Bible, History, Archaeology

Bible,
History,
Archaeology

Thalit,

prayer shawl

Contents:
Introduction – Presentation text – Jews wearing talith in front of the Kotel

The talit (Judeo-Aramaic: טלית «garment», talith in some Sephardic communities, talèth in those of North Africa, talis, tolis or talès in Ashkenazi Hebrew) is a traditional Jewish garment used during prayers. It consists of a four-cornered cloth stole, often made of wool and worn by adults, which is placed on the head and covers the shoulders.

Presentation

The talith is composed of two parts: the garment itself, the shawl, and the tsitsit, Ritual bangs at each corner, as prescribed in the Bible:
«And the Lord said to Moses: speak to the children of Israel and tell them that they are to make for themselves, from generation to generation, tzitzit on the edges of their garments...». Numbers 15:37-41.

Image opposite: a talith. Public domain.

«You shall put bangs on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself [...]». Deuteronomy, 22:12.
«When you get these bangs, you will look at them and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, So you will remember My commandments and do them and be holy to your God.». Numbers, 15,39-40.
The commandment to wear them is a positive one. Men are obliged to submit to it, while women are exempt but may submit to it as an option.
The Jews have two special garments with bangs: the talith and the talith Katane (a small talit sometimes worn by small children), a special four-cornered garment with an opening for the head, worn under outer garments from getting up in the morning until going to bed at night, and sometimes even while sleeping.

Image opposite: a Jew at prayer in the Ghriba synagogue, Djerba. Public domain.

A hint of this prescription (the remembrance of the 613 commandments in Jewish tradition) can be found in tsitsit: the numerical value (Gematria) of tsitsit is 600 (90 + 10 + 90 + 10 + 400), to which we add the 8 threads and 5 knots making up each tsitsit, giving a total of 613.