Tzitzit: Difference between revisions

# The minhag for Sephardim is to start wearing a Tallit Gadol from the age of [[chinuch]] in mitzvot. <ref> Kaf Hachayim 8:12, Yechave Daat 4:36. Halacha Brurah 17:3 says that this age begins once the child can participate in the [[prayers]] in the shul. </ref> The minhag for most Ashkenazim is not to wear one until one gets married. <ref> Keztot Hashulchan 7:7, Eliya Rabba 17:3, Tashbetz Katan 462 based on a Maharil in Hilchot Nisuin. </ref> However in Western-European communities the minhag is to wear it after the child's bar mitzvah. <ref>The Piskei Teshuvot 8:10 writes that the minhag of not wearing a Tallit before [[marriage]] spread in Eastern Europe including Lithuania and Poland, however, in Western Europe, specifically Hungry, the minhag was not widely accepted. See Mishna Brurah 17:10 who questions the Maharil simply because he does not understand why someone who is not yet married should not fulfill the mitzvah of Tzitzit.</ref>

## A Sephardic boy studying in an Ashkenazi yeshiva should continue his minhag of wearing a Tallit Gadol. <ref> Yechave Daat 4:36 </ref>  

# One should unfold the Tallit before making the bracha so that there will not be any interruption between the bracha and the wrapping. <ref> Kaf Hachayim 206:4 </ref> If one made an interruption before placing the Tallit on one's head, one should recite a new bracha, but if the interruption occured only after placing it on one's head one does not recite a new bracha. <ref> Kaf Hachayim 8:39. He adds that if one hears [[kaddish]], [[kedusha]], or anything else that one would be required to answer to, one is permitted to do so. </ref>

# The bracha should be recited before wrapping oneself in the Tallit Gadol, but if one forgot one may recite it as long as it is still on one. <ref> Shulchan Aruch 8:10 </ref>   

# One should not write a pasuk or the bracha on one's Tallit Gadol <ref> Shulchan Aruch YD 283:4, Rambam Sh"t Pe'er Hador 7 </ref> , but one may keep the Tallit if one got one that had the bracha or pasuk on it, but should be more careful with it. <ref> Kaf Hachayim 24:24 </ref>

# The bracha and the wrapping of the Tallit Gadol should be done standing up. <ref> Shulchan Aruch 8:1 </ref> If one is weak or sick one can recite the bracha and wrap oneself in it while seated. <ref> Halacha Berura 8:3 </ref>

# If one said the bracha "all mitzvat Tzitzit" on the Tallit Gadol instead of "lihitaatef biTzitzit" one has nevertheless fulfilled one's obligation. The same would be true if one recited "lihitaatef biTzitzit" on the Tallit Katan. <ref> Kaf Hachayim 8:21, although the Minhag Sepharad is not to recite a bracha on the Tallit Katan but rather to exempt it with the bracha on the Tallit Gadol, Ben Ish Chai Bereishit halacha 2. </ref>

# If one removes one's Tallit and plans on putting it back on within half an hour, one does not recite a new bracha when putting it back on. <ref> Sh"t Yabia Omer 8:2, Kaf Hachayim 8:52, 56. </ref>

# If one's Tallit Gadol fell off and to the floor, one does not recite a new bracha when putting it back on. <ref> Sh"t Yabia Omer YD 3:17:11, Kitzur Shulchan Aruch of Rav Rephael Baruch Toledano, siman 10, laws of the donning of [[Tefillin]], seif 22 </ref>

# The Tallit Gadol should be removed after the [[Tefillin]]. <ref> Kitzur Shulchan Aruch of Rav Rephael Baruch Toledano, siman 10, laws of the donning of [[Tefillin]], seif 40. </ref>

# One should wear the Tallit with two corners in front and two in the back so that one is surrounded by mitzvot. <ref> Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, 8:4 </ref>