I don’t know whether you’ve been following the weather in Israel. It’s been rainy. Really rainy. My wife told a friend she doesn’t remember when it’s rained so much. Her observation was accurate, because according the the meteorological service, the last time Israel got this much rain was in 1969, which was a few years before she was born.
It’s also been cold. (I know: For those of you who hail from Calgary or Toronto, from Des Moines or Denver or Detroit, from Chicago or New York, the “cold” here in Modi’in Illit could better be described as “a slight chill.”) I wouldn’t mind the “cold” so much if I could find my cap. But it vanished from my wardrobe around the time winter settled in.
But I do have a scarf. Yesterday, when I headed to shul in the early morning hours, the cold hit me and I really wanted to cover my head.
So hat-less, I had to be a bit innovative with my scarf. I wrapped it over the top of my head, down over the ears and still had enough length to wrap it around my neck once. As soon as I was thoroughly wrapped up and cozy it occurred to me that since I was using the scarf not just around my neck but to really wrap myself up (“ituf“), could the scarf require tzitzit?
There are a lot of reasons why the answer is probably no:
- A scarf might not be big enough to qualify as a garment
- A scarf is not considered a bona fide garment since it’s only worn around the neck (despite the above account)
- A tzitzit garment has to be worn with two tzitzit in front and two in back
If the scarf is less than 18 inches wide, it probably does not need tzitzit. Also, it seems that since it gets bunched up width-wise, even if it were say 19 inches wide, since it’s folded up, it would be considered less than 21 inches.
I have never understood how we can exempt a garment worn with all four tzitzit hanging in front, since the Yemenite, Western Sephardic and German customs are to wear a tallit in that manner. And there custom regarding how to wear a tallit certainly has its merits.
To look further into the issue, see Orach Chaim 10, 10-11 (starting with the Beis Yosef); Mishna Berura 16, 4; Biur Halacha 10 Sudar; Piskei Teshuvos 10-11; Tzitz Eliezer V.6 a; Ben Ish Chai, Parshas Noach 9.
For online sources on the question of tzitzit on a scarf, see the following:
