Sephardic Tzitzit: Should I tie 10-5-6-5 or 7-8-11-13?

Almost always, Sephardim will tie the tzitzit on their tallit gadol with 7-8-9-11 windings (sometimes known as "Tal"). On a tallit katan, about half tie 7-8-11-13 and half 10-5-6-5. Here's a question from a tallit buyer in Los Angeles.

I have one last question (maybe). I'm an Iranian Jew and I was wondering how do we tie tzitzit, on tallit katan and gadol. I'm pretty sure that on a tallit katan we tie 10-5-6-5 with the spine/ridge/etc..

I have been talking with a few of the people I know recently and they sparked a new thought in my mind. Before this I was almost sure that both tallit katan and gadol were tied using 10-5-6-5 with the ridge. Then one of the guys who I was talking with said I should do 7-8-11-13 with the ridge. I felt kind of ashamed because I had 10-5-6-5 with the ridge on my tallit. Afterwards I realized that the two people I was talking with were from not from were my parents/grand-parents. 

So pretty much my question is do Iranian Jews tie 10-5-6-5 with the ridge on both tallit katan an gadol?

Sorry, but I'm not familiar with different Sephardic customs. The most common custom is 10-5-6-5 on a tallit katan and 7-8-11-13 on a tallit gadol. Some do 7-8-11-13 on their tallit katan as well. Doing 10-5-6-5 on a tallit gadol is quite rare, but not unheard of. I have heard that this is the custom among Persian Jews, but I have never seen it in writing.

And even if there isn't, if you ask me, it's not such a terrible crime. The main halachot  pertaining to tzitzit are where the hole is placed, how long the tzitzit are, etc. Tying customs are much less critical.

Sephardic Tallit >>

Selecting tefillin parchments: A guide for online tefillin buyers

When buying a set of tefillin online, you may see several different levels of parchments to choose from. What's the difference between the various quality levels of tefillin parchments? Here's a question we received today from France on that topic.

Dear Sirs,
what are the differences among the parchments you can choose to order tefilins on your website?
Best regards,
Yossef

As we explained to Yossef, there are hundreds of complicated halachic issues related to writing parchments for tefillin, mezuzahs or a Sefer Torah (a field known as STaM). To be considered kosher, the writing must meet certain standards. For example, letters must not touch or be written out of order (i.e. you cannot go back and add a forgotten letter).

To become a sofer (one who writes the parchments) you must invest at least a year or two in study and training. But among those who become a qualified sofer, the caliber of their writing may vary considerably. Some write very quickly to provide mezuzahs or tefillin that are very affordable, while meeting the minimum requirements. Others write very slowly and carefully, so that their writing is beautiful (not unlike calligraphy).

And even among those who try to create beautiful writing, there are different levels of talent. Of course experience helps improve the level of writing, but in addition, it depends to some extent on one's G-d given talent. One sofer with five years experience may be able to write a more beautiful mezuzah than another sofer with 15 years experience.

Thus a sofer's work is graded by expert STaM buyers who know how to set the right value for their work.

The Torah tells us, Zeh Keli v'anveihu, which Chazal explain means we should strive to fulfill mitzvahs in a aesthetically beautiful way. When you do the mitzvah of tzitzit, tie the tzitzit on a beautiful tallit or tallit katan. And when you do the mitzvah of mezuzah, write a beautiful parchment and use a beautiful mezuzah case. And when you do the mitzvah of tefillin, make the finishing work on the boxes beautiful and the writing on the parchments inside beautiful, etc.

As you can imagine, the quality of the writing of tefillin parchments has a significant impact on the final price of a given set of tefillin.

Length of Tzitzit Strings

The standard lengths for tzitzit strings, whether regular handspun tzitzit or niputz lishmah, is as follows:

• thin - 50 cm
• medium - 55 cm
• thick - 60 cm

That means when tied, from the first knot down to the tips will typically come out to 50 cm, etc.

Recently Mishkan Hatchelet started making a lot of different lengths. Normally various lengths are available for niputz lishmah tzitzit, as well, namely

• thin - 50 cm, 70 cm
• thick - 60 cm, 70 cm, 80 cm

All of the above can be found here.

Nowadays it seems many people are under the impression that longer strings are more kosher, but that's not the case! In fact, according to the Rishonim, your tzitzit should be one-third tied, two-thirds loose. With most all-white tzitzit tying customs (e.g. Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Chabad) as well as most techelet tzitzit tying customs (with the notable exception of HaRav Schachter's approach) that means the total length of the tzitzit is relatively short.