A tallit () (talet in Sephardic Hebrew and Ladino) (tallis, in Ashkenazic Hebrew and Yiddish) pl. tallitot (talleisim, tallism, in Ashkenazic Hebrew and Yiddish) is a Jewish prayer shawl. The tallit is worn over the outer clothes during the morning prayers (Shacharit) on weekdays, Shabbat and holidays. The tallit has special twined and knotted fringes known as tzitzit attached to its four corners. The tallit can be made of any materials except a mixture of wool and linen. Usually, the mixture of wool and linen - a combination known as shatnez - is specifically forbidden by the Torah. In the case of Talit however, this is a Rabbinic prohibition, because biblically, the mixture might be allowed for a Talit during the daytime (however at nighttime there would be a transgression on behalf of the wearer). Most traditional tallitot are made of wool. Tallitot are often given as gifts to children on their Bar Mitzvahs. In many orthodox circles, a Tallit is customarily presented to a groom before marriage as part of the dowry.
Biblical commandment
The Bible does not command wearing of a unique prayer shawl or tallit. Instead, it presumes that people wore a garment of some type to cover themselves and instructs them to add fringes (tzitzit) to the 4 corners of these (
Numbers 15:38,
Deuteronomy 22:12). These passages do not specify tying particular types or numbers of knots in the fringes. Nor do they specify a gender division between men and women, or between native Israelite/Hebrew people and those assimilated by them. The exact customs regarding the tying of the tzitzit and the format of the tallit are post-Biblical and rabbinical and can vary between various Jewish communities.
Encyclopaedia Judaica, describes the prayer shawl as "a rectangular mantle that looked like a blanket and was worn by men in ancient times". Also, it "is usually white and made either of wool, cotton, or silk".
According to the biblical commandment, a blue (Hebrew תכלת, tekhelet, tək·ā'·leth) thread (Hebrew פתיל "pəthiyl") known as "tekhelet" itself, is included in the tzitzit.
Pronunciation
In
Modern Hebrew the word is pronounced , with the stress on the final syllable. In
Yiddish it is , with the stress on the first syllable. The plural of
tallit in Hebrew is
tallitot, pronounced . The Yiddish plural is
taleisim, pronounced .
Etymology and origin
Tallit is an
Aramaic word from the root tll טלל meaning cover. Tallit literally means cloak or sheet but in Talmudic times already referred to the Jewish prayer shawl. The tallit is similar to the Roman pallium worn today by senior
Roman Catholic priests, the Roman
toga and the Arab
keffiyeh. The tallit or other similar garment is suitable for the climate in
West Asia: typically the days are hot and the talit can be draped around the body and head to provide cover from the sun or just bunched up on the shoulders for later evening use; the evenings can be dramatically cool and the talit could be draped around the neck and shoulders like a
scarf to provide warmth.
Customs
In some Jewish communities a tallit is given as a gift by a father to a son, a father-in-law to a son-in-law, or a teacher to a student. It might be purchased to mark a special occasion, such as a wedding or a bar/bat mitzvah. Many parents purchase a tallit for their children at the age of 13, together with
tefillin. In the egalitarian, Reform and Conservative movements, it is common for both men and women to wear a tallit. While many worshipers bring their own tallit to synagogue, there is usually a rack of shawls for the use of visitors and guests. At Jewish wedding ceremonies, a tallit is often used as a
chuppah or wedding canopy. The tallit is traditionally draped over the shoulders, but during prayer, some cover their head with it.
In the
Talmudic and post-Talmudic periods the
tefillin were worn by
rabbis and scholars all day, and a special tallit was worn at prayer; hence they put on the tefillin before the tallit, as appears in the order given in "Seder Rabbi Amram Gaon" (p. 2a) and in the
Zohar. In modern practice, the opposite order is considered more "correct". Based on the Talmudic principle of
tadir v'she'ayno tadir, tadir kodem (תדיר ושאינו תדיר, תדיר קודם: lit., frequent and infrequent, frequent first), when one performs more than one
mitzva at a time, those that are performed more frequently should be performed first. While the tallit is worn daily, tefillin are not worn on
Shabbat and holidays.
The Kabbalists considered the tallit as a special garment for the service of God, intended, in connection with the tefillin, to inspire awe and reverence for God at prayer. The tallit is worn by worshipers at the morning prayer on weekdays, Shabbat, and holy days; by the hazzan (cantor) at every prayer while before the ark; and by the reader of Torah, as well as by all other functionaries during the Torah service.
History
The use of the tallit begins in the Biblical period around 1800 BCE. The ancient Jewish tallit design was different than that known today. Originally it was a large white rectangular garment with tzitzyot in each corner and was used as a garment, bed sheet, and burial shroud.
In the book The Ancient Jewish Shroud At Turin by John N. Lupia (Regina Caeli Press, 2010; ISBN 978-0-9826739-0-4) Lupia shows the historical development of the tallit when its design began to change during the second half of the first century CE and began to take on the forms known today beginning around 1000 CE. The long tradition of a single orthodox form of the tallit became modified in a more culturally diverse atmosphere and continued to change throughout time until it became permuted and shortened in length as the kitel, tallit katan, tallit gadol, and the more common tallit prayer shawl form know today.
Weddings
In many
Sephardic communities, the groom traditionally wears a tallit under the
chuppah (wedding canopy). In
Ashkenazi communities, a more widespread custom is that the groom wears a
kittel.
Burials
In the
Diaspora, Jews are buried in a plain, wooden casket. The corpse is collected from the place of death (home, hospital, etc.) by the
chevra kadisha (burial committee). After a ritual washing of the body, the body is dressed in a
kittel (shroud) and then a
tallit. One of the
tzitzit is then cut off. In the Land of Israel, burial is without a casket, and the
kittel and
tallit are the only coverings for the corpse.
Additional occasions
In addition to the morning prayers of weekdays, Shabbat and holidays, a tallit is also worn for
Selichos in Ashkenazic communities by the prayer leader, even though it is still night. A tallit is also worn at night on
Yom Kippur, from
Kol Nidre, which begins during the daylight hours until after the evening (
Ma'ariv) service.
Types of tallitot
Tallit katan
The
tallit katan, or "small" tallit, is an undergarment with tassels worn by Orthodox Jews. Some
hasidic Jews wear a tallit katan on top of their shirts. The requirements regarding the materials and tzitzits of a tallit katan are the same as that of a tallit gadol. Generally a tallit katan is made of
wool or cotton.
Since tzitzits are only required when wearing a four-cornered garment, which is not mandatory, technically there is no obligation to wear a tallit katan. However, the custom is to wear it every day in order to see the tzitzits as a reminder not to stray after the urges of the heart.
Tallit gadol
The
tallit gadol (traditionally known as
tallét gedolah amongst Sephardim), or "large"
tallit, is worn over one's clothing resting on the shoulders. This is the
prayer shawl that is worn during the morning services in
synagogue by all male participants, and in many communities by the leader of the afternoon and evening prayers as well. The
tallit gadol is usually woven of
wool — especially amongst Ashkenazim. Some
Spanish and Portuguese Jews use silk
tallitot. Today some tallitot are made of
polyester and cotton.
Tallitot may be of any colour but are usually white with black, blue or white stripes along the edge. Sizes of tallitot vary, and are a matter of custom and preference. Some are large enough to cover the whole body while others hang around the shoulders, the former being more common amongst Orthodox Jews, the latter among Conservative, Reform and other denominations. The neckband of the tallit, sometimes woven of silver or gold thread, is called the
atarah. The
tallit gadol is often kept in a dedicated pouch or cloth bag, which can be quite simple or ornately decorated.
Tallit - use by men and women
Men
In many Jewish communities, the tallit is worn in the synagogue by all men and boys over
bar mitzvah age (and in some communities even younger). Aside from
German Jews and
Oberlander Jews, men in most
Ashkenazi communities (which comprise the majority of Jews today) start wearing the tallit after their wedding.
Women
Historically, women have not been obligated to wear a
tallit, since they are not bound to perform positive
mitzvot which are time-specific, and the obligation to wear a
tallit only applies by day. Many early authorities did permit women to wear a
tallit, such as
Isaac ibn Ghiyyat (b. 1038),
Rashi (1040–1105),
Rabbeinu Tam (ca 1100–1171),
Zerachya ben Yitzhak Halevi of Lunel (ca. 1125–1186),
Rambam (1135–1204), Rabbi
Eliezer ben Yoel Halevi (ca 1140–ca 1225),
Rashba (1235–1310),
Aharon Halevi of Barcelona (b. ca 1235?), Rabbi
Yisrael Yaaqob Alghazi (1680–1761), Rabbi
Yomtob ben Yisrael Alghazi (1726–1802)). There was, however, a gradual movement towards prohibition, mainly initiated by the Medieval
Ashkenazi Rabbi
Meir of Rothenburg (the
Maharam). The
Rema states that while women are technically allowed to don a
tallit it would appear to be an act of arrogance (
yuhara) for women to perform this commandment ). The
Maharil and the
Targum Yonatan Ben Uziel both view a talit as a “male garment” and thus find that a woman wearing a talit to be in violation of the precept prohibiting a woman from wearing a man’s garment.
In contemporary Orthodox Judaism, there is a debate on the appropriateness of women wearing tzitzit which has hinged on whether women are allowed to perform commandments from which they are exempt. According to Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik the issue depends on the intention with which such an act is undertaken, e.g. whether it is intended to bring a person closer to the Almighty, or for political or protest purposes. Other commentators hold that women are prohibited generally, without making an individual inquiry. The view that women donning a tallit would be guilty of arrogance is cited as applying to attempts of making a political statement as to the ritual status of the genders, particularly in the Modern Orthodox community, are generally more inclined to regard contemporary women's intentions as religiously appropriate.
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein wrote that permission is granted to every woman who wishes to fulfil even those mitzvot which the Torah did not obligate; and they indeed fulfil a mitzvah and receive the reward for the fulfilment of ït including saying the appropriate associated blessing (as with shofar, lulav etc. And also tzitzit are applicable for a woman who desires to wear a four cornered garment - it should be different than a man’s garment - and by attaching tzitzit, she fulfils this mitzvah.
Rabbi Yisrael Yaaqob Alghazi and Rabbi Yomtob ben Yisrael Alghazi held that the observance of this mitzvah by women was not only permitted but actually commendable, since such diligence amongst the non-obligated would inspire these women's male relatives to be even more diligent in their own observance .
References
External links
Tallit Blessing, tying, and customs
Category:Jewish ritual objects
Category:Hebrew words and phrases
Category:Jewish religious clothing
Category:Shawls and wraps