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Entries by Ben

Tzitzit: Junior Tzitz

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of Efrat offered an interesting interpretation of the word "tzitzit" in his article on Parshat Tetzaveh this week. "What is most jarring to the modern ear," Rabbi Riskin notes, "is the painstaking description of the eight special garments of the High Priest and the four special garments of the regular priests. Clothes Make...

History of the Yemenite Tallit

In our day, the use of the tallit is largely confined to times of prayer. Jewish sources indicate that the tallit was originally made of wool and that the person wearing it might treat it as an ordinary garment for various purposes – bundling up his wares in it or using it to cover himself or...

Bar Mitzvah Tallis, New York, circa 1940

This picture was just too irresistible. This photo of an intrepid bar mitzvah boy wrapped in his bar mitzvah tallis is from the Matson Collection. He is wearing his bar mitzvah tallis according to the German (and Yemenite) custom. Notice the sign in the background with its anglicized Yiddish. The Hebrew letters read: FERLANKT EKSPERIENSD DRESS MEKERINS TZU DRESSIS OIF...

Wool Tallit

If you step into a traditional Orthodox shul anywhere in the world or visit the Western Wall at Shacharit time, you'll see the traditional wool tallit draped down the back of dozens of men. They may all look pretty much the same, but upon closer scrutiny a number of distinctions come to light. Some of...

Echt Turkish Tallit and Kmo Turkish Tallit

The Turkish tallit was originally made in Tunisia, but since Tunisia was part of the Ottoman Empire until 1881, tallits made there were referred to as "Turkish." The Turkish tallit became popular because one of the Turkish sultans had banned flax plants, effectively making Tunisia a linen-free zone. Since wool products from Tunisia were known...

The Atara

If you've ever shopped for a tallit, the issue of the atara may have come up. The tallit atara (or neckband) is really just a trim, which can range from a subtle white-on-white design to a bold and colorful embellishment. Atara origins The custom originated to ensure that the prayer shawl was worn the same way...

Tzitzit and the Would-Be Sinner

The following story from the Talmud (Menachos 44a) is about a Torah scholar whose tzitzit save him from sin. Once there was a man who was always careful to keep the mitzvah of tzitzit properly. When he happened to hear about a prostitute in a faraway place overseas who charged 400 zehuvim, he sent that...

Pele Yoetz on Tzitzit

The mitzvah of tzitzit is considered equivalent to all of the other commandments. Because we are unable to fulfill all of the 613 mitzvahs, when we wear tzitzits, which are meant to remind us of the obligation to keep all of the commandments, it is considered as if we did in fact observe them....

A Tallit Poem – Yehuda Amichai

This fabulous poem on the personal meaning of the tallit and its resonance was written by the late Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai. It brilliantly captures the role of the tallit in our memories: feeling sheltered by a father's tallit as we played with the tzitzit, the first time we donned a tallit and felt...