From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com> Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 01:06:17 +0000 Subject: Re: Wearing of the tallit
From: Rabbi Yehoshua Othniel To: <heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com> Subject: Re: Wearing of the tallit Dear Suzanne, Women do not wear tallits, at least in observant synagogues. I have seen them do so in Reformed congregations, but I do not approve of this practice, nor do I approve of the practice of women wearing Yarmulkes, (Hebrew: Kippot). These two garments have become seen as mens' garments and for women to wear them, they violate torah. Let me share with you what my wife does to satisfy the mitzvah of wearing tzitzit or fringes. My wife Rachel wears a scarf or veil which covers her head. This scarf is a four cornered garment and attached to the four corners are tiny tzitzit. This is a traditional practice for observant Jewish women; the wearing of a head covering. I should add, married women wear such a covering, unmarried women do not. My wife also has a tallit of sorts. It is a beautiful sheer shawl of black and gold. A very feminie garment to say the least. On the four corners of this shawl she has also attached tiny tzitzit, and she uses this garment in her private daily devotions. She choses not to wear it to the shul, (Yiddish for synagogue.) She does however wear her scarf as do many of the women who attend my shul. I see nothing wrong with your wearing a shawl appropriate to women, although I would suggest you refrain from adding tzitzit to the four corners of this shawl until you have spoken to the rabbi of the congregation about it first. We must always be considerate of others and not cause them to stumble. If he approves, who knows, perhaps you will start a trend amongst the women there? As to the use of "Temple" or "Synagogue", some congregations use the word temple in their name, i.e. Temple Beth David. This is the name of the shul I attended as a boy growing up. There is a difference between the two. The Temple is where sacrifices were made and it can only be located in the city of David. A synagogue is a house of study and worship and can be located anywhere. There were synagogues inside the Temple precincts, not formal houses of worship as we know them today. These were more or less small rabbinic accademies which met in various rooms of the temple or in the outer court areas. In Messiah, Rabbi O. __________________________________ Rabbi Yehoshua M. Othniel Kehilat Ami Echad P.O. Box 1452 Independence, KS 67301, U.S.A. ******************************************************************** > >From: Roi Levine Garcia >To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com >Subject: Re: Wearing of the tallit > >Read Tallit, Garment of Light by Ariel Kaplan > >Roi > >******************************************************************* To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com From: Randy & Suzanne Surfass Subject: RE: Wearing of the tallit I particularly enjoyed the book "Talit: Garment of Glory" by Rabbi David M. Hargis (Zadok Scroll Works). http://www.messianic.com/products.htm Suzanne in MI *********************************************************************