THE TALIT IN REFORM SERVICES

QUESTION:

A number of our Reform congregations are accustomed to have the rabbi or cantor, or both, wear a talit (or a facsimile of it) at services. Since occasionally discussions arise as to the proper times for the talit, will you please give the traditional laws concerning the services at which the talit is to be worn, either by reader or worshipers or both. (Asked by Rabbi Sherman Stein, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.)

ANSWER:

SINCE THE question confines itself to the use of the talit in the public services, there is no need for a discussion of the private or individual use of the talit, such as the talit used by bridegrooms or placed on the body of the dead over the shrouds.

As for the public use of the talit, the laws are not entirely clear because the actual provisions of the codes have been amplified by developing customs which, while observed fairly widely, are not really of legal status. The basic command in Scripture for the use of a fringed garment is from Numbers 15:39 which says (referring to the fringes) : “Thou shalt see them and remember all the commandments of God.” From this verse a number of conclusions have been drawn, first, that the fringes be visible, and second, that the fringes should be worn in the daytime, or rather, that the commandment is that they should be put on in the daytime. So all the codes (see Orach Chayim 18) are perfectly clear that the only proper time for putting on the talit is in the daytime; hence it is worn at the daylight services, at the morning, and the additional services. As for the Minchah service generally, Moses Ibn Machir in his Seder Hayom (the book through which much of the Lurianic Kabbalah came into European prayer practice) defends the custom of putting on the talit

(and tefilin) at the daily Minchah service. Eisenstein in his Otsar Dinim Uminhagim (article “Minchah”) cites this, but adds: “It is not our custom to do so. Only the reader puts on a talit, but does not pronounce the blessing over it; and if it is near dark, he does not even do that (cf. also Me’ir Netiv, article “Minchah”).

Eisenstein is, of course, correct, but only with regard to the Ashkenazim. The Sephardim seem to have been more affected by this Kabbalistic emphasis on the talit, at least on the Sabbath Minchah. Shem Tov Gaguine, who records the differences between Sephardic and Ashkenazic practice in his Keter Shem Tov, says (Vol. I, p. 5) that on the Sabbath Minchah in London only the participants (the readers, those called to the Torah, etc.) wear the talit. But in Amsterdam the whole congregation wears it. He also refers to the fact that the Kabbalists in Israel put on talit and tefilin at Minchah during the week.

This difference of emphasis on the talit between Ashkenazim and Sephardim on Minchah is very likely due to the fact that the Ashkenazim (at least on weekdays) tended to pray Minchah at a late hour and often to combine it with Maariv. Therefore, since it was getting dark, they avoided the Kabbalistic custom of putting on the talit on Minchah. Thus, too, on a fast day like the Ninth of Av, talit and tefilin (being considered a sacred decoration) are, therefore, omitted from the morning service as a sign of mourning, but are put on at the afternoon service (in both Ashkenazic and Sephardic ritual). Most authorities warn that before the Barchu of the Maariv service the talit must be taken off. Thus, even when, as often happens, Minchah and Maariv are combined and the Maariv is over while it is still light, nevertheless the talit must not be worn at the Maariv because it is properly a night prayer (cf. Bach to Orach Chayim 18 at end).

So it is with the one exception, when (the Ashkenazic) tradition requires that the talit be worn by the congregation at night, namely, at the Kol Nidre service. To explain this exception Bach (to #619) says it is because on that day the children of Israel are like angels who are dressed in garments of white (cf. Magen Avra-ham) i.e., the talit. Yet even in the case of this accepted wearing of the talit at night, most authorities warn that the talit should be put on in the afternoon before Kol Nidre, because otherwise no blessing can be recited when it is put on (Isserles to 18:1, quoting the Tasbetz #132).

As it is with the end of the day (the Maariv on fast days, the Kol Nidre on Yom Kippur) so it is with the beginning of the day before it gets light. If, for example, people put on the talit at the Selichot services while it is yet dark, they may not recite the blessing over it until the day is fully dawned, and then they are required to handle the fringes and to recite the blessings (Levush Techelet #18).

With all this varied emphasis upon the principle that the talit can only be worn during the daytime (because of the verse: “Thou shalt see them”) and with all the cautioning to recite the blessing in the daytime, when exceptionally it is worn at night (Yom Kippur, etc.) it seems strange indeed that the custom gradually arose that the reader on every Friday-night service should wear the talit, as indeed the custom came to be. This anomalous fact is explained in a number of ways. One is that it is an honor to the congregation if the reader wears a talit. Some authorities (cf. Aruch Hashulchan, Orach Chayim 18:7) say that when someone comes to the pulpit to say the orphan’s Kaddish he should put on a talit. When a preacher rises to preach to the congre gation, he should put on a talit. And the Magen Avraham (seventeenth century) in his commentary to Orach Chayim 18, extends these demonstrations of respect to the congregation and he says: “It seems to me that whoever goes to the reading desk should wear a talit because of the honor of the congregation.” The very fact that the Magen Avraham says “it seems to me,” indicates that in his time it was not an established custom (i.e., at the evening services) but that he felt it would be good practice. However by the time of the Machatsit Hashekel, Abraham Kellin (eighteenth cen-tury) it was clearly an established custom (see his com-mentary, ad. loc.).

Then a further explanation developed for always having the reader wear the talit. This was based upon the Talmud (b. Rosh Hashanah 17b) which says that God wore a talit as the reader, thus indicating that it was an imitation of God’s practice (or was it the other way around?) that the reader at any service always wore a talit. Finally a definite declaration of the custom as a fixed procedure is found in the Shulchan Aruch of the great Chasidic leader, Shneor Zalman of Ladi (Orach Chayim 18:4) : “Whoever comes before the Ark, i.e., the reader, even to pronounce Selichot and penitential prayers, must wrap himself in the large talit; even if it is merely to say the orphan’s Kaddish, there are some who say that he must wrap himself in the talit. Therefore it is permissible to wrap up in the talit even at night, for it is well known that the intention (of the reader putting on the talit) was not to fulfill the mitzvah of the fringes (which could only be in the daytime) but because of the honor of the congregation.” It is noteworthy that even this Chasidic leader, who considers the wearing of the talit at the evening service by the reader to be the proper and regular procedure, nevertheless does not say it is necessary, but “it is permitted.”

Perhaps the custom of the reader putting on the talit even in evening services was more acceptable because of the statement of Maimonides (Hilchot Tsitsit 3:8) who says that the talit may be put on at night, provided of course no blessing is uttered.

As for the use of the talit or the symbolic talit in some of our Reform temples, it is evident that the use of it in the morning service and even on Yom Kippur is quite in accordance with the legal tradition. But it so happens that our most important service in the majority of our congregations is on Friday night. It is the Fridaynight wearing of the talit that our congregations see most frequently, and it is precisely this wearing of the talit which has the shakiest foundation in Jewish tradition.