How to choose a Tallit
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The purpose of the Tallit?
The Tallit, or prayer shawl, is a religious shawl-like garment worn for prayer.
The purpose of the Tallit is to keep the commandment of wearing the tzitzit (the
fringes, which are tied on the four corners of the Tallit) on a four-cornered garment.
In general the fringes are supposed to remind us of all the commandments God gave
us through the Torah. The Tallit is usually worn during the morning prayers as well
as on holidays and on Shabbat during the day. The person who leads the prayer (Shaliach
Tzibur) wears the Tallit for every prayer, including in the evening. Traditionally,
the Tallit was only worn by men but increasingly women also wear the Tallit, most
commonly in reform congregations. In some congregations children wear the Tallit
from an early age, in most Sephardi communities from their Bar Mitzvah at age 13
and in most Ashkenazi communities from their wedding day. Also the way of the tying
the tzitzit on the Tallit varies according to Ashkenazi and Sephardic customs. Many
people find it difficult to choose the right Tallit, whether for themselves or when
buying the first Tallit for their children.
Traditional Tallit and modern Tallit
Tallitim can usually be divided into two categories: Traditional Tallit and modern
Tallit. A traditional Tallit is white, often made of wool, with stripes, which come
in black, blue and white, possibly with additional gold or silver stripes as a decoration.
This style is predominant in orthodox and traditional congregations. The more modern
Tallit can come in many different colors and designs. The background of the Tallit
is still usually white, but designs can come as colorful silk paintings, embroidery
or other creative styles. Modern designs are chosen by many people attending reform
congregations, but can increasingly be found in traditional places. A modern Tallit
is equally suitable for men as for women, although some colors and designs are especially
targeting women. The attarah, which is the decoration part behind the neck, can
either come with the blessing which is said when the Tallit is put on, or it can
also have nay kind of a pattern as decoration. Another question to ask when choosing
a Tallit is the size. Traditionally the Tallit is quite large and covers a large
part of the body, folded over the shoulders and hanging down over the back, sometimes
also put over the head. This style of wearing the Tallit can be found in traditional
congregations. A more modern way to wear the Tallit is the shawl style, which is
simply put over the shoulders, not founded or hanging down. Therefore is somebody
chooses to wear a shawl style Tallit, he or she needs to choose a much smaller size
than for the traditional style.
Blue Thread on a Tallit
Some people put a blue thread called the techelet threat on each corner of the Tallit
among the other white fringes. The "techelet" fringe is mentioned in the Torah as
part of the commandment to tie fringes on the corners of our garments: "Speak to
the children of Israel and you shall say to them that they shall make for themselves
fringes (tzitzit) on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations,
and they shall affix a thread of techelet on the fringe of each corner." The two
commandments of affixing the fringes to the corners of a four-cornered garment,
which today is usually the Tallit or the Tallit katan, and on the other hand the
commandment of having one of the fringes in blue, are independent of each other.
The Mitzvah of wearing the tzitzit is fulfilled even when no blue thread is available
and all threads on the Tallit or Tallit katan are white. The right kind of blue
color which is used to dye the thread is taken from a sea animal, the chilazon.
Today it is not very common to wear the techelet fringe on the tzitzit of the Tallit,
because the exact identity of the chilazon became unknown. Many have tried to find
the chilazon in order to find the right kind of blue to dye the fringes of the Tallit,
among them the Radziner Rebbe, Rabbi Gershon Henoch Leiner (1839-1891) and Israeli
Chief Rabbi Y.I. Herzog (1889-1959). Rabbi Leiner produced the dye from cuttlefish.
Recently the marine snail Murex Trunculus has been identified as possibly being
the elusive chilazon. Many people use its dye for the techelet thread on the Tallit.
Because of the uncertainty of the right type of blue, many people wear only white
threads as the tzitzit on their Tallit and they are waiting for the Moshiach, when
the definite identity of the chilazon will be clear and the Tallit can be worn with
a techelet threat that is for certain the right type of blue.
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