Faith is Hidden and Must be Revealed
Emunah (faith) is implanted in the heart of every person, for since one possesses a soul, he possesses faith. The more aware he is of that faith, and the more he lives in accordance with it, the more his life is strengthened and blessed, in every area. However, at the first stage, faith is hidden, and until it is fully and richly revealed, a person tends to divert it toward foreign directions of idolatry. As a result, a person becomes enslaved to the bonds of materialism, in all of its conceptions. Therefore, Israel - who are the heart of the nations - were the most enslaved of all, and they were required to perform back-breaking labor for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, with no ability to express the powers latent within them. And while they were sunk in bondage to materiality, God was revealed to them and took them from servitude to redemption, and gave them His Torah and commandments so that they would continue His blessing to all the families of the earth.
Tzitzit Expresses the Divine Revelation that “Peeks Through the Lattice"
The mitzvah of tzitzit, by means of the fringes that are visible outwardly, particularly expresses faith and the unique mission of Israel, as it is stated in the section of tzitzit:
“And you shall see it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and perform them, and you shall not stray after your heart and after your eyes … so that you shall remember and perform all My commandments, and you shall be holy to your God" (Numbers 15:37-40).
This is what our Sages said:
“Why is its name tzitzit? Because the Omnipresent peered (hitzitz) upon the houses of our forefathers in Egypt." As it is said (Song of Songs 2:8-9):
“The voice of my beloved-behold, he is coming, leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills … behold, he stands behind our wall, looking through the windows, peering through the lattice"
(Sifrei, Shelach, sec. 115).
The Need for Clothing Stems from the Sin of Adam
Originally, in the Garden of Eden, a person had no need for clothing, since there was no shame in his nakedness. However, once he was drawn after the desires of the body and sinned, evil entered within him, and consequently, he began to feel shame in his nakedness. As it is said:
“And the man and his wife hid from before the Lord God among the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called to the man and said to him: ‘Where are you?’ And he said: ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid.’ And He said: ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree concerning which I commanded you not to eat from it?’" (Genesis 3:8-11)
As a result of his sin, Adam was expelled from the Garden of Eden and required protection from cold, rain, and the sun’s rays. God had compassion upon him, and made garments for him, as it is said:
“And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife tunics of skin, and He clothed them" (ibid. 3:21).
A Garment that Grants Honor - Or Expresses Betrayal
A garment covers the flaws within a person, and thereby grants him honor. However, it is possible that this be false honor, intended to deceive others by hiding evil intentions - and then the garment expresses betrayal (beged-bagad), and the mantle becomes me’il (from me’ilah, trespass).
On the other hand, a garment may express a person’s aspiration toward good and beauty, while estranging himself from his negative tendencies and attempting to suppress them; in this way the garment grants him true honor (see Resisei Layla §4).
The Garment of Tzitzit
The most honorable garment is the fringed tallit, for the four-cornered tallit expresses all the powers hidden in the person and in the world, and the tzitzit correspond to the 613 commandments that guide the person how to actualize them. And no tallit is more beautiful than this; as our Sages said:
“One who is careful with tzitzit will merit a beautiful tallit" (Shabbat 23b).
The Kabbalists explained that the tallit hints to the ohr ha-makif (the surrounding light), i.e., the lofty, divine illumination which, because of its loftiness and greatness, a person cannot grasp, but it nevertheless influences him (see Peninei Halakha, Sukkot 1:7). Through its influence, one understands well the ohr ha-penini (the inner light) - the defined ideas of the Torah and its commandments - that the threads of tzitzit express, which are considered a defined inner light.
Our Sages said (Bamidbar Rabbah 17:6; also 18:21; 25:21) that tzitzit hints to the 613 commandments, for the numerical value of the word “tzitzit" is 600, and together with the five knots and eight threads of the fringe, we arrive at 613. (Incidentally, women are more connected to the surrounding light; perhaps this is why they are not obligated in the mitzvah of tzitzit, which expresses the inner light that emerges. In its place, their mitzvah is to wear modest and dignified clothing, which expresses the surrounding light).
Must The Head be Covered With The Tallit Gadol?
Q: Must those who wrap themselves in a tallit gadol cover their heads?
A: Some poskim (Jewish law arbiters) say that the meaning of the word hit’atef (‘wrapping’, the blessing recited before wearing a tallit gadol), is wrapping both the head and the body, and any garment that is worn not in the manner of wrapping, is exempt from tzitzit. Therefore, in their view, our modern tallit katan is exempt from tzitzit. They supported their position from the wording of the blessing: “to wrap oneself in tzitzit" (lehit’atef batzitzit) (Ra’avyah and Or Zarua).
However, in practice, most of the Rishonim wrote that the tallit katan is obligated in tzitzit (Sefer Ha’Itur, Maharam, Orhot Hayyim, Nimukei Yosef, and many others). This is because the mitzvah of tzitzit applies to any garment “with which you cover yourself," and “every garment and covering is implied - sometimes with the head covered, and sometimes with the head uncovered." Therefore, one even recites a blessing over a tallit katan in which the head is not wrapped (Mahari"l; Tur and Shulchan Aruch 8:2, 6; and so ruled the later authorities).
Nevertheless, out of consideration for those who hold that the mitzvah is specifically wrapping, and also because the wording of the blessing is “to wrap," the practice is that after reciting the blessing “lehit’atef batzitzit" on the tallit gadol, one beautifies the mitzvah by wrapping oneself in the tallit for the time it takes to walk four cubits. That is: one wraps the tallit over the head and the upper part of the body, with all the tzitzit placed over the left shoulder, and stands so for the time it takes to walk four cubits; afterward, one dons the tallit as usual, with two tzitzit in front and two behind (Shulchan Aruch 8:4; Gra s.k. 9; Mishnah Berurah ad loc.). For the tallit katan, the blessing “al mitzvat tzitzit" is recited, since one is not accustomed to wrap oneself in it, but rather to wear it (Rema 8:6; Ben Ish Hai, Bereishit 6; Kaf HaHayyim 8:25, 27).
Is There an Advantage In Covering The Head With The Tallit?
Although there is no obligation to cover the head with the tallit, there is an advantage in doing so, since covering the head expresses submission before God; therefore, there are those who beautify the mitzvah by covering the head with the tallit throughout the entire prayer, and especially during the Amidah (Mishnah Berurah 8:4).
Q: It is uncomfortable for me to cover my head with the tallit gadol during the prayer. Is there a binding custom to cover the head throughout the prayer?
A: There is no binding custom, and therefore, one who finds it uncomfortable is not obligated.
Unmarried Ashkenazim and The Tallit Gadol
Q: According to the custom of Ashkenazim, may an unmarried man wrap himself in a tallit gadol during Shacharit?
A: The custom of unmarried Ashkenazim is to fulfill the mitzvah of tzitzit with a tallit katan and not to wrap in a tallit gadol, because the tallit gadol expresses the surrounding light merited by a married person through his wife; by means of marriage, he is considered a complete person, dwelling in joy and peace, whereas the bachelor has not yet attained this (Yevamot 62b; Bnei Yissaschar, Tishrei 13).
The early authorities wrote a support for this custom from the juxtaposition of verses (Deuteronomy 22:12-13):
“You shall make fringes on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself. When a man takes a wife…"
(Tashbetz Katan 362; Minhagei Mahari"l, Laws of Marriage 10)
Nevertheless, when bachelors are called up to the Torah or serve as prayer leaders, they wrap in a tallit gadol out of respect for the congregation, but they take care not to cover their heads with it, for this they will merit only after marriage (Mishnah Berurah 8:4). A source for this is what is told in the Talmud (Kiddushin 29b) regarding Rav Hamnuna, who did not cover his head because he was not married.
Changes in Custom
Among Kohanim of Ashkenazi origin, there are those who are accustomed to wrap in a tallit gadol from the time they begin ascending to the platform for the priestly blessing. In recent generations, due to the delay in marriage age, there were communities in Ashkenaz where even bachelors began to wrap in a tallit gadol before their wedding, without covering the head - so as not to postpone for many years the time of wrapping in a tallit gadol during Shacharit. On the other hand, many continue the earlier custom, which also serves as deep encouragement to marry at the proper time and not delay marriage.
It is Forbidden to Wear a Tallit with Invalid Tzitzit
The four tzitzit that one is commanded to place on the four corners of the garment each prevent fulfillment without the others; all four together constitute one mitzvah (Menachot 28a). Therefore, if one of the tzitzit becomes invalid, it is forbidden to wear the garment; and if one did wear it, one has nullified a positive commandment. If one was wearing a tallit and saw that one of the tzitzit tore from the corner of the garment, or its threads tore in such a way that it became invalid, he must remove it immediately, because every moment he keeps it on, he is nullifying a positive commandment (Menachot 37b).
When Does the Tearing of the Threads Invalidate?
If, after the tzitzit were properly tied to the garment, all of the threads extending from the braid were torn, yet a measure of “enough for tying" remained - meaning, a length sufficient to tie together all the torn threads, approximately four centimeters - the tzitzit is still valid. If one thread was torn down to the braid, it is valid. But if two threads were torn down to the braid, it is invalid, lest those two belong to one original thread, such that from that thread whose two ends were cut, not even the measure of “enough for tying" remains (Shulchan Aruch 12:1-3).
However, if care was taken to tie the threads such that the four threads emerging from one side are always tied opposite the four threads emerging from the other side, then even if all four on one side were torn down to the braid, and on the other side only the measure of “enough for tying" remains - the tzitzit is valid, since from each of the four threads the measure of “enough for tying" remains. If one of the threads was cut at the point where the braid connects to the garment, the tzitzit is invalid, since the cut thread is completely invalidated (Mishnah Berurah 12:13).
This article appears in the ‘Besheva’ newspaper, and was translated from Hebrew.