Silk Tallit

A tallit (also known as a prayer shawl, especially by Christians) is a rectangle or a square of fabric with tzitzit (fringes) on each of the four corners and along the collar Atarah. It is worn in obedience to the biblical commandment to wear tzitzit found in Numbers 15:37-41. The passage is as follows:

"The L-RD also spoke to Moses, saying:" Speak unto the children of Israel, and say they should do for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and they put on the tassel of each corner a blue ribbon. There must be a tassel for you to watch and remember all the commandments of the Lord to them and not follow your own heart and your own eyes after which you played the prostitute, so that you can remember all my commandments and be holy for your God. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt to be your God, I am the Lord thy God. "

Historically, the shawl is a Jewish garment, with black stripes, worn by Jewish men only. However, the tradition has grown and more and more Jewish women are also tallits now. In addition, tallits no longer limited to the plain black stripes. An interesting development was recently the number of churches and Christians who have begun using tallits and prayer shawls in their services, prayer meetings, or in their personal devotional time. Read on to learn more!

A shawl can be made in a variety of fabrics including wool, cotton, silk, polyester, rayon, Dacron, and more, though carried by a Kohen "or" Levite "can be made of a mixed fabric. Some have a blue thread in the tzitzit techelet called, according to the original biblical commandment, but even those who do not techelet can be added by special request.

The traditional style is to wear the shawl to put on the shoulders and draped in the back, then pull the two front corners above the shoulders and front. Often, tallit clips are used to the front to hold up traditional shawl. tallits today are often smaller, like shawls, and those just hang around the neck or on your shoulders and upper back. Both tallit often now contemporary designs, rather than traditional strips, from Etz Chaim (Tree of Life), with multicolored stripes on a background of shimmering red windows of Chagall, the skyline of Jerusalem a decoration of flowers, and more, the possibilities and options are virtually limitless.

When the tallit is put on it is customary to say a traditional blessing, known as b'racha. That blessing, in whole or only the last part of it is sometimes painted or sewn on Atara (neck) of the tallit, but he did not have to be there for the tallit be kosher. The b'racha placed on the tallit is as follows:

"Baruch ata Adonai Melech ha-Olam eloheynu Asher v'tsivanu b'mitzvotav kidd'shanu the b'tzitzit hitatef."

Blessed art thou, O Lord our Gd, King of the Universe, who sanctified us by Your commandments and commanded us to put on the tzitzit. "

Tallits are worn during weekday morning prayer, including the Sabbath and other holy days, but are not normally worn during the afternoon or evening prayers. An exception to this rule is Erev Yom Kippur service Neilah where it is customary to wear your tallit. The shawl can be worn by men and women, although women orthodoxy are not usually wear one. If it is a command for an adult male Jew "Gift of the tzitzit," it is only "eligible" for an adult woman to do Jewish, not ordered. It is, however, encouraged that a woman wearing a shawl would use one for a woman than a man, and there are many many beautiful designs and fabrics available specifically for women. In addition, it is not always encouraged to.