Q&A: Tzitzit Inside the Corner of the Garment
Tzitzit Inside the Corner of the Garment
Question
Hello Rabbi, and thank you very much for the time you devote to questions!
Several questions about tzitzit:
- Is it okay to keep the tzitzit permanently tucked into a pocket inside the corner of the tzitzit garment? It’s just not comfortable having the tzitzit inside the pants.
- Is it preferable to buy tekhelet? Or is white only also fine, with no difference nowadays?
- Sleeping with tzitzit—does one fulfill the commandment at night as well, or is there no need?
- Can wearing tzitzit outside replace a kippah?
- From what age would you recommend educating children to wear tzitzit? Is understanding the commandment what matters there, so it’s better to wait until they reach the appropriate age, or is the actual wearing itself the main thing, so maturity is only incidentally relevant?
- What is the minimum length of the tzitzit strings that one may shorten them to?
- Can they only be shortened with glass scissors?
- Is the importance of wool really much greater than cotton? The real question is whether it’s worth the sacrifice in comfort when it comes to wool.
Answer
1. https://din.org.il/2019/08/29/%D7%9C%D7%94%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%A1-%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%9B%D7%99%D7%A1-%D7%A9%D7%91%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%A3/
2. It is definitely preferable. It is a Torah commandment. There may perhaps be some doubt whether this is truly the tekhelet, but in my opinion it is a full obligation.
3. There is no need to sleep with tzitzit. There is also no need to wear tzitzit if you do not have a four-cornered garment. According to the mystical tradition, they wrote that there is significance to it. But then there is a problem with the blessing in the morning. I would avoid it.
4. No. There is a custom to wear a kippah, and nobody makes it conditional on not having tzitzit.
5. From the age when they can walk around with it. There is not much there to understand beyond being wrapped in it.
6. https://www.kipa.co.il/%D7%A9%D7%90%D7%9C-%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%91/%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%9A-%D7%97%D7%95%D7%98%D7%99-%D7%94%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%AA/ Although in the Shulchan Arukh there is an opinion of 8 thumb-widths (and not 12).
7. Why only glass? I see no reason for that.
8. That is a question you need to ask yourself.