CCAR RESPONSA
Contemporary American Reform Responsa
131. Wearing a Tallit while Conducting the Friday Evening
Service
QUESTION: May a tallit be worn by the individual who
conducts a late Friday evening service? (Rabbi D. R. Prinz, Teaneck, NJ)ANSWER:
The Biblical injunction which deals with the tallit (Nu. 15.39) indicates that the fringes
are to be seen as a reminder of God’s commandment. This led later authorities to decide that the
tallit should be worn during daytime only as they could then “be seen” (Shulhan
Arukh Orah Hayim 18). Maimonides, however, indicated that a tallit may be worn at
night if no blessing is recited (Yad Hil. Tzitzit 3.8). A difference of practice between
Ashkenazim and Sephardim arose over the wearing of the tallit for the minhah
(afternoon) service. The Sephardim have been influenced by Kabbalistic practice which places
an emphasis on tallit. In the Mediterranean Basin and Sephardic congregations
elsewhere, as in Holland, everyone wears the tallit during the minhah service. In
Northern Europe only the reader and anyone called to the Torah (on shabbat
afternoon) wears the tallit (Keter Shem Tov, Vol. I, p. 5). Even in those
Ashkenazic congregations in which the tallit is worn during minhah, the authorities
urge that care be taken to remove it before maariv. The tallit has,
however, been worn by Ashkenazim and Sephardim during the Kol Nidre service
(Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 619; see Bach and Magen Avraham). Isserles suggested
that the tallit be put on in the afternoon before the Kol Nidrei service so that the
appropriate blessings could still be recited (Isserles to Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim
18.2). Despite this, the minhag of the reader wearing a tallit for an
evening service became widespread (Epstein, Arukh Hashulhan Orah Hayim 18.7).
Those who recited the orphans’ qaddish also began to wear a tallit. Both of these
practices were deemed as necessary for the “honor of the congregation” by the eighteenth
century (Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 18; see Magen Avraham; Schneer Zalman of
Ladi Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 18.4). Although originally the tallit was
worn only during the daylight hours, eventually through Kabbalistic and Hassidic customs it came
to be worn by the reader for all public services. It is appropriate for a Reform Rabbi to wear the
tallit at all public services.October 1985
If needed, please consult Abbreviations used in CCAR Responsa.