סימן טז - שיעור טלית ובו ב' סעיפים

Recording: Seifim 1–2

1. The Sages set the size of a tallis that requires tzitzis^[1]:

if it is so large that a child who has reached the age of training in the mitzvah of tzitzis, that is, nine years old, when he walks alone in the marketplace with his tallis on him and need not watch it so that it is not lost,

can cover his head and most of the length and most of the width of his body with it, and an adult of thirteen wearing it is not embarrassed to go out in it to the marketplace occasionally,

it is called a garment and requires tzitzis, and it is forbidden to put it on without tzitzis even at home.

If a nine-year-old cannot cover his head and most of his body with it, even if a thirteen-year-old does go out in it occasionally to the marketplace, his view is set aside against everyone else's, for it is not called a garment at all, and so it is exempt from tzitzis.

Some say that if a nine-year-old covers his head and most of his body with it, even if a thirteen-year-old does not go out in it occasionally to the marketplace, it is called a garment and requires tzitzis.

The law follows the first view.

Therefore one must [take care] not to make a tallis katan smaller than the size explained according to the first view^[2].

If he wishes to wear a tallis smaller than this size, he should attach tzitzis to it to take the last view into account, but should not recite a blessing over it^[3].

2. They should take care to make the shoulders of tallisos katanim wide, that is, the pieces that lie on the shoulder,

so that the air on this side and the air on that side should not come and nullify it^[4].

Notes

1. Set the size: The Rebbe wrote: "הט"ק צריך שיהי' בו שיעור ובאם לאו - ה"ז ברכה לבטלה ... ובעוה"ר רבים מאד ישנם שאין בט"ק שלהם השיעור הרצוי וכו'. - וכבר פסקו, בלאה"כ, אשר הלובש ט"ג - בעת ברכתו עליו יכוון לפטור את הט"ק וע"ז סומך אפילו ביש בו שיעור. ומזה מובן, אשר כל אלו שאין בט"ק שלם שיעור ודאי ועדיין אין לובשים ט"ג - ישמעו מהמברך על ט"ג" ("A tallis katan must have the required size; if not, it is a blessing in vain ... To our great sorrow very many have a tallis katan without the proper size. It has in any case been ruled that one wearing a tallis gadol should intend, when blessing over it, to exempt the tallis katan, and he relies on this even if it has the size. From this it is understood that all who do not have a tallis katan of certain size, and do not yet wear a tallis gadol, should hear the blessing from one blessing over a tallis gadol") (Igros Kodesh, vol. 16, no. 6045); see Shulchan Menachem, Blessing on the Tallis Katan.

2. The size explained: In Piskei HaSiddur: "ורוחב הטלית קטן צריך להיות אמה של תורה, שהיא רוחב כ"ד גודלין מרווחים מאדם בינוני. והאורך שלאחריו מבית הצואר ולמטה צריך להיות ג"כ אמה של תורה מרווחת ... ובקטנים שהגיעו לחינוך, דהיינו מבן שש שנים עד בן י"ג, אפשר להקל ולסמוך על דעת האומרים ששיעור בגד להתחייב בציצית הוא אמה על אמה בלבד" ("The width of the tallis katan must be a Torah cubit, twenty-four full thumb-widths of an average person. The length behind, from the neck opening down, must also be a full Torah cubit ... For children who have reached training, from six to thirteen, one may be lenient and rely on those who hold that the size to require tzitzis is one cubit by one cubit alone") (Laws of Tzitzis in the Siddur).

3. No blessing: In HaYom Yom: "בלבישת טלית קטן בבוקר בידים נקיות ובמקום שמותר לברך, מברכים 'על מצות ציצית' [ולא: 'להתעטף בציצית'] - כיון שאין בט"ק שיעור עיטוף" ("When putting on a tallis katan in the morning with clean hands, in a place where a blessing may be said, one blesses 'al mitzvas tzitzis' [not 'lehisateif betzitzis'], since a tallis katan does not have the size for wrapping") (HaYom Yom, 14 Sivan).

4. Nullify it: If the strap on the shoulder is narrow, the air on either side nullifies it, and the two parts of the tallis are like two separate pieces, not one garment.