In Judaism,
the Tallit (Hebrew language) (also
tallis) is a prayer shawl that has fringes (tzitzit) at the four
corners.
This prayer-shawl is worn over one's clothes, and is traditionally worn
by men after marriage and, in modern times, by boys after they become
Bar mitzvah at 13. Since the 1970s, in non-orthodox denominations of
Judaism it may be worn by women.
also see:
Jewish ritual
The
tallit,
which can be spread out like a sheet, is woven of wool
or silk, in white, with black or blue stripes at the
ends. The silk ones vary in size, for men, from about
36 × 54 inches (91 × 137 cm) to 72 × 96 inches
(183 × 244 cm). The woolen tallit is proportionately larger (sometimes
reaching to the ankle) and is made of two lengths
sewed together, the stitching being covered with a
narrow silk ribbon. A ribbon, or a band artistically
woven with silver or gold threads(called "spania"),
with the ends hanging, and about 24 inches (61 cm)
long by from 2 to 6 inches (5 to 15 cm) wide, is sewed
on the top of the tallit.
From the four corners of the
tallit hang fringes called tzitzit, in
compliance with the laws in the Torah (Num. xv. 38).
The original
tallit probably resembled the "'abayah," or blanket, worn by
the Bedouins for protection from sun and rain, and which has black stripes
at the ends. The finer tallit, very likely, was similar in quality to the
Roman pallium, and was worn only by distinguished men, rabbis, and scholars
(B. B. 98a; Midrash Genesis Rabbah xxxvi.; Midrash Exodus Rabbah xxvii.).
The tallit was sometimes worn partly doubled, and sometimes with the ends
thrown over the shoulders (Talmud references Shab. 147a; Men. 41a).
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 (Zohar, Exodus Toledot, p. 141a). The tallit is worn by
all male worshipers at the morning prayer on week-days, Shabbat, and holy
days; by the hazzan (cantor) at every prayer while before the Ark; and by
the reader of Torah.
A tallit is commonly spead over the canopy at the wedding ceremony.
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 later times, when the
tefillin came to be worn at morning prayer only, the tallit was put on
first, after a special benediction had been recited.
