This week we received an inquiry about the fringes along the front bottom edge of a wool tallit katan.
I was wondering if the wool tzitzit has the (tallis like) fringes across the bottom of the garment. I bought this type in Israel but can’t find it in NY. Thanks, Zach
Our standard wool tallit katan comes with fringes along the bottom front, I explained to Zach, unless you write in, while placing your order, a special request for no fringes. The one exception is size 22, which always comes with no fringes. Somehow I had a feeling that Zach wanted a size 22 tallit katan for his tzitzit. I was right.
22 is the size I really needed. Is it at all possible to get it with fringes?
The problem is that the manufacturer we work with, Mishkan Hatchelet, doesn’t make size 22 with fringes at all, presumably because size 22 is uncommon in Israel. There are other wool tallit katan manufacturers, but I haven’t found any that produce the level of quality that Mishkan Hatchelet (distributed by Keter in the U.S.) has achieved.
Why is the size 22 wool tzitzit always made without fringes? The reason is that for the minimum size requirement there are three main opinions: The Chazon Ish, Rav Moshe Feinstein and Rav Chaim Naeh. Rav Moshe’s opinion is followed widely in the US, but much less in Eretz Yisrael. And as mentioned above, un-fringed is popular in the US. So from what I understand they opted not to make size 22 with fringes, because there’s a limited demand for it.
