Author: BenG

There are a lot of consumers out there shopping for inexpensive tefillin. In general you should recognize that a very good set of tefillin costs over $500. While I urge people to budget as much as possible for tefillin and consider it an important investment, I realize not everyone can afford to spend that much. 

But beware of inexpensive tefillin. Claims that they are 100% kosher are not worth much. On the other hand, if you are buying tefillin online, it’s not easy to get a good idea of the people making the tefillin, and especially the caliber of the parchments inside.

I would love to be able to sell tefillin for $200 or $225, but I cannot, in good conscience, sell tefillin that I don’t have full confidence in.

Today a former customer sent me the following inquiry:

Had a question: I’m thinking about ordering a new set of tefillin (peshutim mehudarim), but the price is a bit higher on Ben’s Tallit Shop than ___ for the comparable set ($250 vs. $244).

Also, are there any coupon codes? I have a coupon code at ___ for 15% off.

Cheers
v’kol tuv.

And here’s my reply:

We have various coupons, but not for tefillin, which we sell for as low a price as we can. Tefillin Peshutim Mehudarim may have the same description, but they are definitely not comparable. 

Tefillin are made by hand and the parchments are written by hand. The term “peshutim mehudarim” refers to the manner of construction of the battim (boxes, and really the Shel Rosh, not the Shel Yad). What goes inside, the quality of the materials, the level of expertise of the stitching, painting and other finishing work varies considerably. The only way to compare properly is to take a good look at the tefillin up close and to open them up to examine the parchments as well. Obviously this is not practical. 

I have never assessed the tefillin ____ sells, but based on my general knowledge of tefillin production and the tefillin market in Israel, I would be surprised if they are of the same caliber as ours.

A prospective customer pointed out a very valid point regarding a seeming contradiction in the nonslip Chabad Prestige Tallit. 

Comparing Chabad tallit To Nonslip (Prestige) Chabad tallit. Confused about two things that seem to contradict each other. The Prestige is lined with silk. You indicated elsewhere that the silk lining tends to make it MORE slippery. Also I’m unclear whether the waffle weave is warmer or less warm. I want the warmer version, but I also want it not to be slippery and I want it to be as durable as possible, So I’m leaning toward the regular Chabad tallit because I can get it with a cotton lining that will be less slippery (and more durable). But now that you know what I am looking for (greater warmth, greater durability, and less slipping), what would you recommend? I will follow your advice. — OR — If I could, I would get the Echt Turkish with the two-hole Chabad Tzitzit attachment, Arizal/Chabad knot, and thick handspun tzitzit material and the silver atara (unless it has something already around the neck area). Can I get those things? How much would that cost? I think this would be the warmest and most durable option of all, no? Is the “half-lining” of the Echt Turkish different from the cotton lining on the (regular) Chabad tallit? Thanks Much!!! Scott R., San Diego

Scott had an astute observation: Why put smooth silk on a tallit with a nonslip weave? I have discussed this very issue with some employees at Mishkan Hatchelet, and they agree with me that it’s a bit odd.

Apparently the reasoning is as follows: Not all Chabad followers adhere to all of the Lubavitch minhagim down to the smallest detail. But those who do will insist on a Chabad tallit with all of the traditional features, including the silk lining, regardless of its “performance.” It seems Chabad yungerman tend to like the nonslip fabric, either because they simply like the way it looks, because it feels a bit more supple and drapes differently or because it does a slightly better job of staying in place where it’s bunched on the shoulders.

The topic of “nonslip” tallit stability really has two factors: some people just have a problem keeping the sides of the tallit bunched on the shoulders, but the center of the tallit stays in place on the back and the back of the neck, while for others the whole tallit tends to slip around. In the former case, the slip lining might not cause difficulties.

Silk is not durable. The silk lining (and corner squares) may tear and need replacement well before the tallit needs replacement.

The Echt Turkish is definitely the warmest tallit I know of. The cotton lining on all tallitot is identical.

If you want a second Chabad hole, you would simply write in a request in the comments field toward the end of checkout. There is no fee for that, but it sometimes adds a day or two to processing time. The Echt Turkish has no atara. Most people add an atara to the cart for us to sew on. All of the tzitzit and tying options are available on the Echt Turkish, and just about all of our other tallits as well.

This week a customer who had ordered a size 60 suddenly contacted us the next day to change to a size 24. Quite a drastic change. Luckily the tzitzit had not yet been tied on.

Because otherwise it would be a big mess to make changes later, I sent him a detailed explanation of tallit sizing basics:

When
discussing tallit dimensions, the terms length and width can be
confusing. One man’s “length” is another man’s “width.” (In fact, I once
had a customer who was an engineer who tried to prove his definition of
tallit length and width is scientifically correct.) In fact, even in
halachic works the issue is clarified.

The
confusion is compounded by the fact that some people (typically, but
not always, Reform and Conservative) imagine a tallit as a fairly narrow
shape meant to rest on the shoulders and hang in front; for others,
especially Orthodox, a tallit is designed to drape down the back and
cover the back, with two corners hanging in front and two in back.

Sizes
24 and 36 are elongated rectangles. The length is always around 72
inches. It’s sort of one-size-fits-all. If you’re 5’2″ it hangs down
pretty long, probably too long, but your parents want “something you
will grow into.” When you’re 5’10” it still works. The size refers to
the width. A size 24 is 24 inches wide, a size 36 is 36 inches wide.
That means a size 24 covers your shoulders and a bit of your back, and
wraps around your upper arms; a size 36 will hang halfway down your back
and wrap around your arms at least to the elbows.

Sizes
45, 50, 60 and 70 are worn traditional style, covering the back. Here
the key dimension is the height. By height I mean from the edge that
rests on the back of your neck, down to the opposite edge, which is
parallel to the floor. The width (here “width” is also confusing because
the “width” is
longer than the “height”) is less critical.
Because the fringed ends of the tallit are folded up on your shoulders
anyway, it doesn’t matter as much whether it’s 67 inches or 73 inches,
etc.

Shown below is a size 60 tallit worn traditional style. The “height” is measured from top to bottom. The “width” is measured from one fringed size to the other.

I’m sorry to say I’ve never been to New Zealand, but we
have sent plenty of tallits and tzitzit there.

Leafing through our order history I see that the vast
majority go to customers in Auckland and Wellington, but a good number of tallit sales also go to more far-flung parts of New Zealand, including Spotswood, Rakaia, Hamilton, Bulls, Tauranga, Dannevirke, Blenheim, Rotorua and Levin.

What tallit and tzitzit products are our customers in New Zealand buying?

Much of our tallit sales are traditional wool tallits and some top-end wool tallitot as well.

Our tzitzit buyers in Australia are buying mostly undershirt tzitzit undershirts.

People can be very detail-oriented when looking for just the right tallit. I would like to criticize this tendency, saying style issues should be downplayed when buying a tallit — except that I’m no different. One of those details is the fringes. 

Tallit fringes are pretty much the same on about 90% of tallitot, but some have more ornate double-knotted fringes, and some (usually Yemenite) have very ornate netted fringes.

Here is an illuminating question we received from a customer this week, followed by my reply.

Shalom
I am looking to get a tallit that is as heavy as the Turkish but without
the double-knotted fringes. I want it to be as beautiful as the Hamefoar Prestige, but with the side bands that aren’t white but rather made
of the same material as the tallit. I would also like the silver atara
that comes with the Hamefoar Prestige. What do you recommend I get? Is
the Hamefoar Prestige as heavy as the Echt Turkish?
Thank you for your time. Joshua

I replied to Joshua as follows:

Thank
you for your inquiry. To tell you the truth, I have been looking for
pretty much the same hing for quite a while for myself.

One detail that was unclear to me: which atara are you referring to? Go to this page and tell me the exact name of the atara listed there.

Hamefoar
Prestige is made by Talitania. I doubt there is any way to get it with
regular fringes, but I could ask tomorrow. Keep in mind that it is
definitely a weighty tallit, but not as heavy as the Echt Turkish;
nothing is.

Mishkan
Hatchelet used to make a tallit (I think they still do) that was very
similar to Hamefoar Prestige. Sometimes it came with regular fringes,
sometimes double-knotted. In fact, that’s why I stopped selling it: I
need to be able to provide exactly what the customer has in mind.

We have had a very high volume of orders flooding in starting a few weeks before Rosh Hashana and have been working overtime to get them out as quickly as possible. Our tzitzit tie-er is worked to the bone and I have been staying at the office until well into the night (one night until 4:45 a.m.!).

The way the holidays fell this year, we had only two work days last week (Erev Rosh Hashana and Rosh Hashana), three works days this week (Erev Yom Kippur, Yom Kippur) and zero next week (Erev Sukkot, Sukkot).

Like the rest of the tallit industry in Israel, we shut down operations throughout the week of Sukkot. This means that we will not be processing more orders until 25 Oct. (Simchat Torah outside of Israel). We will try our best to provide customer service, as necessary, during this period.

We wish all of our customers a Gmar Chasima Tova and a very joyous Sukkos!

Just a quick note about a recent experience that I consider a merit to the Jewish people. Customs in European countries often cause delays with packages we send to customers in the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and other countries. And they don’t necessarily notify the recipient that the package is being held. A customer in Germany was wondering why his tallit had not come and sent me an acerbic email message, assuming we were to blame for the delay.

I was debating whether to explain that we did nothing wrong here or just to hold my tongue. Then suddenly I received the following email message:

I beg your pardon, I was just angry and didn’t
react the right, matter of fact way. By the way, if there is a mistake, it is most
likely that the “Deutsche Post” is to be blamed, they are specialized in making mistakes. Please [accept my apology for] my unpolite behaviour.

Shining through his words was the pure soul of a Jew two days before Yom Kippur!