Tallis for the Groom: Tips for the kallah shopping for her chassan

When a bride sets out to buy a tallis for the groom, whether she's looking for a nice, traditional black-striped tallis, or something with a bit of flare, she generally needs some guidance. Yesterday we received an inquiry from a bride in Massachussetts.

Hi Ben,
I'm shopping for a tallis as a gift to my fiance for my upcoming wedding. We're modern Orthodox Ashkenazim and prefer traditional, long talleisim. He has a blue-striped tallis already, so I was hoping for some recommendations for a tallis with black stripes. Thanks in advance!
Sharon

Since this is a fairly common request, I had no problem firing off a quick reply.

Here are my recommendations:

Chatanim - basic, no frills tallit; very high quality weave

Hamefoar - features a weave with a bit of texture, supple, luxurious fabric

Tashbetz - box weave to keep the tallit in place better on the shoulders; looks slightly more modern, and in my opinion, a bit less elegant

Kmo Turkish - a heavy, dense fabric and unique double-knotted fringes

Crown Tallis Bag

Sharon wound up choosing a Kmo with a Crown tallit bag. I always thought the crown on this tallit bag was meant to remind us of the King of Kings, but it may be especially apt for a groom, because the Gemara says a groom is like a king.

I remember many years ago, just before I got married and was setting up our soon-to-be apartment in Beitar Illit, a neighbor who was a young Torah scholar from the U.S. and a big tzaddik, found out I was a chassan and saw me shlepping a box up the stairs. He ran up and snatched it from my hands, insisting he would carry it for me, quoting that shtikel Gemara.

Tallis Sizes 

But then we needed to work out the proper tallis size. At 6 feet, Sharon's groom is not short. When the tallit wearer is under 5'6" it limits our selection, because then the groom would probably need a size 55 tallis and all of the models mentioned above, except for the Tashbetz, are only available in size 60 and up. I recommended she go with a size 70,which I recommend would hang down in back to about mid-thigh on him.

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