Tallit bags made from velvet, cloth, suede, wool, linen and raw silk by Jerusalem-based textile studios Kaftor Vaferach, Malchut Yerushalayim, Yair Emanuel and other tallit bag makers.
Having a beautiful tallit bag is a long-standing tradition to accord honor to articles used for cherished mitzvahs. Just as we house a mezuzah scroll in an attractive mezuzah case, so too do we keep our tallit in an attractive bag.
Velvet has been the material of choice for tallit bags for many years, but in recent years more and more tallit bag manufacturers have begun working in wool, linen, raw silk, leather, faux leather, impala and even fur.
When choosing a tallit bag, keep in mind that inexpensive bags are typically made in East Asia from lower quality materials, and the caliber of the embroidery work is not the same as the higher quality bags we offer. These differences may not be very visible on a computer screen, but you can see and feel the difference immediately when you handle the bags.
In most cases, the safest choice is a velvet, impala or linen tallit bag, and you'll probably want to avoid the lower price ranges.
Tallit & Tefillin Bag Set
Almost all of our velvet, linen and impala tallit bags are available as a tallit bag alone, or for a few more dollars, with a matching tefillin bag. Most people will opt for a tallit bag alone for Shabbat use and a tallit/tefillin bag set for weekday use. We even have one tallit bag specifically designed for Shabbat.
How Big Should it Be?
Despite the product photos, most tallit bags are approximately the same size. A typical tallit bag measures 40 x 31 cm or 16 x 12 inches, which is large enough to fit a tallit up to size 80. Our wool and raw silk tallit bags are slightly smaller. In most cases, the size is only an issue if you have a very large tallit (size 80 or size 90) or a tallit with a very bulky atara (e.g. Geflochtene or an atara with metallic squares or some Yemenite tallits).
Nylon Tallit/Tefillin Bag Cover
Zippered nylon tallit bag covers are commonly used to protect fine tallit bags, and are especially helpful for weekday use, since carrying both tallit and tefillin bags can be awkward without an outer bag. In recent years canvas bags with a clear nylon front to show off the tallit bag design and a shoulder strap have become quite popular, especially for weekday use. They tend to be a bit roomier to allow you space to carry a smaller siddur and tzedaka pouch. Another option is to pare down by using just a leather or faux leather tallit bag or tallit/tefillin bag set, which is weather resistant, allowing you to do without any sort of nylon protection.
Name Embroidery
Whether the tallit bag is for yourself, a bar mitzvah boy or a fiance – custom letter embroidery can enhance the bag considerably. In most cases we do the lettering in silver.
How we format it depends on how long the name is. For example, in the case of a longish name (e.g. יעקב מאיר גולדשטיין), our embroiderer may shape it in an arc to gain a bit of space, or break it up into two lines. Sometimes we even put the name on the back of the bag if there is no space on the front or if the customer prefers the name remain a bit out of sight.
If you have any special requests, feel free to add them to the Comments field during Checkout when you place your order. Keep in mind that name embroidery typically adds 3-6 business days to the processing time.
Some of our tallit bag product pages do not have a letter embroidery option shown because certain materials are not very suitable for letter embroidery. For example, if you add lettering to a raw silk tallit bag the embroidery threads tend to cause the fabric to bunch slightly.
Certain tallit bag designs are much more suited to letter embroidery than others. If the design work covers much of the front, it can be hard to fit letters along the top or bottom edge of the bag, since the embroiderer needs to attach a clamp. Typically bags with a corner frame design or a large frame (e.g. the classic Vilna Gate pattern) are highly suited to letter embroidery.
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