org) about your question. Here's what I said:
B''H
In most Ashkenazi communities, the custom is that bochurim do not wear a tallis. However, when a bochur is called to the Torah or to the amud, he puts one on anyway, although he makes sure not to cover his head with the tallis so that it's not considered ...
8
The religious significance in wearing a prayer shawl lies specifically in the tzitzit fringes themselves. Technically any garment of four corners can be used as a prayer shawl, so long as it has the tzitziyot on them. As for a non-Jew wearing tzitzit, there is nothing offensive or wrong with your wearing tzitzit so long as you are aware that you do so on a ...
8
This was birkat kohanim, the priestly blessing, which (in the diaspora, at least for Ashkenazim) is done only on the high holy days and festivals. In Israel it is done at each morning service (where a minyan is present).
This is a reflection of a temple practice. I have been taught that one reason our kohanim take their shoes off is because they did in ...
8
This is a good question, and really it's probably a better question than the answers out there.
For context, we have to realize that this question (order of operations for donning Tzitzit and Tefillin) is a "modern" question which is a side effect of the modern practice of wearing a Tallit and Tefillin exclusively in Shul. In principle, these Mitzvot have ...
8
I think your questions reverses things. We wear a tallit because we want the mitzva of tzitzit. Therefore we look for a garment which is obligated in the mitzva, i.e., has four corners (MT Hilchot Tzitzit 3:1)
The reason we want the mitzva of tzitzit is that it is an important mitzva. In the words of the Rambam (Hilchot Tzitzit 3:12)
since the Torah ...
7
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), ...
7
It says in the Rambam and Rashi that the strings of a Tallis have to be the same color as the Tallis itself.
Tosfos writes that there is no obligation to do so, and the color of the strings does not have to be the same as that of the Tallis. The Halacha is like this opinion. Moreover, the custom in the Ashkenazi world is to make the strings white even when ...
7
I think the source of this minhag is in the Talmud (TB Rosh Hashana 17b):
ויעבור ה' על פניו ויקרא א"ר יוחנן אלמלא מקרא כתוב אי אפשר לאומרו מלמד שנתעטף הקב"ה כשליח צבור והראה לו למשה סדר תפלה אמר לו כל זמן שישראל חוטאין יעשו לפני כסדר הזה ואני מוחל להם
(Roughly: "Hashem passed before him, and He called" (Shmot 34:6): Said R' Yochanan: if this scripture were ...
7
Mendelowitz talis sales and repairs in boro park, brooklyn. ny. 4714 Fort Hamilton Parkway, Brooklyn NY 11219, Tel. 718-853-3219. I purchased my last talis there before last pesach and found him very cooperative. I am very satisfied with his service as opposed to buying in a regular seforim store or even from the major talis importers.
7
The Torah commands to attach tassels (or "fringes") to the edges of any four-cornered garments we must wear; however this only applies during the day, not night. This makes it a "yes-do" command that's limited in time. The rule of thumb for this category of commandments (which also includes shofar, lulav, and the like) is that women aren't obligated in them; ...
7
Excellent question. Greetings and welcome to J.SE!
German and Sephardic Jewish men begin wearing a Tallis many years before marriage; the question if anything is why those of Eastern European ancestry wait until marriage.
I'm told that once a man gets married and starts wearing a Tallis, the practice (I wouldn't say "must", but certainly "normative ...
7
Nitei Gavriel Hilchos Yom Hakipurim page 181 note 24 in the name of Siach Yitzchak that we wear a Talis at Kol Nidrei based on the Yerushalmi Chagiga 1:5 that says that one needs to wear a Talis at the time of Hataras Nedarim.
He goes on to say that one should only make a Bracha on the Talis up to the time he would normally Daven Mincha.
7
See SA OC128, 23 in annotation of the Rama.
הגה: וגם הכהנים לא יסתכלו בידיהם על כן נהגו לשלשל הטלית על פניהם וידיהם חוץ לטלית. ויש מקומות שנהגו שידיהם בפנים מן הטלית שלא יסתכלו העם בהם (בית יוסף):
The function of the Talit is not to cover the hands according to the first minhag, because the hands are out of the Talit.
At first glance, it seems ...
6
Yes, Taame Haminhagim 681 says (with my own translation):
טעם שהש״ץ מתעטף בציצית כשמשכימין לסליחות אע״פ שאין זמן ציצית, משום דאיתא, הקב״ה נתעטף בציצית כש״ץ והרגיל למרע״ה י״ג מדות, אלמא כשאומר י״ג מדות יתעטף בציצית
The reason the shatz (leader) wraps himself in tzitzis when we arise early for s'lichos although it's not yet the hour for tzitzis is that ...
6
There is an additional problem and it is the one of "mechin" (preparing) the tallit to be used after the Shabat, for Sunday morning or next Shabat if this is your tallit for Shabat. The solution for this is to fold the talit in a "non regular" form, e.g. different direction than you generally do. This means that after Shabat you will refold it. This gives an ...
6
The last Chabad rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson z'l, made a compromise between his rebbe, the previous rebbe Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn z'l, who wore a regular Lubavitch talis and his father R' Levi Yitzchak Schneerson z'l, a kabalist, who wore an all-white talis (see page 30 of this pdf). By folding under, it appeared all white, according to the custom of ...
6
Don't worry about it. The practice of not bringing a Tallit into a bathroom is a strong custom (because the Tallit is a garment designated for prayer times, as opposed to the undergarment tallit katan which we do bring into the bathroom), but not technically a law. This is why you can make the blessing on it, then have in mind to remove it, use the restroom, ...
6
They are still woolen. Since tallitot and tzitziot are under strict supervision, they are (wrongly?) assumed to be safe.
Source: My uncle, a Toldos Aharon chassid.
6
The source of the attara is found most easily in the Mishna Berurah siman 8 siff 4. It is based on chazzal who tell us the krashim (beams) in the Mishkan (Tabernacle) had signs written on them, so that the ones that merited to be on the north side would always be on the north side. So too the sides of the talis -- the side that is in front should always be ...
6
See Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 8, with Mishnah Berura. Here are some excerpts from that siman that should help with your question. The translations here are my own.
2: סדר עטיפתו, כדרך בני אדם שמתכסים בכסותם ועוסקים במלאכתם, פעמים
בכיסוי הראש פעמים בגילוי הראש. ונכון שיכסה ראשו בטלית
The עטיפה (wrapping, which is part of putting it on) should be ...
6
Yes, you can wear a Tallis/Tzitzis since the Tallis itself has no holyness, it is just an instrument of a Mitzva (תשמישי מצווה) furthermore, the fear for companionship with a Jew (שמא יתלווה לישראל בדרך) is also not relevant since we are talking about a proselyte who intends to join Kehal Hashem.
See further info in details in Mishnat Hager (Ch. 1, 32).
...
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