Often easy for me to guide prospective tallit buyers, because when they tell me the type of tallit they are interested in, I already have a hunch what type of congregation they belong to, what level of observance they hold by, etc. I fully acknowledge that my impressions based on that type of highly unscientific data input are highly speculative, and therefore offer my advice with a grain of salt, pending further details. 

When it comes to customers interested in buying a Gabrieli tallit I’m a bit more in the dark, because they run the gamut from Reform to fully Orthodox and the type of tallit they have in mind often varies accordingly.

Before Shabbat I received a fairly representative inquiry about how to buy a Gabrieli tallit, so I’m sharing the question and answer for others who might find it helpful.

I am looking at the Gabrieli Blue Joseph’s Coat Tallit. What is the difference in weight between the wool and cotton tallit? I am 5’9”. Would you recommend the 70” or 80” tallit? I want to get the Ptil Tchelet Tzitzit. Which style of tying is the most traditional one? Thanks for your advice. – Bobby S.

Shavua tov and thank you for your inquiry. The wool and cotton are quite close in feel and appearance. Wool probably holds up better over time and is less prone to wrinkling.

From a halachic standpoint, wool/acrylic is not recommended, and according to most opinions, wool/wool is preferable over cotton.

Most people your height would choose the 55 x 76 inch size, which I estimate would drape down in back to mid-thigh on you, but if you like it long and elegant (i.e. around the back of the knee) you could go with the 60 x 80 inch size.

If you have a tallit at home for comparison, measure it from top to bottom (i.e. from one un-fringed side to the other). It’s probably 51 inches or 55 inches or 59 inches.

As for the tzitzit, if you are Ashkenazi (as your name suggests), I recommend you choose Vilna Gaon, Sefer HaChinuch or Arizal. You might want to refer to this post. The former rabbi of the Ptil Tekhelet Association used to advise people to go with Sefer HaChinuch.

Go to Gabrieli Tallit Collection

People replacing tefillin or buying a first set for a bar mitzvah boy or themselves often debate how much they should spend and which type to buy. Should they go with very affordable tefillin peshutim that will set them back “only” $300-$450, or should they lay out the cash for a set of tefillin gassot, which are often in the $550-$850 price range. Here’s an inquiry we got from a fifty-something birthday boy this week. 

Hello! I’ve just bought a new tallit from you this week. A question about tefillin: How long, on average, might tefillin dakkot last? I’m turning 55 tomorrow and expect to live (B”H” perhaps another 20-30 years…given that I lay tefillin regularly throughout the year, could I be reasonably sure of about 20-30 years of life for tefillin dakkot? I’m quite conscientious and take good care of my current tefillin. Thank you! – Joel

Happy birthday, Joel!

If you take good care of them and there are no unpleasant surprises, I’d expect tefillin dakkot to last no more than six or eight years (with at least one or two strap replacements along the way).

I bought my tefillin gassot when I got married twenty years ago. A few years ago I had them reconditioned. They weren’t in really bad shape, but the back edge was curved and some of the corners were not so sharp.

Usually if tefillin peshutim are in need of repair work, there’s little or nothing that can be done, because the leather isn’t thick enough to work on it much.

Also, tefillin peshutim are inferior, both in terms of halacha and quality.

Tefillin gassot may sound expensive, but over time they really aren’t. Let’s say you bought a set of tefillin for $600 and they last you for the rest of your life. I hope you live to be 120, but let’s say you at least go beyond your estimate and live to the age of 95. According to my calculation, those tefillin will cost you $15 per year, or $1.25 per month.

Let’s say you somehow found an arrangement to lease tefillin. Would you go with an $0.80/month option or a $1.25/month option? 

Some people like to wear a tallit katan with extra long tzitzit strings. Here’s an inquiry that came in today:

Hello,

I’d like to order three sets of white, cotton tzitzis, size 24in, tied Chabad, but with strings that are thicker and longer than the commonly sold chabad tzitzis. I seem to remember reading that you can tie custom tzisis. Are you able to do this? If yes, please let me know how much the total is and how I can pay.

Thank you,    Victor S.

I never know for sure what people mean when they tell me they want to buy extra long tzitzit, because that could mean 60 cm for thin or 70 cm or 80 cm for thick. I explained to Victor that typically tzitzit on a tallis katan are standard length thin, which are 50 cm and on a tallis gadol standard length thick, which are 60 cm. 

My guess is that he wants the regular thick, which is listed among the options right on the product page (here).

Some people want them even longer than 60 cm (often yeshiva bochurs want really long strings). If that’s what you’re looking for you would do this:

1. Choose a tallis katan
2. Choose the “I don’t need tzitzis” option
3. Choose the tzitzit tying option (Chabad?)
4. Add to cart
5. Go to this page
6. Add to cart

Sometimes we get customers who are under the impression that the tallit neckband (“atara”) must have the Tzitzit Blessing (which they typically refer to as “the Hebrew prayer,” though it’s not really a prayer). Here’s a recent inquiry:

I wondered if it was customary to not place the prayer on the tallit? Thanks, Gabriella

I explained to Gabriella that in fact, where I pray, nobody has the Tzitzit Blessing on the atara! I’m not sure what she meant by “customary.” If you look at older tallits, you’ll never find it. 

In recently decades the tallit manufacturers have been using it as a design element on many of their tallits. You won’t find it on the more traditional blue-, black- and white-striped tallits, but you will find it on say blue-silver, blue-gold, white-silver, white-gold, etc. Also, some of the top-end manufactured tallits use striping on the atara, not the Tzitzit Blessing design (see here and here and here, for instance). These striped atarot are more expensive to make than the ones with the blessing, which we sell separately for just $7.50, see here.

When it comes to Gabrieli hand-woven tallits, they have always (i.e. for five decades) made tallits with striping on the atara — and without a blessing. These are also hand-woven. We sell them separately for $60 (see here). Occasionally we do get requests to put an atara with the blessing on a Gabrieli tallit, but in my opinion it detracts from the tallit, because it’s very hard to find a high-quality hand-woven atara with high-quality letter embroidery. And if you were to put any other atara on, it might not look quite right against a hand-woven tallit.

It seems like Gabrieli has identified an interest in a top-quality atara with the blessing embroidered on it. Recently they launched a new, very expensive line with several new features, including a nice atara with the Tzitzit Blessing.

Beyond the aesthetic factors, in my opinion, putting the Tzitzit Blessing on a tallit has never made sense to me from a halachic perspective. When you don a tallit, ideally you should hold it behind you, right above your shoulders, when you recite the bracha — so why have the Tzitzit Blessing on the atara where you’re not going to be able to see it when you need it?! (In halachic terms, this is referred to as לפני דליפני).

Gabrieli Hand-Weaving is probably the leading maker of hand-woven tallits. With 55 years of experience and over a dozen looms running, they have a wealth of know-how and an enormous selection of designs and weaving patterns at their disposal. 

Gabrieli has always made the most popular hand-woven tallits we sell. Some are fairly traditional, such as the Cobalt, which has simple, elegant blue striping accented with silver pinstripes. But most Gabrieli designs are quite innovative, using blue or gray or black as the base color and incorporating unique striping patterns.

Heirloom quality tallit sets

Recently Gabrieli has taken their tallit selection to a new level with the introduction of the Gabrieli Premium Tallit Collection. The collection currently includes a dozen new designs, all of which feature intricate weaving work and a number of premium design features.

The atara (neckband) features the Tzitzit Blessing with hand-embroidered lettering. Each corner of the tallit has doubled corner patches to enhance the look of the tallit when worn and folded over the shoulders, and to add corner stiffness that keeps the tzitzit strings properly in place. 

The tallit comes with thick hand-spun tzitzit (as well as techelet upgrade options), along with matching kippah, tallit bag and tefillin bag options.

Go to Gabrieli Premium Tallit Collection

I’m not a rabbi, but the mitzvah of tzitzit is very important to me, and I have gone through the halachot of tzitzit at least three or four times. In the Shulchan Aruch you will find that one of the halachot discusses a matter referred to as
notef al hakeren. That means the tzitzit should be tied in such a way that when worn, they hang down along the side of the tallit and touch the corner (i.e. the tip).

On the other hand, there is another halacha that requires that the hole for the tzitzit is not too close and not too far from the edge of the tallit. If it’s 2 cm away, it’s not kosher; if it’s 8 cm away, it’s not kosher. Ideally it should be around 5 cm from the edge.

Combining the two halachot is a bit of a problem. There are three solutions:

1) Tie the first knot in such a way that the tallit fabric is not bunched up or reduced in any way. Many Sephardic halachic authorities follow this ruling. It means you have no problem with the distance of the tzitzit hole, but you do have a problem with
notef al hakeren, because it’s very likely the tzitzit will drift at some point around the corner and over to the wrong edge of the tallit. Manufacturers often follow this approach when they tie on inexpensive machine-spun tzitzit, for those customers who do not demand high standards when it comes to the tzitzit.

2) Tie the first knot closer to the hole so that the tallit fabric bunches up a bit. This will insure that the tzitzit do not budge from the proper place, so you have solved the problem of
notef al hakeren. According to some opinions, you have created a problem in terms of the positioning of the hole. Instead of taking into the account the distance based on the amount of fabric, they look at it as if that distance has now been reduced from 5 cm to 2 or 3 cm, and therefore the hole is now too close to the edge. The Chazon Ish and many other Ashkenazi poskim disagree, arguing that this is the ideal. In my humble opinion, if you bunch up the fabric slightly you’ve solved both problems: you still have 4 cm even according to the Sephardic approach, and the knot is tight enough to keep the tzitzit in place.

3) Lubavitch
poskim often have innovative approaches to halacha, and one notable innovation is the way they solve this dilemma on a tallit gadol. So in the case of Chabad tzitzit, you add a second hole. Then you tie the tzitzit normally in the primary hole, not bunching up the fabric at all. After making the first knot, you take the shamash string and insert it into the second hole before proceeding to wind the string around. This essentially anchors the tzitzit in place.

Our policy is to tie tzitzit according to the first approach above, when a customer orders Sephardic tying, and according to the second approach when a customer orders Ashkenazi tying. We have written about all of the above in our blog (
here and here).