Buying a tallit bag: Materials and prices

Who needs a tallit bag? A tallit bag makes an a bar mitzvah gift or a birthday present for a husband who already has a nice tallit he fond of, but keeps stored in a mediocre or old tallit bag, or none at all. Sometimes a tattered velvet bag can be hard to part with, and a husband may need a gentle prod, or a surprise gift. Of course a worn bag filled with memories can still be used, and you can add a second bag for a Shabbat tallit.

Tallit bag materials

Not so long ago, most tallit bags were made of velvet. Although velvet is still the old standby, today there are a lot of other options, such as suede, leather, fur, impala, wool, cloth, linen and crocodile skin. Crocodile skin?! Yep, no joke. And it will only set you back $10,000. Interested? Take a look.

For most people, a velvet or linen tallit bag is a bit more practical. Both are durable, look nice and work well with letter embroidery.

In recent years, impala and leather have come into use increasingly by tallit bag makers. Impala is a sturdy material, akin to velvet, but with a slightly heftier, leathery feel.

In my opinion, if you want to add name embroidery, a tallit bag without the word טלית (“tallit”) looks nicer. Generally tallit bags are not sold alone, but as a tallit/tefillin bag set, which is why they are marked with the words “Tallit” and “Tefillin” respectively. It’s important that you reach for your tallit before your tefillin, and sometimes labeled bags can help.

Tallit bag prices

How much should you spend on a tallit bag? Usually they are worth the investment, because often a tallit bag will hold up for many years, and because preparing to do a mitzvah is an important part of the act of doing the mitzvah. The Talmudic term for this is hechsher mitzvah. To take an extreme example, imagine going to pray and taking your tallit out of a plastic grocery-store bag. Not a pretty sight. In theory, you could even have no bag at all.

A nice tallit bag also accords honor to the mitzvah of tzitzit (which is really what wearing a tallit is all about).

If you buy a traditional tallit, you need not necessarily have to have a matching bag. Keep in mind that with velvet tallit bags, you get what you pay for. There are different grades of velvet used for tallit bag production, so don’t be surprised if prices vary significantly. A $15 velvet bag is invariably made in China. (Don’t let Hebrew lettering fool you.) A velvet tallit bag in the $25-$50 price range should have better quality velvet and superior craftsmanship. Pouches under $20 will do the job, but a tallit bag with high quality velvet looks and feel nicer.