A customer recently asked me if the tzitzit strings I sold her are made of wool or cotton. The answer, of course, is wool. Today tzitzit strings are always made of wool. According to halacha, wool tzitzit strings can be tied on any type of garment, whereas tzitzit strings made from other types of fabric can only be made on a garment made of the same type of fabric: cotton tzitzit for a cotton garment, silk tzitzit for a silk garment, etc.

Cotton Tzitzit

So what are the “cotton tzitzit” you see all over the place?

The proper name for a tzitzit garment worn all day is tallit katan (“small tallit”) or arba kanfot (“four corners”), but sometimes people simply refer to it as “tzitzit.” They don’t mean the tzitzit strings, but a special garment with tzitzit attached. So if that garment is made of cotton (with wool tzitzit), it will be referred to as “cotton tzitzit.”

Cotton Tallit Katan

I generally use the word “tallit katan” on my webstore, which unfortunately does not have a nice ring to it in the case of cotton: “Cotton Tallit Katan.” But I’m proud of the cotton tallit katan I sell (HaHod VeHaHadar), because it has various features that make it a cut above typical cotton tzitzit garments. And when you’re doing a mitzvah, it’s worth it to go the extra mile to do it right.