tallit katan – Ben's Tallit Shop

Tzitzit strategies during summer heat

Time to get personal...It's really hot here in Israel this week. The Electric Company reported a record high usage yesterday afternoon. So when I got dressed this morning, I departed from my typical tzitzit attire. Usually I wear an undershirt, a Wool Comfort and a shirt. I know, many people out there think wool is...

Buy Tzitzit: Tzitzit Buyer’s Guide

Since tzitzit are the essence – the raison d'être – of a tallit or talit katan, we have broad know-how and expertise to guide you with tzitzit and tzitzit tying. Whether you opt to buy tzitzit strings separately or buy tzitzit tied onto a ready-to-wear tallit katan garment, we have a broad range of...

Tzitzit

The term "tzitzit" can be a bit confusing, because sometimes the speaker may be referring to the tzitzit strings on a tallit, whereas is can also be used as a reference to a tallit katan garment worn to carry out the mitzvah of tzitzit all day. Therefore, although today tzitzit strings are always made...

Cotton Tzitzit

A customer recently asked me if the tzitzit strings I sold her are made of wool or cotton. The answer, of course, is wool. Today tzitzit strings are always made of wool. According to halacha, wool tzitzit strings can be tied on any type of garment, whereas tzitzit strings made from other types of...

Are tzitzit mandatory or optional?

Adapted from an article by Rabbi Sasson Yaakov The Gemara states that the seven types of people who are excommunicated in Heaven include he who does not lay tefillin on his arm and head, tie tzitzit on his garment and place a mezuzah on his doorpost (Pesachim 113b). The Tosafot (ibid.) writes that therefore it...

A tallit katan…in Wolf Point, Montana?

Where is the last place in the world you would expect to come across a tallit katan? Judy Posen was headed for a scrabble tournament in Minneapolis and decided to make the excursion into a road trip. She set out from Seattle heading east, with her scrabble board, scrabble dictionary, road maps and and a...

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 Jewish sources indicate that the tallit was originally made of wool and that the person wearing it might treat it as an ordinary garment for various purposes – bundling up his wares in it or using it to cover himself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...

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...