Miscellaneous Tzitzit Laws and Customs
By Naftali Silberberg
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- If one is called up for an aliyah, and the entire congregation is waiting for him to don a tallit and ascend to the bimah (Torah reading table), the string inspection (see Donning Tzitzit or a Tallit) should be postponed until after the aliyah. Respect for the waiting congregation supercedes the need to inspect the tzitzit.
- It is forbidden to fold a garment on Shabbat along its preexisting creases. Therefore, a tallit, which normally has well-defined fold lines, may not be properly folded after the Shabbat morning prayers. It is however permitted to fold it randomly, not on its creases.
- It is forbidden to be in the presence of a dead Jewish body while one's tzitzit strings are out in the open. Doing so would constitute, so to say, a subtle mockery of the deceased who can no longer perform this mitzvah.
One should therefore tuck his tzitzit into his pants when:
a) Within a Jewish cemetery.
b) In the same house as a body (even if the corpse is in another room).
c) Within four cubits (approximately six feet) from a corpse or grave—unless it is outdoors and there is a wall or fence which separates them.
- If the owner is not present, it is permitted to borrow and use a tallit without his knowledge, unless it is clear that the owner would be displeased. One can presume that the owner would be delighted that his possession is being used for the purpose of a mitzvah. The borrowed tallit cannot be taken out of the house where it was found, and it must be left in the same condition as it was found. (The tallit should not be refolded if it is Shabbat, even if it was neatly folded when it was found.)
- It is customary for the (family of a) bride to purchase a tallit for the groom.
- Ideally, one should have two tallits—one for weekday and one for Shabbat.
- It is permitted to dispose of a used tallit or tzitzit, but it is improper to deface them. Although they are not "holy" articles per se, they were, after all, used for the purpose of a mitzvah. Ideally they should be buried together with other worn out holy articles and books (see Proper Disposal of Holy Objects). Some use worn out tzitzit fringes as book marks for holy books—they performed one mitzvah, now move them on to another!
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Latest Comments:
In the Code of Jewish Law (Orach Chaim 302) it is explained that this prohibition is because folding clothes on Shabbat has the appearance of "fixing a utensil." I.e. the unfolded garment is considered somewhat "broken," and folding it nicely is akin to fixing it.
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Why is it It is forbidden to fold a garment on Shabbat along its preexisting creases?
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