Over the years, we’ve gotten all sorts of requests for tallit atara (“neckband” or “collar”) customization. Some customers have asked for a guitar design or musical notes (we actually do have an atara with musical notes), others for a mountain motif and one unforgettable request was for a tallit that commemorated the Florida Gators. 

For the most part, we’re not set up to accommodate this sort of request. 

Our hand-woven tallits have an option for letter customation on the atara, but note that we don’t embroider verses. Why not?

This week we received a request from a mother who wanted to order a handwoven tallit for an upcoming bar mitzvah with the words Tzedek tzedek tirdof (Devarim 16:20) because it’s one of the verses in the Torah portion to be read on the lad’s bar mitzvah.

Note: This entire blog post refers to tallits worn traditional style, i.e. draping down the back, with two tzitzit hanging in front, and two in back. If you’re looking for information on the narrow type, which rest on the neck, with all four corners hanging in front, please refer to our Tallit Size Wizard and this blog post.

The terms “length” and “width” are confusing, when talking tallit sizing, because some people will say the width is from left to right, while others will say that if so, the “width” would be greater than the “length,” which doesn’t make sense. This issue is discussed in halacha as well. Because of this potential for confusion, I usually speak in terms of “width” and “height,” meaning the height from top to bottom when worn. A tallit is always rectangular, so the “height” will be a smaller number than the “width.”

Does that make things easier — or more confusing?

So whenever you look at tallit dimensions, the smaller of the two numbers will be the height, i.e. from the edge that rests on your neck, down to the opposite edge, parallel to the floor. When someone tries on a tallit, typically this is what he’s looking at: how far down does it drape in back. The width (the larger number) is less significant, in most cases, because that gets bunched up on the shoulders in any case.

Okay, following that long-winded introduction, let’s get down to numbers.

…Hold it, I actually have one more introductory remark to squeeze in: Tallit sizing is standardized. Almost every Mishkan Hatchelet size 60 or size 70 or size 80 tallit is going to have the same measurements (with a few exceptions) and almost every Talitania size 60 or size 70 or size 80 tallit is going to have almost the exact same measurements as Mishkan Hatchelet (with a few exceptions).

So without further ado…

	Miskan Hatchelet		Talitania
	cm	inches	cm	inches
Size 45	110 x 160	43 x 63	110 x 160	43 x 63
Size 50	120 x 170	47 x 67	120 x 170	47 x 67
Size 55	130 x 185	51 x 72.8	130 x 180	51 x 70.8
Size 60	140 x 185	55 x 72.8	140 x 190	55 x 74.8
Size 70	150 x 185	59 x 72.8	150 x 200	59 x 78.7
Size 80	170 x 190	67 x 74.8	160 x 200	63 x 78.7
Size 90	180 x 200	70.8 x 78.7	170 x 205	67 x 80.7

When I look at the above numbers, I have two main observations:
1) Talitania tends to make their tallits a bit wider. Again, for most people this is not so noticeable
2) Although usually when you go up from one size to the next, the tallit drapes down 10 cm (four inches) closer to the floor, with Mishkan Hatchelet tallits there’s a bigger jump from size 70 to size 80, which can definitely make a difference.

I just came across a real gem: one of the reasons we wear a tallit during prayer. In his 1981 article titled “The Tassel and the Tallith,” Jacob Milgrom quotes Aimé Pallière:

The spectacle of that large number of men assembled, their shoulders covered by Taliths,
suddenly disclosed to my eyes a far-off past. . . . On seeing the
prayer-shawls uniformly worn by all the participants in the service, I
felt that in a way they were all officiating. . . . In fact, in the
synagogue service, all Jews are equal, all are priests, all may
participate in the holy functions, even officiate in the name of the
entire community, when they have the required training.

Pallière wrote the above in a travelogue originally published in French in 1928, and then two years later an English translation was published under the title, The Unknown Sanctuary: A Pilgrimage from Rome to Israel. In his observation we find a sort of ‘democratic’ ideal, which the Torah touches on in the famous clash between Korach and Moshe Rabbeinu. 

In his article, Milgrom argues at length that the mitzvah of wearing a four-cornered garment with tzitzit is a sign of nobility.

If you’re planning to tie tzitzit on yourself, there’s an easy way to save money on Ptil Tekhelet in some cases. 

A set of white strings typically costs you somewhere in the neighborhood of $10-$12. In comparison, a set of techeiles strings, which includes white and blue strings, retails for something like $60 to $80 for thin and $70 to $100 for thick. Obviously the difference in price is mostly the techelet dye.

Many years ago, the Ptil Tekhelet Association (back then they weren’t
yet incorporated) realized that a lot of techelet is going to waste. Usually when you tie tzitzit, you’re left with the long string (the “shamash“) still longer than the rest. Most people trim it to even the length. Sometimes you cut off several inches, depending on the tying custom, and how tight you tie. With all-white strings, it’s no big deal, but with techelet strings, that’s a lot of money down the drain!

So Ptil Tekhelet decided they would make shorter strings, to save money for those who aren’t going to need the full length.

Short Ptil Tekhelet strings

Here’s the math: For the most part, the more times you wind the blue string around, the shorter it gets. If you tie according to the Chabad/Arizal custom, you’re wrapping the blue string around a total of 37 times, whereas if you tie according to the Gra or Chinuch or Raavad, you’re wrapping a total of 18 times. So they make a shorter set that’s long enough for the latter tying methods, and costs about 10% less.

Then there are tying methods that use even less blue, namely Rambam 7 and Amram Gaon and a few other customs. Here the savings can be more than 20%.

Converting a Raavad set to Rambam 

For those who are enterprising and really can’t afford strings, there’s a way to get discount of almost 50%(!). Let’s say you follow the Rambam’s approach (one of eight strings blue), but buy a set of Raavad strings and an extra set of all white strings. You take the four blue strings in the pack and snip them in half. Then you take each string and tie it to a white string. You’ve now converted your set of Raavad strings into two sets of Rambam strings. Is it kosher? Yes, you can tie two strings together, as long as you do so before you attach the strings to the garment. Does it look okay? Well, it certainly detracts from the נוי מצוה somewhat, but it’s not very visible, because where you made your connecting know is going to be in the tzitzit hole, and probably tucked into your pants.

Reused techelet strings

One final way to save is to reuse your strings. After a few months the white strings will start to look grayish. Obviously the blue strings will also be dirty, but the dirt doesn’t really change the color visibly. So you untie the strings, toss out the white, wash the blue strings by hand (this is really easy, since it’s a tiny amount of material), hang them to dry, buy a new pack of all-white strings, and retie them. The tips might be frayed, so you’ll probably want to trim off a tad. And voila! your strings now look good as new. They only thing is that you have to be fairly experienced at tying, because you have no extra length on the blue shamash string.

Here in Eretz Israel we’ve already read Parshas Shelach, but elsewhere it’s this coming Shabbos. I told our tzitzit tie-ers to keep their schedule available next week, because we typically have a heavy load of orders after Parshas Shelach, which ends with the commandment of tzitzit (starting at verse 37 here). 

Every year the Ptil Tekhelet Association has a big sale in honor of Parshat Shelach. One of the workers here asked if we would do some sort of Ptil Tekhelet promotion as well. I said I’d take a look at their sale and then consider it.

Their sale is quite tempting. You pay for the strings, and get the beged (tallit katan garment) free. To be more accurate, it’s free if you go with cotton, or $12 more if you want wool. That’s quite a bargain, and there’s no way we can compete with it. 

Note that to really compare the bottom-line figure, you have to check how much the shipping fee comes out to. I think our shipping fee might be lower, but I haven’t gotten around to checking that.

But then I took a look at their regular, year-round prices, and discovered that our prices are competitive, even though they focus exclusively on techeiles, while we offer a lot more.

So if you’re willing to trust me to offer my two cents in a matter in which I have a vested interest, I would advise prospective buyers as follows: If the Parshat Shelach sale is still going and you find the type of tallit katan garment you want (they have a limited selection) and you’re not in a big rush (there’s a note on their site saying it could take 60 days to get it tied), place an order on the Ptil Tekhelet store.

But if not, take a look at our tallit katan selection and prices. Also, for those who prefer Techeiles Chabura strings, obviously you’re not going to find that on the Ptil Tekhelet store.

For $10 off any tallit katan order with techelet strings, use coupon code TKHL5SHLCH during checkout. Valid for one week after Parshat Shelach 5782.

There are three opinions among the Rishonim regarding the overall length of the tzitzit. According to the Rosh, four finger width is enough. Rashi says six and Rabbenu Tam says 12. The Tur, Smag, Darkei Moshe and Prisha all poskin according to Rabbenu Tam, and that’s the opinion brought down in the Shulchan Aruch.

These 12 fingerwidths are measured not from the hole, but from the start of the first knot at the edge of the tallit (or tallit katan). Since tying the double knots shortens the overall length and because from the hole to the first knot isn’t counted, you need to start off with strings considerably longer. Usually strings are at least 100 cm. After you insert them in the hole, you get 50 cm on each side. By the time you get them tied, you’ll probably have 35-40 cm, although various factors can change that.

According to the Grach, 12 fingerwidths is 24 cm, while the Chazon Ish holds that it’s 29 cm. So even if you want to follow the more stringent opinion, and even if some of your strings come out short, nonetheless they’re probably at least 30 cm long.

The Beit Yosef entertains the possibility that you measure from the hole. The idea is that tzitzit are comprised of the tied section (“gid“) and the loose section (“anaf“); since the part from the hole to the first knot lays close to the garment, it’s more akin the the gid than to the anaf. If we were to integrate this opinion, it would afford us a considerable leniency to be used in a bind. 

Most tzitzit are longer. The Mishna Berura notes that the Ri made his longer than that so that if a bit of the ends got cut off he’d still have enough length. But the Aruch Hashulchan states quite clearly that there’s no mitzvah to make your tzitzit longer than the required length.

Another point to factor in is that the Gemara says that the loose part should be twice the length of the tied part. In a previous post I explained that despite this, people typically leave the untied part more than twice the length of the tied section.

The Rambam writes that regardless of the length of the strings, the tied part should come out to one-third of the overall length, but adds that with all-white strings there are opinions that say we need not adhere to this ratio. The Beis Yosef speculates that the reasoning for the latter opinion may be that the Gemara says:

נוי תכלת שליש גדיל ושני שליש ענף

And the former opinion holds that the word “techelet” is employed here simply because that’s the standard type of tzitzit.

The Chazon Ish writes that based on a careful reading of the Rambam, it’s okay for the loose part to extend beyond two-thirds of the length of the tied part (O.C. 3,10).