9. Fringes - Tzitzis
If a man puts on a garment having four corners during
the day he is commanded to put fringes (tzitzis) in
its corners, as it says "And they shall make themselves
fringes on the edges of their garments"1 [and it says "You
shall make tassels on the four edges of the garment with
which you cover yourself"2]. A righteous man should
endeavor to wear a garment that requires fringes,
especially during prayers, since the Torah makes all the
commandments depend on the commandment about the fringes,
as it says "And you shall see it and remember all the
commandments of Ha-Shem".3,a
The garment must be made primarily of cloth;
if it is of any material other than wool or linen the
commandment is only rabbinical. The fringes may be of
wool, of linen, or of the same material as the garment; but
one should not use wool in a linen garment or vice versa
because it is forbidden to wear mixtures of wool and
linen.b Each fringe is made of four threads and is
passed through a point between one and three thumb-breadths
away from the corner of the garment so that the eight
ends of the threads hang evenly from the corner and are at least
four thumb-breadths long; one of the threads is wound around
the others and knotted.c If possible, one of the threads
(which must be of wool) should be dyed with a special
blue dye, as it says "And they shall put on the fringe a
blue thread"1; the other threads should be of the
same color as the garment.d
Sources: |
| 1. Num. 15:38 |
a. 1:3; 3:7,10-12 |
| 2. Deut. 22:12 |
b. 3:1-2,4-6; see Kilayim |
| 3. Num. 15:39 |
c. 1:6,9 |
|
d. 1:2-3, 8-9 |