Tzitzit – Page 10 – Ben's Tallit Shop

Tzitzit and Chanukah: Surrounded by mitzvahs

Rabbi Simcha Weinberg recently posted a shtikl Torah on tzitzit and Chanukah, quoting the Midrash on Tehillim: "Rabbi Meir was wont to say: When a man wears tefillin upon his head and upon his arm, as prescribed, and his four tzitzit enclosing on all four sides, and when as he enters his house there...

Sports Strings Tzitzit

Tamir Goodman, who Sports Illustrated once called "the Jewish Jordan," has launched an athletic tzitzit shirt called Sport Strings, which he describes as "revolutionary." Goodman, who retired from basketball in 2009 following injuries and now spends his time in business and Jewish activism, announced the "Sport Strings Tzitzit" at the OK Kosher Certification's 13th annual...

Tzitzit tying customs: The basics

What is the most important part of a tallit? The tzitzit, of course, which are really the tallit's raison d'être. Without the tzitzit the tallit would be just a nice wool shawl for men. Yet some people don't think twice about the tzitzit when buying a tallit. Whether you plan to tie the tzitzit yourself...

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...

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...

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...

Can you cut tzitzits?

Question 1 - Can you cut your tzitzit strings shorter? Certainly. If you open the Shulchan Aruch to Orech Chaim 11, 4 you'll see that the tzitzit are supposed to hang down at least 12 gudalim (thumb widths) and can be as long as you like. The Rema then writes, "And if one made it...

Tzitzit: Thin or thick?

Tzitzit come in two standard sizes, thin and thick. Either can be used on a tallit, though it seems thin is more commonly seen in modern congregations, while thick is the standard in traditional congregations. If you are tying tzitzit yourself, thick may be a bit easier on your fingers. On a tallit katan, thick tzitzit...

Tallis: ‘We close our eyes to the visual world’

This week I came across a fabulous commentary on tzitzis by Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum. He writes that the tzitzis surround us on all four sides, "a visual reminder of G-d's presence everywhere. The blue techeles thread in the tzitzis is the color of the sea, which is a reflection of the color of the...

Tzitzit tying: How long should it take?

A few weeks ago I was standing in line at the post office (the truth is here in Israel, to most newcomers' utter dismay, at the post office people don't actually stand in line office, per se) when in came a friend who has been tying tzitzit professionally for several years. During the course...