Tallit & tzitzit solutions for people with wool allergies

Every once in a while we get inquiries from people with wool allergies, or wool sensitivities. The good news is that one leading tzitzit maker in Jerusalem recently introduced a very high quality 100% cotton tallit in a few different designs, including a black-striped cotton tallit and a light blue-striped cotton.

Today we received an inquiry from someone who is so allergic to wool, that even wearing a cotton tallit katan doesn’t solve the problem, rather he needs a cotton tallit katan with cotton tzitzit strings, which is no simple matter.

Lately my allergy to wool has been increasing and I’m at the point I need to stop wearing anything with wool altogether. I understand that tzitzit strings must be wool to be truly kosher, but is any other material available (i.e. cotton, silk, synthetic)? I need to replace all my tallit katan with ones that are 100% non-wool (cotton seems a good choice) including the strings. Please let me know your thoughts on this and if you have such options for such cases. Thank you, Robert

I explained to Robert that according to halacha you can put wool or linen tzitzit on any type of garment. Linen is almost never an option because of shaatnez issues.

You can also put tzitzit made of the same material as the garment. According to the Mishnah Berura, cotton tzitzit on a cotton garment is actually preferable to wool. So you would think that someone out there makes cotton tzitzit strings. But as far as I know, nobody makes them! If you search the Web you’ll see a whole lot of search results for “cotton tzitzit,” but that’s because people often use the term “cotton tzitzit” to refer to any type of tzitzit garment made out of cotton.

I know of a place in Italy that makes silk tzitzit strings, but they don’t sell them to the public. I told Robert that if he begs and pleads with them, and explains his predicament, they might acquiesce, but then how would he come up with a silk tallis katan garment.

Perhaps Robert would consider hemp tzitzit on a hemp tallit katan?!? Rivka Sari might still be making them. But I can’t vouch for the kashrus, since I don’t know much about her operation. As I recall, tzitzit strings spun by women is a bit problematic from a halachic standpoint.

Whatever you do, be very wary regarding the kashrus of alternative tzitzit you find online.

Tallit & tzitzit solutions for people with wool allergies

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