Tag: Talitnia

Talitnia

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Talitnia Traditional Tallit – 70 Frum Size

As a fulltime online tallit seller, I do a lot of Google searches on topics related to tallits for sale online. And somehow this tallit, sold on Amazon by a number of Amazon sellers, keeps coming up:

Talitnia Traditional Tallit 100% Wool Tallis Talit or Talis R-70 FRUM SIZE

And at around $77, it’s quite a deal. When comparing tallit prices, you always have to pay attention to size, and since a size 70 tallit is fairly large, that price is quite low. Some of the same Amazon sellers sell the same tallit for $30 more on their online sites. Recently I came across an online tallit buyer who went and ordered one of these R-70 frum size tallits. He sent me the following email message:

Now I am completely confused. I thought I did buy a tallit by way of Amazon through something called Gefen Judaica. I checked and they do acknowledge the order. If you are not Gefen Judaica, then in my senility I must have pushed the wrong button and confused you. I sincerely apologize and hope you will forgive me.

What I ordered from them was a size 70 Tallit, Talitnia Traditional Tallit 100% Wool Tallis Talit or Talis R-70 FRUM SIZE [Apparel]. By the way, I am 5′ 11.5″ in height and about 225 lbs. Do you think that size 70 would be right or too big? Is it a matter of personal taste or rather of what community I am with? While I do not consider myself personally to be black hat, I daven as a happy member of the [deleted to protect the writer’s privacy] which is considered to be such a yeshivish institution.

I replied to this would-be customer who had already bought elsewhere, “All is fine. The tallit you bought will fit just fine on you. It will drape down in back to about mid-thigh. People who like to look super frum sometimes want it a tad longer, down to the back of the knees, with the tzitzit half an inch off the floor. Personally I don’t like that and it seems slightly ostentatious.”

Talitania (or Talitnia) is considered a good tallit maker here in Israel, and I don’t see how they can sell it at that price and still earn more than a few dollars profit. One of the companies selling the same tallit there on Amazon for $74 sells it on their regular website for $99, with higher shipping fees — and that’s a decent price too.

Of course when a customer comes to our webstore, we can offer them a range of traditional wool tallit, not just in “frum sizes” but every other size as well, and we offer various tzitzit and tzitzit tying options. So if the R-70 Talitania tallit is just right for you, go for it, but if you want to shop around for just the right tallit, make sure our Classic Tallit page is on your list.

The term “frum size” is quite misleading, because obviously a size 70 is not right for everyone. What they apparently meant is that if you are around 5’9″ to 5’11” this tallit will drape down long and elegant, as is common practice in thoroughly Orthodox congregations.

The tallit advertised is similar to the Prima A.A., but the Prima A.A. has a nicer weave and better finishing work.

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Mishkan Hatchelet vs. Talitnia

Let me begin by saying that in general I’m partial to Mishkan Hatchelet, since I work closely with one of their distributors (a second-generation Mishkan Hatchelet distributor!) and because most of the classic wool tallitot we sell are made by Mishkan Hatchelet (with a few exceptions).

Talitnia & Mishkan Hatchelet: Neck and neck

In Israel the top two traditional wool tallit makers are Talitnia and Mishkan Hatchelet (Keter). When one of them comes out with a new type of tallit, the other comes out with an imitation. Last week I was in one of the leading tallit stores in Jerusalem. They sell both Talitnia and Mishkan Hatchelet, so I asked them how the two traditional tallit makers compare.

The seller I spoke with – a tallit industry veteran – claimed that as a general rule, Talitnia is stronger and Mishkan has better finishing work. Whether that’s accurate I can’t say. Another tallit industry professional told me that if you buy a standard traditional tallit, the Prima A.A. made by Mishkan Hatchelet has a tighter weave than the Talitnia counterpart. My understanding is that in general the difference in quality between the two companies is insignificant. 

Traditional Tallit: Chatanim, Tallit Hamefoar, Prima A.A.

As long as I’ve mentioned the Prima A.A. Tallit, let me add a few words to help out many of my customers who are bewildered by the traditional tallit selection we offer. If you want to buy a traditional wool tallit, with black stripes (or white with white stripes), they may all look the same online. But the truth is that even if you were browsing a tallit shop and looking at the tallitot up close and personal, many of them would still look very much alike.

When you go up from Prima A.A. to Chatanim (a.k.a. Klilas Yofi) you’re paying for not so much for a thicker tallit, but for a denser tallit, i.e. a denser weave. That makes it likely to last longer and it will hang a big straighter. The Chatanim Tallit also has a few added features: stiffened corners to keep the tzitzit from sliding around the corner (they are supposed to stay on the side with the fringe), stain resistant fabric, and fabric treated to stay white over time. The atara and the striping on Mishkan Hatchelet’s Prima A.A. Tallit and the Chatanim Tallit are identical.

The Prima A.A. really is a good tallit, but if you want a no-compromise traditional tallit for a bar mitzvah boy, a chassan – or yourself – the Chatanim is the way to go.

For those looking for a non-slip tallit, Mishkan Hatchelet has two models: Hamefoar (“Pe’er” in Hebrew) and Tashbetz. The Tashbetz is the non-slip equivalent of the Prima A.A. and Hamefoar is the non-slip parallel to the Chatanim. Mishkan Hatchelet’s Tashbetz Tallit is made of a lightweight fabric and if you look at it up close you will notice it features a box-like weave to keep the tallit in place; Hamefoar is also textured, but less than the Tashbetz.

Go to Traditional Tallit page>>>