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Tallit Questions & Answers

We get about a dozen inquiries a week with tallit, tallit sizing and tallit atara questions. That adds up to a whole lot of tallit and tzitzit questions over the years. Since you may be wondering some of the same things, we compiled two dozen questions and wrote brief answers.

Tallit Questions

What type of tallit should I buy?
The simple answer is you should buy a wool tallit. Wool looks nice, lasts for many years, is preferable from a halachic standpoint, and has been the tallit fabric of choice for generations.

Where can I buy a tallit?
That’s easy enough: on our webstore! Scroll up this page and click on the store logo on the upper left.

How much does a tallit cost?
Tallit prices vary from $20 to about $500. No kidding. But in general you can expect to pay $60-$120 for a standard wool tallit. The price depends on size, fabric and features. A very standard wool tallit in a medium size (size 60) should run you about $80-$100 plus shipping. We sell it for $75 because we’re a family-run business. Go to Classic Tallit category

What does it say on the atarah?
The atara, or tallit neckband, doesn’t have to say anything. Sometimes is will have a very quiet leaf design and no words, or colorful striping. But it has become very popular to have the Tzitzit Blessing embroidered on the atara. The Tzitzit Blessing is the brachah you recite when you put on a tallis.

Is a 24″ x 70″ tallit a medium size tallit?
A size 24 tallit is 24 inches wide and 70 or 72 inches long. It is designed to sit on the neck and hang down in front, not covering the back, the way a tallit is traditionally worn. A size 24 tallit is sort of one-size-fits-all. It’s designed to fit a 5′ bar mitzvah boy and a 6′ man alike. Tallit manufacturers do not make different lengths, which I always found a bit surprising. If you need a tallit for a short bar mitzvah boy, contact us for options. If you go with a handwoven tallit and are ordering at least two months in advance, there should be no problem at all getting exactly the dimensions you need.

 
Can a tallit and its tzitzit be shatnez?
Shatnez is a fabric mixture of wool and linen forbidden by the Torah. Any other fabric combination (including wool and cotton) is fine. Putting linen tzitzit on a wool tallit or wool tzitzit on a linen tallit is forbidden by the Torah. Because of this issue, the custom today is not to use linen, either for the tallit or the tzitzit. Certain exceptions may apply. If the question is germane to you (e.g. you have a severe wool allergy), consult with a qualified rabbi.

Is a silk linen blend kosher?
Yes. See previous question.

Can I use a tallit at night?
Yes, but you cannot recite a bracha on it. Some Yemenite Jews have a custom of wearing a tallit on Shabbos night and wearing a tallit on the night of Yom Kippur is a nearly universal custom.

Can single men wear a tallit?
According to the widespread Ashkenazi custom, single men do not wear a tallit. Sephardic, Yemenite and German Jews do wear a tallit before they are married.

Will a cotton tallit wrinkle?
Some handwoven tallits are made of cotton. Yes, they can develop slight wrinkles. But handwoven tallit makers us a very thick type of cotton yarn, so you see very little creases.

Does the groom wear a tallit during a Jewish wedding?
Many Ashkenazi men do not wear a tallit until they are married (see above). Likewise, generally the Ashkenazi custom is not to wear a tallit during the wedding, although there are many exceptions. There is also a custom for the bride (or her parents) to buy a tallit for the groom before the wedding.

Who buys the tallis for a bar mitzvah?
This is one of my favorite questions, but I’m not sure how to answer it. Since wearing a tallis with tzitzis is a mitzvah, I would say the bar mitzvah boy should buy himself a tallis. However, that sounds very unrealistic among 99% of bar mitzvah boys today. Generally the parents will buy the tallis for the bar mitzvah. We also get a lot of grandparents buying a tallis for their grandson.

Is it ok to iron a tallit?
Yes, you can iron your tallit, but don’t expect great results. Most tallits are made of wool, and wool is not easy to iron.

Where can I find an artistic, handmade blue and white tallit blue and white tallit?
The handwoven tallit makers we work with offer a number of attractive blue-striped designs on a white base.

What is the meaning of “bnei ohr?”
The “Bnei Ohr” (alternative spellings include Bnai Ohr, Bnei Or, Bney Ohr, etc.) tallit employs a popular rainbow design. Bnei ohr is Hebrew for “Children of Light.”

Should I personalize the tallit bag?
I think custom letter embroidery on a tallit bag is a very nice addition, whether you are buying a tallit bag for yourself, a bar mitzvah boy, a groom or your husband. Our fee for letter embroidery is $1 per letter in Hebrew or English. That means just putting on initials or a short name is very affordable, whereas a long name (e.g. Yaakov Yisrael ben Menachem Mendel or Yerachmiel Chaim Schwartzkoff) can start getting expensive.

What is the name of the bag for a tallis?
That’s easy enough. A tallit bag (or tallis bag).

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How do Benè Romì tie tzitzit?

Yesterday I got a fascinating question that was beyond my scope of knowledge on tzitzit and tzitzit customs. A prospective customer in California was helping his daughter buy a tallit for her groom. The groom follows Benè Romì customs, but did not grow up in an observant home, therefore he did not have a traditional handed down to him. So the question was how do Bene Romi tie tzitzit? According to the Ashkenazi custom or the Sephardic custom. 

It just so happens that I have a friend who is a talmid chacham who grew up in Italy (Florence/Firenze, I think). So I sent the question his way and received the following reply:

The
minhag bene-romi is a particular
minhag [i.e. a distinct set of customs], that was also the minhag of
the Aruch and of Shibolei HaLeket, they use to tie the zizis like
traditional Ashkenaz.

I passed his reply onto the father of the bride, and now they know which tzitzit option to select.

Benè Romì customs, practices and liturgy show similarities to both Sephardic and Ashkenazi customs and practices. Very similar is minhag Italiani, which is found in northern cities.

In halachic matters, Italian-rite Jews generally adhere to the rulings of the Rif (Rabbi Isaac Alfasi) and the Shulchan Aruch, rather than the Ashkenazi customs codified by Rabbi Moses Isserles (the Rema).

According to some opinions, the Italian siddur retains the last remnants of the Judaean/Galilaean Jewish tradition,  as opposed to the Babylonian tradition reflected in Sephardic and Ashkenazi rites. 

Likewise some Italian traditions retain the Babylonian rite in an archaic form, comparable to the Yemenite nusach. As examples of old Babylonian traditions retained by only the Italians Wikipedia cites Keter Yitenu Lach in Kedushah and Nachamenu in Birkat Hamazon for Shabbos, both of which appear in the Amram Gaon siddur, and the latter is found in nusach HaGra.

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Role of the Tallit at the Chuppah

A lot of our customers — especially at this time of year — are brides, grooms, parents of the bride or groom and wedding planners getting ready for an upcoming wedding. Today we received an inquiry from a bride-to-be in London whose wedding is still many months away, but she began to give some thought about what to use as the chuppah. She sent the following inquiry.

Hi, I
am looking for an all white Tallis to form the canopy for the chuppah at
my wedding. What is the biggest size that you do? What are the
dimensions? I am looking for matte white and no fringes, as I would like this for a
chuppah and don’t expect it will be used as a tallit to be worn after. I had been told that in a synagogue we must get married under a tallit, is this not the case?

I was starting to think the groom is Sephardic, but I found out both the bride and groom are Ashkenazi. The bride sounds a bit fuzzy on the role of the tallit and the chuppah at the wedding, so I explained to her a bit about the various customs.

The Sephardic custom is for the groom to put on a new tallit, and then a few
minutes later, when the Sheva Brachos are recited, bachelors hold the
tallit over the bride and groom.

The traditional Ashkenazi
custom is not to use a tallit at all, but today some couples adopt the
Sephardic custom.

However, among German Jews the tallit plays a dominant role during the chuppah ceremony. Not only is a tallit worn by the rabbi and two relatives honored with the recital of the Sheva Brachos, but a “chuppah tallis” is also worn by the chassan.

According to Machon Moreishes Ashkenaz,the chassan creates the chuppah by draping his tallit over himself and the bride. He first recites the brachah on the tallit and wraps it around his head, as is done customarily every morning, before Shacharit. If the tallit is new, he also recites Shehechiyanu. (If the chuppah ceremony is held after sunset, the groom cannot recite the blessing on the tallit, but does recite Shehechiyanu.)

The tallit is then draped over both the groom and the bride, and remains on them until the conclusion of the chuppah ceremony. The tallit is only removed from their heads after the cup of wine is drunk.

Chuppah Tallit

The chuppah is essentially a canopy that need not resemble a tallit. To understand a bit about the chuppah, refer to this page, and be sure to see the video.

Some couples opt to use a tallit as a chuppah. We sell a unique “Chuppah Tallit” based on this interest. Even
among those who do not have a tallit at the chuppah at all, we get a
lot of brides (or their parents) who buy a tallit for the groom as a
gift before the wedding. This custom came about because the predominant
Ashkenazi custom is that young men do not start wearing a tallit at bar
mitzvah, but only after they get married.

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Making an Atara for the Groom’s Tallit

We often get inquiries from a kallah shopping for a tallit for the groom-to-be. As most wives know, it’s not easy to buy clothes for a man and a tallit can be much more challenging. This week we received an inquiry from a young lady named Leslie who is putting extra effort into her chassan’s tallit.

Hi.
I’m buying a Tallis for my fiancé. He picked the Prima A.A. style.
Is that the very highest quality wool you sell (hard to see detail on
line). Can you help us figure out what tzitzit strings should be used for the corners?
He’s Ashkenazi. What’s the difference between the handspun, Radzyn & Ptil Tekhelet? Also I’m needlepointing him a custom
designed atara. Would you please tell me the EXACT measurement of the
atara so I be sure to have it fit the tallis & cover up the existing
atara? My atara for him will be a rectangle (flat edge) without a
pointed edge like the one shown in the photo. Thanks! Leslie

I replied to Leslie as follows:

Thank you for your inquiry and congratulations on your engagement.

The Prima A.A. is a good quality tallit, but Hamefoar and Chatanim are better. Your fiancé may be humble and not want you to spend an extra $20 or $30 on him.

Chatanim
is basically the same tallit, except with a slightly denser weave, so
it lasts a bit better and hangs a bit straighter. Also, the
reinforcement squares on the corners are wool instead of cotton and the
fabric is treated to resist stains.

Hamefoar
is made of a newly developed weave that has some texture to it to give
the tallit more body, suppleness and a surface that slips less.

A
lot of people like this type of tallit, but some are sticklers for the
age-old smooth fabric. The difference is fairly subtle. You can’t really
discern the difference from 10 feet away.

Chances
are you’ll want to choose the thick tzitzit and Ashkenazi tying, which
is definitely the most common. You will find some people who choose
tzitzit with techelet (blue), but that’s definitely not for everyone.
You might want to refer to our Tzitzit Wizard more information.

As
for the atara, you’re right, it is important to check the measurements,
because usually you see faint stitch marks when you remove the atara,
and you’ll want to cover that up.

(I
once had the atara replaced on my own tallit. Our regular seamstress was
unavailable, so I went to another seamstress I had never used before. I
figured sewing on an atara is as easy as falling off a log. The only way
to go wrong is if you put it on the wrong side. But I was wrong,
somehow she managed to sew it on way off center, even though you have
stripes to guide you. And once I had a seamstress not take care to move
the tzitzit out of the way; she actually sewed the tzitzit down onto the
middle of the tallit. Since those two experiences, I’ve learned to
stick with our regular seamstress. But I still maintain sewing on an
atara should be very straightforward. The only thing is it’s a bit
counterintuitive, because you’d think the atara goes on the same side as
the corner reinforcements, but it actually goes on the opposite side.
The reason is because when the tallit is worn (assuming it’s a size 45
or bigger) you generally flip the sides up onto the corner. They sew the
corners onto the underside of the tallit so that they show when the
tallit is turned up onto the shoulders.)

But
it would really be best if we sent the atara measurements once we know
which size tallit you want, because the length may vary.

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Holocaust Era Tallit Katan


The photo of the tallit katan shown below, which was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ten years ago, kept haunting me. I contacted Kyra Schuster, a curator at the Holocaust Museum, and she provided me a bit of information about Chaim Bornstein, the man who found the tallit katan in Poland in the spring of 1945.


Bornstein was born in 1911 near Krakow, Poland and his family later moved to Druja. After the Jews of Druja were forced into a ghetto by the Nazis, 24-year-old Chaim, who was a skilled watchmaker, repaired watches for the SS. 


When the ghetto was liquidated in 1943, Schuster related, Chaim escaped to a nearby forest. A Polish family allowed him to stay in their barn for ten months, but as the risk of being discovered grew Chaim fled, eventually joining a group of Polish partisans, who he remained with until the war’s end. After spending time in displaced persons camps, Chaim married and emigrated to the United States in 1948.



In 1945 at the end of World War II, Chaim Bornstein recovered the tallit katan from a burned-out home in Druja, which was once part of Poland and is now in Belarus. He carried it with him during his time in displaced persons camps.

What strikes me is that the tallit katan appears to have been made by cutting up a tallit gadol. Could it be that the owner of the tallit no longer had any use for it, since he was no longer going to shul (and perhaps could not even pray at home much of the time), but he wanted to continue to keep the mitzvah of tzitzit? Or maybe his regular tallit katan had worn out, so he decided to improvise one from the materials he could scrape together.

Tallit Katan found after Holocaust

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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.