''Tzitzit'' ( he, ''ṣīṣīṯ'', ; plural ''ṣīṣiyyōṯ'',
Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
: '; and
Samaritan: ') are specially knotted ritual
fringes, or
tassel
A tassel is a finishing feature in fabric and clothing decoration. It is a universal ornament that is seen in varying versions in many cultures around the globe.
History and use
In the Hebrew Bible, the Lord spoke to Moses instructing him to ...
s, worn in antiquity by
Israelites
The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
and today by observant
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
and
Samaritans
Samaritans (; ; he, שומרונים, translit=Šōmrōnīm, lit=; ar, السامريون, translit=as-Sāmiriyyūn) are an ethnoreligious group who originate from the ancient Israelites. They are native to the Levant and adhere to Samarit ...
. are usually attached to the four corners of the ''tallit gadol'' (prayer shawl), usually referred to simply as a or ; and ''tallit katan'' (everyday undergarment). Through
synecdoche
Synecdoche ( ) is a type of metonymy: it is a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something is used to refer to the whole (''pars pro toto''), or vice versa (''totum pro parte''). The term comes from Greek .
Examples in common Engl ...
, a may be referred to as .
Etymology
The word may derive from the
Hebrew root -ts-h shares this root with the Hebrew for 'lock of hair', or 'dreadlock'. For example, in the
Book of Ezekiel
The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Tanakh and one of the major prophetic books, following Isaiah and Jeremiah. According to the book itself, it records six visions of the prophet Ezekiel, exiled in Babylon, during t ...
an angel grabs the prophet "by the of
ishead;" he could be said to be "dragged by his hair."
A popular etymological interpretation of derives from another word which shares this root. ( 'budding flower') may once have referred to floral ornamentation on clothing. One can hear distinct similarities with contemporaneous
Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to:
* Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire
* Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language
* Akkadian literature, literature in this language
* Akkadian cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...
clothing vocabulary: ('thread', 'edge', 'loom') or (a floral ornamentation). This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the custom of making fringes from extending the threads of embroidery was common in the ancient Near East as the means of strengthening the fabric. The further analyses of the antique iconography suggest that apart from this pragmatic purpose the tassels could also decorate the cloth and as such be a marker of the social status: the more elaborate and elegant the fringes, the higher the position of the owner. In addition to this and given the unique nature of each of the tassels it could also be used as a personal "signet" for sealing documents. This data has led the scholars to assume that the practice itself is of very ancient origins and evolved into Jewish ritual clothing where it was invested with religious meaning.
The ending is the feminine adjectival suffix, used here to form a feminine singular noun. In the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
(), this noun is used to refer to one or many tassels, but later scholars used the feminine plural . In English-language academic texts on Judaica the term is sometimes translated as ''show-fringes''. The
Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...
translation is ''tassels'' (Greek plural grc, κράσπεδα , from singular grc, κράσπεδον ).
Torah sources
The
Five Books of Moses
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the sa ...
mentions ritual fringes in two places:
Since the Hebrew word can mean 'corner' or 'border', the specific place of the attachment of the fringes is unclear. Their exact number is also not specified. Lastly, the passage lacks any instructions on the binding of the fringes, save for the obligation to include "a cord of blue" (Heb. ). The lack of detail on these points suggests that the tying of was to a great extent
Oral Torah
According to Rabbinic Judaism, the Oral Torah or Oral Law ( he, , Tōrā šebbəʿal-pe}) are those purported laws, statutes, and legal interpretations that were not recorded in the Five Books of Moses, the Written Torah ( he, , Tōrā šebbīḵ ...
until the third to first century BCE with the codifying of the
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
.
The primary mnemonic purposes of this are expressed clearly: wearing reminds a daily practitioner to bring God's love into action by practicing all other ''.'' The paragraph from Numbers is included in daily prayer as the final paragraph of the
Shema
''Shema Yisrael'' (''Shema Israel'' or ''Sh'ma Yisrael''; he , שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ''Šəmaʿ Yīsrāʾēl'', "Hear, O Israel") is a Jewish prayer (known as the Shema) that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewis ...
. Here, also remind Jews that they are no longer slaves.
Rabbinic Judaism
The
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
equates observance of with that of all the
mitzvot
In its primary meaning, the Hebrew word (; he, מִצְוָה, ''mīṣvā'' , plural ''mīṣvōt'' ; "commandment") refers to a commandment commanded by God to be performed as a religious duty. Jewish law () in large part consists of discus ...
.
Maimonides
Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...
includes it as a major commandment along with
circumcision
Circumcision is a surgical procedure, procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin ...
and the
Passover offering.
The ''
tallit
A tallit ''talit'' in Modern Hebrew; ''tālēt'' in Sephardic Hebrew and Ladino language, Ladino; ''tallis'' in Ashkenazic Hebrew and Yiddish language, Yiddish. Mishnaic Hebrew, Mish. pl. טליות ''telayot''; Heb. pl. טליתות ''tallitot' ...
'' and ''
tallit katan
A tallit ''talit'' in Modern Hebrew; ''tālēt'' in Sephardic Hebrew and Ladino; ''tallis'' in Ashkenazic Hebrew and Yiddish. Mish. pl. טליות ''telayot''; Heb. pl. טליתות ''tallitot'' , Yidd. pl. טליתים ''talleisim''. is a fri ...
'' are four-cornered garments worn by practicing Jews which incorporate . The garment itself is commonly referred to as . The blue thread mentioned in the Torah, ''
tekhelet
''Tekhelet'' ( he, תְּכֵלֶת ''təḵēleṯ''; alternate spellings include ''tekheleth'', ''t'chelet'', ''techelet'' and ''techeiles'') is a "blue-violet", "blue", or "turquoise" dye highly prized by ancient Mediterranean civilizations. I ...
'', is omitted by most
Rabbinic Jews
Rabbinic Judaism ( he, יהדות רבנית, Yahadut Rabanit), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, or Judaism espoused by the Rabbanites, has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Babylonian ...
due to controversy over the dye-making process.
Fabrics
The medieval rabbis debated the source of the obligation for garments made from different types of fabric. All agree that garments made from wool or linen (the typical materials of Biblical garments) require by Biblical law. However, they debated whether the requirement is
Biblical or rabbinic if the garment is made from any other material. The
Shulchan Aruch
The ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּך , literally: "Set Table"), sometimes dubbed in English as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed (today in Is ...
ruled that this obligation is rabbinic, while the
Rema ruled that it is Biblical.
The Torah forbids ''
shatnez
''Shatnez'' (or ''shaatnez'', ; he, ) is cloth containing both wool and linen (linsey-woolsey), which Jewish law, derived from the Torah, prohibits wearing. The relevant biblical verses ( and ) prohibit wearing wool and linen fabrics in o ...
'' ("intertying" wool and linen together). However, unlike other forms of ''
kil'ayim'' (combinations of various phenomena like planting different types of seed or ploughing with different animals), there is an exception to the rule: was not only allowed but required in the priestly garments, which combined dyed-wool and linen threads. According to the rabbis, this exemption to applied only while performing priestly service. Rabbinic Judaism (but not
Karaite Judaism
Karaite Judaism () or Karaism (, sometimes spelt Karaitism (; ''Yahadut Qara'it''); also spelt Qaraite Judaism, Qaraism or Qaraitism) is a Jewish religious movement characterized by the recognition of the written Torah alone as its supreme au ...
or
Samaritanism
Samaritanism is the Abrahamic, monotheistic, ethnic religion of the Samaritan people, an ethnoreligious group who, alongside Jews, originate from the ancient Israelites.
Its central holy text is the Samaritan Pentateuch, which Samaritans ...
) makes a further exemption to this law for , based on the Torah's juxtaposition of the laws for and in Deuteronomy 22:11-12. Thus, according to rabbinic Judaism, both laymen and priests were supposed to wear mixtures of wool and linen all the time. From this perspective, the of the layman reflects that of the priest.
In practice,
the rabbinic sages permitted using wool and linen strings in tandem only when what they hold to be genuine
tekhelet
''Tekhelet'' ( he, תְּכֵלֶת ''təḵēleṯ''; alternate spellings include ''tekheleth'', ''t'chelet'', ''techelet'' and ''techeiles'') is a "blue-violet", "blue", or "turquoise" dye highly prized by ancient Mediterranean civilizations. I ...
is available.
Threads and knots
![Tzitzith](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Tzitzith.jpg)
The tassel () on each corner is made of four strands, which must be made with intent. These strands are then threaded and hang down, appearing to be eight. (It is customary that each of the four strands is made of eight fine threads, known as ). The four strands are passed through a hole (or according to some: two holes) 1-2 inches (25 to 50 mm) away from the corner of the cloth. There are numerous customs as to how to tie the tassels. The Talmud explains that the Bible requires an upper knot () and one wrapping of three winds (). The Talmud enjoined that between seven and thirteen be tied, and that "one must start and end with the color of the garment". As for the making of knots in between the , the Talmud is inconclusive, and as such later
poskim
In Jewish law, a ''Posek'' ( he, פוסק , pl. ''poskim'', ) is a legal scholar who determines the position of ''halakha'', the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities ar ...
have interpreted this requirement in various ways. The Talmud described tying assuming the use of dye. Following the loss of the source of the dye, various customs of tying were introduced to compensate for the lack of this primary element.
The tying method which gained the widest acceptance can be described as follows: The four strands of the are passed through a hole near the garment's corner. The two groups of four ends are double-knotted to each other at the edge of the garment near the hole. One of the four strands (known as the ) is made longer than the others. The long end of the is wound around the other seven ends and double-knotted; this is done repeatedly so as to make a total of five double knots separated by four sections of winding, with a total length of at least four inches, leaving free-hanging ends that are twice that long This tying procedure is used for each of the garment's four corners; if it has more than four corners, the four that are farthest apart are used.
In
Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
custom, the four sections of winding number 7-8-11-13 winds, respectively. The total number of winds comes to 39, which is the same number of winds if one were to tie according to the Talmud's instruction of 13 of 3 winds each. Furthermore, the number 39 is found to be significant in that it is the
gematria
Gematria (; he, גמטריא or gimatria , plural or , ''gimatriot'') is the practice of assigning a numerical value to a name, word or phrase according to an alphanumerical cipher. A single word can yield several values depending on the cipher ...
(numerical equivalent) of the words: "The Lord is One" (Deuteronomy 6:4). Others, especially
Sephardi Jews
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...
, use 10-5-6-5 as the number of windings, a combination that represents directly the spelling of the
Tetragrammaton
The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew language, Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', ''he (l ...
(whose numerical value is 26).
Before tying begins, declaration of intent is recited: ('for the sake of the commandment of ').
Interpretations
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...
, a prominent Jewish commentator, bases the number of knots on a gematria: the word (in its
Mishnaic
The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...
spelling, ) has the value 600. Each tassel has eight threads (when doubled over) and five sets of knots, totaling 13. The sum of all numbers is 613, traditionally the
number of commandments in the Torah. This reflects the concept that donning a garment with reminds its wearer of all Torah commandments, as specified in Numbers 15:39. (Rashi knots are worn by the majority of
Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
c Eastern European Jews.)
Nachmanides
Moses ben Nachman ( he, מֹשֶׁה בֶּן־נָחְמָן ''Mōše ben-Nāḥmān'', "Moses son of Nachman"; 1194–1270), commonly known as Nachmanides (; el, Ναχμανίδης ''Nakhmanídēs''), and also referred to by the acronym Ra ...
disagrees with Rashi, pointing out that the Biblical spelling of the word () has the gematria of 590 rather than 600, which upends Rashi's proposed gematria. He points out that in the
Biblical
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
quote "you shall see ''it'' and remember them", the singular form ''it'' can refer only to the thread of . The strand serves this purpose, explains the Talmud, for the blue color of resembles the ocean, which in turn resembles the sky, which in turn is said to resemble God's holy throne – thus reminding all of the divine mission to fulfill His commandments. (Nachmanides knots are worn by the majority of
Sephardi
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...
c Jews and
Teimani
Yemenite Jews or Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from ''Yehudei Teman''; ar, اليهود اليمنيون) are those Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. Between June 1949 and September 1950, the ...
Jews)
Modern Biblical scholar
Jacob Milgrom
Jacob Milgrom (February 1, 1923 – June 5, 2010) was a prominent American Jewish Bible scholar and Conservative rabbi. Milgrom's major contribution to biblical research was in the field of cult and worship. Although he accepted the documentar ...
notes than in ancient Middle Eastern societies, the corner of the garment was often elaborately decorated to "ma
an important social statement", functioning as an "symbolic extension of the owner himself". He also notes that the Torah requires , normally a royal and priestly color, to be used by all Jews:
Color of the strings
Tekhelet
![Techelet](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Techelet.JPG)
() is a color dye which the Hebrew Bible commands the Jews to use for one, two, or four of the eight half-strings hanging down (as interpreted in Rabbinic Judaism), or a number of cords ranging from one up to the same number of threads as the non- threads (according to opinions in Karaite Judaism). At some point following the destruction of the
Second Temple
The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited ...
, the knowledge and tradition about the correct method of the dye was lost for Rabbinic Judaism in Israel and since then, most rabbinic
diaspora
A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...
Jews and Israeli Jews as well have worn plain white without any dyes. Tekhelet, which appears 48 times in the Tanakh – translated by the
Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...
as (, blue) – is a specific blue-violet dye produced, according to the rabbis, from a creature referred to as a Ḥillazon, other blue dyes being unacceptable. Some explain the black stripes found on many traditional prayer shawls as representing the loss of this dye.
While there is no prohibition on wearing blue dye from another source, the rabbis maintain that other kinds of do not fulfill the mitzvah of , and thus all the strings have been traditionally kept un-dyed (i.e., white) for many centuries. In recent times, with the (debated) re-discovery of the Ḥillazon in the ''
Murex trunculus
''Hexaplex trunculus'' (previously known as ''Murex trunculus'', ''Phyllonotus trunculus'', or the banded dye-murex) is a medium-sized sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex shells or rock snails. It is included ...
'' mollusk, some have noted that one cannot fulfill the mitzvah of without the strand. This position, however, has been strongly disputed. Others have disputed whether the coloring that comes from the ''Murex trunculus'' is the same as the biblical , based on the fact that according to traditional Jewish sources is supposed to be a dark shade of blue, while wool that was discovered in archaeological excavations and was found to have been colored with Murex dye is violet.
When is used, there are varying opinions in
rabbinic literature
Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writ ...
as to how many of the strands are to be dyed: one of eight (
Rambam
Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah s ...
), two of eight (
Raavad
Abraham ben David ( – 27 November 1198), also known by the abbreviation RABaD (for ''Rabbeinu'' Abraham ben David) Ravad or RABaD III, was a Provençal rabbi, a great commentator on the Talmud, ''Sefer Halachot'' of Rabbi Yitzhak Alfasi and '' ...
), four of eight (
Tosafot
The Tosafot, Tosafos or Tosfot ( he, תוספות) are medieval commentaries on the Talmud. They take the form of critical and explanatory glosses, printed, in almost all Talmud editions, on the outer margin and opposite Rashi's notes.
The auth ...
). While the white threads are to be made of the material of the garment, rabbinic law instructs that the -dyed thread must be made of wool.
According to several rabbinic sages, blue is the color of God's Glory. Staring at this color aids in meditation, bringing us a glimpse of the "pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity", which is a likeness of the Throne of God. Many items in the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary in the wilderness, such as the Menorah, many of the vessels, and the Ark of the Covenant, were covered with a blue-violet cloth when transported from place to place.
The other threads
The other threads in the (all the threads, where is not used) are described as "white". This may be interpreted either literally (by
Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
) or as meaning the same colour as the main garment (Rambam). Normally, the garment itself is white so that the divergence does not arise. Similarly the threads may be made either of wool or of the same fabric as the garment; again many authorities recommend using a woollen garment so that all views are satisfied.
''Tzitzit'' for women
In rabbinic law, is considered a "time-dependent positive commandment", as the Torah (Numbers 15:39) mentions "seeing" one's , and one could not see them in the darkness of night, but rather only in daytime. In general, women are not required to perform time-dependent positive commandments, but may perform them if they choose to. Therefore, many
Rishonim
''Rishonim'' (; he, ; sing. he, , ''Rishon'', "the first ones") were the leading rabbis and ''poskim'' who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, , "Set Table", a ...
permitted women to wear (including
Isaac ibn Ghiyyat
Isaac ben Judah ibn Ghiyyat (or Ghayyat) ( he, יצחק בן יהודה אבן גיאת, ar, ﺇﺑﻦ ﻏﻴﺎث ''ibn Ghayyath'') (1030/1038–1089) was a Spanish rabbi, Biblical commentator, codifier of Jewish law, philosopher, and liturgical ...
,
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...
,
Rabbeinu Tam
Jacob ben Meir (1100 – 9 June 1171 (4 Tammuz)), best known as Rabbeinu Tam ( he, רבינו תם), was one of the most renowned Ashkenazi Jewish rabbis and leading French Tosafists, a leading ''halakhic'' authority in his generation, and a gra ...
,
Baal HaMaor,
Rambam
Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah s ...
,
Raaviyah,
Rashba, and
Ra'ah). Similarly, the
Shulchan Aruch
The ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּך , literally: "Set Table"), sometimes dubbed in English as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed (today in Is ...
rules that women may wear garments with . Opinions differ on whether women may make the blessing on such "optional" commandments; in general Ashkenazi women make the blessing, and Sephardic women do not.
At the same time, other Rishonim, beginning with R'
Meir of Rothenburg
Meir ( he, מֵאִיר) is a Jewish male given name and an occasional surname. It means "one who shines". It is often Germanized as Maier, Mayer, Mayr, Meier, Meyer, Meijer, Italianized as Miagro, or Anglicized as Mayer, Meyer, or Myer.Alfred J. ...
, hold that women should not wear for various reasons. The
Rema states that while women are technically allowed to don a , doing so would appear to be an act of arrogance (). The
Maharil and the
Targum
A targum ( arc, תרגום 'interpretation, translation, version') was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the ''Tanakh'') that a professional translator ( ''mǝturgǝmān'') would give in the common language of the ...
Yonatan Ben Uziel
Jonathan ben Uzziel ( he, יונתן בן עוזיאל) was one of the 80 ''tannaim'' who studied under Hillel the Elder during the time of Roman-ruled Judea (Roman province), Judea. A book of kabbalah known as ''Sefer Migdanim'' has been attribut ...
view a garment with as a "male garment", and thus forbidden to women as cross-dressing. Some other sources mention concern for ''
shaatnez
''Shatnez'' (or ''shaatnez'', ; he, ) is cloth containing both wool and linen (linsey-woolsey), which Jewish law, derived from the Torah, prohibits wearing. The relevant biblical verses ( and ) prohibit wearing wool and linen fabrics in one ...
'' or
carrying on shabbat.
The vast majority of contemporary Orthodox authorities forbid the donning of a by women, although
Moshe Feinstein
Moshe Feinstein ( he, משה פײַנשטיין; Lithuanian pronunciation: ''Moshe Faynshteyn''; en, Moses Feinstein; March 3, 1895 – March 23, 1986) was an American Orthodox rabbi, scholar, and ''posek'' (authority on ''halakha''—Je ...
,
Joseph Soloveitchik
Joseph Ber Soloveitchik ( he, יוסף דב הלוי סולובייצ׳יק ''Yosef Dov ha-Levi Soloveychik''; February 27, 1903 – April 9, 1993) was a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and modern Jewish philosopher. He was a scion o ...
, and
Eliezer Melamed
Eliezer Melamed ( he, אליעזר מלמד, born 28 June 1961) is an Israeli Orthodox Zionist rabbi and the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Bracha, rabbi of the community Har Bracha, and author of the book series ''Peninei Halakha''.
Biography
Eli ...
approve women wearing in private, if their motivation is "for God's sake" rather than motivated by external movements such as feminism.
When the
Satmar Rebbe's wife died, she was found to be wearing (a ) under her clothes.
Women in
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism, known as Masorti Judaism outside North America, is a Jewish religious movement which regards the authority of ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions as coming primarily from its people and community through the generatio ...
have revived the wearing of the since the 1970s, usually using colors and fabrics distinct from the traditional garment worn by men. The
Rabbinical Assembly
The Rabbinical Assembly (RA) is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, an ...
has since formally approved the wearing and tying of by women. It has become common in
Reform
Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...
and other non-Orthodox streams for girls to receive a at their bat mitzvah, although some do not subsequently wear it on a regular basis.
Other women have adopted the later in life, to connect with their communities, embody egalitarian values, or create a personalized connection to Judaism.
It is rare for women to wear a .
Karaite ''tzitzit''
Karaite Jews
Karaite Judaism () or Karaism (, sometimes spelt Karaitism (; ''Yahadut Qara'it''); also spelt Qaraite Judaism, Qaraism or Qaraitism) is a Jewish religious movement characterized by the recognition of the written Torah alone as its supreme au ...
maintain that the must be braided and have the appearance of chains, rather than being knotted as are the of Rabbinic Judaism.
Karaites have blue-violet threads () in them. In contrast to rabbinic Jews, Karaites believe that the source can be any dye, except those produced from impure (a definition mostly overlapping "un-
kosher
(also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...
") species, such as the molluscs used by Rabbinic Jews. Instead, Karaites propose that the source of the dye was
indigo
Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...
or
woad
''Isatis tinctoria'', also called woad (), dyer's woad, or glastum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard family) with a documented history of use as a blue dye and medicinal plant. Its genus name, Isatis, derives from ...
(''
Isatis tinctoria
''Isatis tinctoria'', also called woad (), dyer's woad, or glastum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard family) with a documented history of use as a blue dye and medicinal plant. Its genus name, Isatis, derives from ...
''). Karaites also consider synthetic blue or blue-violet to be acceptable for . Contrary to some claims, Karaites do not hang on their walls.
Samaritan ''tzitzit''
In the
Samaritan tradition, the is a gown worn over their clothes during most holy days, and the are the 22 "buttons" on the right lapel of the gown, and the corresponding loops on its left lapel. The are always in the same color as the gown, which is usually white.
Another version of Samaritan is the simple fringes on the sides of the very large white worn by the priests when carrying a
Torah scroll
A ( he, סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה; "Book of Torah"; plural: ) or Torah scroll is a handwritten copy of the Torah, meaning the five books of Moses (the first books of the Hebrew Bible). The Torah scroll is mainly used in the ritual of Tora ...
.
Similarly to most Orthodox rabbinic Jews, the Samaritans hold that the blue-violet thread for their was produced from a specific dye, and claim that the tradition for producing it was lost.
Contrary to some rumors, the Samaritans do not use either rabbinic or Karaite .
In archaeology and secular scholarship
![Asiatic man with fringed garment](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Asiatic_man_with_fringed_garment.jpg)
According to the modern
documentary hypothesis
The documentary hypothesis (DH) is one of the models used by biblical scholars to explain the origins and composition of the Torah (or Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). A vers ...
, the reference to in Numbers comes from the
Priestly Code
The Priestly Code (in Hebrew ''Torat Kohanim'', תורת כהנים) is the name given, by academia,The book of Leviticus: composition and reception - Page 55 Rolf Rendtorff, Robert A. Kugler, Sarah Smith Bartel - 2003 "Research agrees that its r ...
, while that from Deuteronomy comes from the
Deuteronomic Code
The Deuteronomic Code is the name given by academics to the law code set out in chapters 12 to 26 of the Book of Deuteronomy in the Hebrew Bible. The code outlines a special relationship between the Israelites and Yahweh and provides instructions ...
. They are believed to date to around the late 8th century BCE and late 7th century BCE, respectively, some time after the practice became part of regular ritual. The custom however, clearly predates these codes, and was not limited to Israel. Images of the custom have been found on several
ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...
inscriptions in contexts suggesting that it was practiced across the Near East.
['' Peake's Commentary on the Bible''] Some scholars believe that the practice among ancients originated due to the wearing of animal skins, which have legs at each corner, and that later fabrics symbolized the presence of such legs, first by the use of
amulet
An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...
s, and later by .
While uses the Hebrew , employs the plural form of , which is an Akkadian loanword for a 'cord' or 'string'. The reason for this lexical change is open to speculation, yet, the scholars are inclined to assume that in the times when Deuteronomy was composed, the meaning of the of had been lost and the is a dynamic translation of an unusual term.
[Stephen Bertman, “Tasseled Garments in the Ancient East Mediterranean”, ''The Biblical Archaeologist'', 24.4 (1961): 119.]
See also
*
Christianity and fringed garments
Christianity and fringed garments refers to the mention of fringed garments in Christian sources, and to their use in Christian ritual, and to the possible connection to Jewish ''tzitzit'' and ''tallit''.
New Testament
says:
similarly says: ...
References
External links
AskMoses.com explains tzizitChabad.org - Tzitzith - The Laws of FringesIncludes basic laws, blessings and diagrams.
Instructions how to make Karaite TzitzitThe Laws of Tzitzit according to mainstream Ashkenazic and Sephardic opinions
{{Authority control
Hebrew words and phrases in the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish law
Jewish religious clothing
Jewish ritual objects
Non-clerical religious clothing
Positive Mitzvoth
Prayer beads