Ben – Page 30 – Ben's Tallit Shop

Tallit Katan – Is it Kosher?

I had always been under the impression that the only thing you have to look out for when buying a kosher tallit katan is the tzitzit. Many people insist on hand-spun tzitzit rather than machine-spun tzitzit, but the garment is just a garment – or so I had always assumed. Of course in the case...

Tallit Sizes: Get it Right

When I first started out in the tallit business, grappling with all the different sizes left me dazed and confused: Size 18, Size 24, Size 36, Size 45, etc., all the up to Size 90. These sizes are used throughout the industry and should actually be easier for English speakers, because they are based...

Should Single Men Wear a Tallit?

The custom regarding at what age to start wearing a tallit can be somewhat puzzling. Some young men start wearing a tallit when they reach the age of bar mitzvah, while others wait until they get married. Why the discrepancy? The Magen Avraham cites a passage of the Gemara that indicates unmarried men did not...

Handmade Tallit – Four Israeli Tallit Designers

Tallit buyers, for the most part, can be divided into two kinds of people: those in the market for a traditional tallit and people who prefer a modern look. If you are the latter type, chances are you have no need for a handmade tallit, but simply need to find a quality wool black-on-white...

Sun, Surf and…Tefillin

The beach may sound like an unexpected place to find Chabad activists wrapping tefillin on Jews who happen by, but that's exactly what took place at a recent surfing competition in Long Beach, California. As internationally acclaimed athletes rode the waves and fans crammed the beach, Rabbi Eli Goodman of the Bach Jewish Center...

Rav Moshe Feinstein on Women and Tallits

Although the issue of women and tallits has evolved over time, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein's remarks on the topic still reverberate to this day. In the 1970s feminist Orthodox Jewish women consulted with him to ask whether they could wear a tallit. The following is an excerpt from his responsum to them, dated 19 Elul...

Tallit Buyers Guide: Fabrics, Colors, Motifs

When I was growing up there was only one kind of tallit in shul: white with black stripes. As I grew older I began to see thin silver or gold stripes appear between the black stripes of the classic wool design, and the occasional tallit with blue stripes. Today, the prospective tallit buyer has an...

The Nonslip Tallit: Myth or Modern Breakthrough?

Today, a number of tallits are billed as a "nonslip tallit." Is there such a thing as a nonslip tallit? Of course not. The Shulchan Aruch (and earlier sources) explains in detail what to do if your tallit slips off your shoulders in terms of saying a new bracha when you put it back...

Gabrieli Tallit: Israel’s Hand-Weaving Dynasty

Israel boasts dozens of handmade tallit makers, but only a few weave their tallits on a hand loom. With sales from Los Angeles to New York, South America to South Africa, Jerusalem to London – and all stops in between – Gabrieli tallit has taken its place as the world's leading handwoven tallit maker. Go...

In the news: Matisyahu’s tzitzits

Outside of the tallit and tzitzit business, it seems the term "tallit katan" is most commonly found on the Web to describe frum stage performers, especially Matisyahu. Here's a typical example, taken from the The Taos News: Not only does the include everything from folk to mariachi, it also features artists who stretch the...

Entries by Ben