Ben – Page 36 – Ben's Tallit Shop

Tefillin Scare on New Zealand Ferry

An Israeli putting on tefillin set off a bomb scare on a New Zealand ferry, the TVNZ website reported. The captain of the inter-island ferry, who believed the tefillin's boxes and leather straps resembled a bomb, reported his concerns to police during Sunday's...

Women and Tefillin

According to R. Meir of Rottenberg (as quoted by his disciple, R. Shimshon bar Tzadok), women are exempt from laying tefillin because it is a positive, time-bound mitzvah since tefillin are not worn on Shabbat. However, "one should not protest against their wrapping themselves in tzizit and reciting the blessing because they can accept...

Tying Tzitzit Before Bar Mitzvah

Can a young man spin tzitzit or tie tzitzit on his own tallit before his bar mitzvah?

Is a Tallit Katan Mandatory?

According to the late Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, in ancient times – as late as the classical Greek period – many garments were four-cornered. Rather than tailored, clothing generally consisted of a simple rectangle of cloth, straight from the loom and worn as a shawl, cape, tunic or toga. Similar garments were worn in Talmudic...

Tallit Gadol Buyers Guide

People often feel a special attachment to their tallit gadol, as indeed they should, since it is a garment used to carry out the mitzvah of tzitzit and to create a personal “space” for prayer. Color is a matter of taste, therefore in many cases it may be the most important factor in shopping...

Seeing Tzitzit

The Torah clearly instructs us to see the tzitzit in order to recall all of the mitzvahs and to avoid straying off the correct path. Make Tzitzit for All Generations "God spoke to Moses, telling him to speak to the Israelites and have them make tzitzit on the corners of their garments for all ...

Tzitzit Tucked In or Showing?

Although some Jews have a custom to wear their tzitzit tucked in to their pants, the origins of that custom remain somewhat obscure. The mitzvah is to see them and keep all of the mitzvahs in mind. Tzitzit Tucked in or Showing? Rabbi Eli Mansour notes that twice in his presentation of the laws of tzitzit...

Tefillin Buyers Guide

What's inside the boxes? The box of the head tefillin (tefillin shel rosh) has four separated compartments, each with a specially prepared parchment or vellum (known as klaf) on which a different passage from the Torah is written? The arm tefillin (tefillin shel yad) has one single compartment containing a parchment with verses. How are the...

Mezuza Q&A

Does a mezuza have to contain a parchment handwritten by a scribe, or is a printed scroll also acceptable? A printed scroll, in this case, is hardly worth the paper it's written on! A mezuza definitely must be written on specially prepared parchment by a trained scribe. For a fuller answer, see "The Inside Story." Is...

Tzitzit: Connecting Heaven and Earth

The meaning of tzitzit is about connecting Shamayim (Heaven) and eretz (earth), revealing to us the spiritual potential in the world around us. Meaning of Tzitzit The task of transforming all of our activities into spiritual pursuits may seem remote and abstract. Throughout the day we find ourselves in various places and situations that seem far...

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