Sunday, November 30, 2014

On tzitzit material and techelet


This week we received an inquiry from someone in the U.S. Air Force. It sounds like he cherishes the mitzvah of tzitzit.
I work on an air force base and wonder if you deliver to APO? Also, I would like to order some Sephardic and Yemenite tzitzit of different material. According to halacha, what material is appropriate (i.e. I use wool since it is cold where I live)?

Also, I do not know how to tie knots and would like my knots regardless of tallit style tied in the Yemenite fashion, with the techelet tzitzit. Is this possible? Also, is the techelet you use made from the chilazon?​
Thank you, Yosef Eliyahu

Yes, we do ship to APO addresses. In fact, we even offer a special 10% discount for Jewish soldiers serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Use coupon code JIG5689.
According to all opinions, wool is the ideal fabric. Many (including the Shulchan Aruch) hold that if you use cotton, you are only fulfilling the mitzvah of tzitzit at the Rabbinical level (d'Rabbanan), not according to Torah law (d'oreita).
If you do not know how to tie Yemenite tzitzit, you're not alone. It takes a bit of work to figure it out. We made an instructional video, but it's still challenging if you don't have someone to correct your mistakes. Only a small minority of our customers ask us to leave the tzitzit for them to tie.
The Gemara says the techelet dye must come from a chilazon. There is a bit of debate surrounding the definition of a chilazon, but today there is considerable consensus that the chilazon is what we call today the Murex trunculus snail. This is the chilazon used by Ptil Tekhelet. For detailed information on the topic, you can refer to this page.


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