The Pack Rat & Breslov Tzitzit

Breslov tzitzisOne of my sons is a real pack rat. He brings home everything nobody wants. (“One man’s junk is another man’s treasure…”) Usually my wife prevents him from bringing it into the house, but sometimes he manages to smuggle in his junk, and if he sees the border (i.e. our front door) is closely guarded, sometimes he will stash it temporarily near the electrical panels or water lines for the building.

But one day, a few years ago, he actually brought home something I found useful. Someone had tossed out three talleisim ketanim. I started to groan when I saw what he had brought, but then I noticed the tzitzit. They were tied according to the Breslov tying custom.

There are plenty of Breslov Chassidim in our neighborhood, but I never had to nerve to walk up to someone and ask to examine his tzitzit. So I had a golden opportunity to take a close look at Breslov tzitzit at my leisure.

Today we tie tzitzis according to the Breslov custom by special request. You could say Breslov tzitzit is a hybrid of the Ashkenazi, Yemenite and Arizal/Chabad tzitzit tying customs. The chulyot/loops are according to the Rambam/Yemenite custom, except that they also have five double knots, just like the other tzitzit tying customs (Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Chabad).

Breslev tzitzis with techeletAnd there’s another twist: although Rambam tzitzit are always chulyot comprised of three loops, with Breslov tzitzit the chulyot vary, just like the Chabad/Arizal pattern:

  • 3-3-1
  • 2-3-3
  • 3-3-3-2
  • 1-3-3-3-3

Notice that these sections add up to 7-8-11-13. Also note that they are really all chulyot of three, only in two places the chulya gets broken up by a double knot (e.g. the first section ends with 1 and the second section begins with 2, 1+2=3).

 

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