Tallit

The cloth part is known as the beged ("garment") and is usually made from wool or cotton, although silk is sometimes used for a tallit gadol.

Instead, it presumes that people wore a garment of some type to cover themselves and instructs the Children of Israel to attach fringes (ציצית tzitzit) to the corners of these (Numbers 15:38), repeating the commandment in terms that they should "make thee twisted cords upon the four corners of thy covering, wherewith thou coverest thyself" (Deuteronomy 22:12).

The exact customs regarding the tying of the tzitzit and the format of the tallit are of post-biblical, rabbinic origin and, though the Talmud discusses these matters, slightly different traditions have developed in different communities.

[6] Encyclopaedia Judaica describes the prayer shawl as "a rectangular mantle that looked like a blanket and was worn by men in ancient times".

Concerning tzitzit, chazal (the sages) permit using wool and linen strings in tandem only when genuine tekhelet (see below) is available, whereas kabbalist sources take it a step further by encouraging its practice.

[13] However, for many centuries since the exile of the Jewish people from the Land of Israel, tzitzit have been worn without a techelet fringe, though in the last hundred years there has been something of a comeback.

[17] The expression stems from a rabbinic story about the biblical figure Korah who led a revolt against the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

Koraḥ was said to have asked Moses a number of vexatious questions, one of which was, "Does a tallit made entirely of blue yarn require tzitzit?"

[19] The phrase "more kosher than tzitzit" is a Yiddish metaphoric expression (כשר'ער ווי ציצית) with similar connotations but is not necessarily used in a sarcastic sense.

[citation needed] In some Jewish communities a tallit gadol 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.

The tallit gadol is traditionally draped over the shoulders, but during prayer, some cover their head with it, notably during specific parts of the service such as the Amidah and when called to the Torah for an aliyah.

[23] Jewish men wear the talit katan every day, most commonly worn under their clothing with the tzitzit knots hanging out.

Some Jewish men prefer to tuck in their tzitzit to avoid drawing unwanted attention and/or for practical reasons.

In many Sephardic and German Jewish communities, the groom traditionally wears a tallit gadol under the chuppah (wedding canopy); in many cases, he will wrap it around the bride as well during the ceremony.

[24] 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.

It is a poncho-like garment with a hole for the head and special twined and knotted fringes known as tzitzit attached to its four corners.

[26][30][31] The tallit katan is also known as arba kanfot (Yiddish/Ashkenazic Hebrew: arbe kanfes), literally "four corners", and may be referred to simply as tzitzit.

A continuing misconception within non-Jewish circles is that the tallit katan is a sheet which is used by Orthodox Jews during sexual intercourse.

[32] It is believed that the fabric being hung from clothing lines during the 19th and 20th centuries within Jewish neighborhoods in the United States started these rumors.

Some are large enough to cover the whole body while others hang around the shoulders, the former being more common among 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 which literally means crown but is often referred to as the collar.

The vast majority of contemporary Orthodox authorities forbid the donning of a tallit by women,[42] although Moshe Feinstein,[43] Joseph Soloveitchik, and Eliezer Melamed approve women wearing tzitzit in private, if their motivation is "for God's sake" rather than motivated by external movements such as feminism.

[47] Women in non-Orthodox (Reform, Conservative, Karaite, Reconstructionist and others) are not prohibited from wearing a tallit, and usually encouraged to do so, especially when called to the Torah or leading services from the bimah.

[48] It has become common in Reform and other non-Orthodox streams for girls to receive a tallit at their bat mitzvah,[49][50] although some do not subsequently wear it on a regular basis.