I
did some research when I was trying to figure out the “right” way to tie tzitzis with techeiles. This document (including the photos) started out as http://www.tekhelet.co.il/guide.htm,
and I made changes and enlargements as I went. Don’t let the length fool you
into thinking a depth of research that isn’t there. I probably misunderstood
more than one position, etc... Take it at what it’s worth: one person’s notes.
Please feel free to suggest corrections and amendments. - MB
How to Tie Tzitzis
How many strings does one attach? “Not less than 3” is the
opinion of Beis Hillel. Beis Shammai say, “Three strings of white wool, and one
of techeiles.” The halachah is
according to Beis Shammai.[1]
The Raavad rules like the literal reading of Beis Shammai
in this Sifrei, yielding 6 string ends that are white, and two that are blue.
The Rambam holds 7 and one, the last string “of techeiles” is actually spun so that one side is blue and the other
is white.
The motivation behind these two opinions is the text of Keri’as Shema[2],
which calls it “pesil techeiles – a thread of blue”. The
debate is whether “a thread”, in the singular, means one doubled over string, or
one end of the string.
How many strings are attached? “Not less than 3
strings” according to Beis Hillel. Beis Shammai say, “Four strings of techeiles, and four strings of white.
The halachah is according to Beis Shammai.[3]
This quote from the Gemara is followed by Rashi and
Tosafos who understand Beis Shammai to be referring to four doubled-over
strings, two full strings of each color, which would make four ends hanging out
of the windings of each color.
The source for this ruling is in Devorim: “gedilim taaseh lichah – you shall make cords
for yourself”. Multiple cords on each corner means multiple groups of string,
indicating at least two two pairs of strings, two being the smallest plural.
Also, Tosafos appeal to the symmetry between the mitzvos of blue and white
strings to assert that the numbers should be equal.
The Gra[4] corrects the
language of the second Sifrei to make it conform to the first. He sees no way
around the words “pesil techeiles”,
only one string is supposed to be techeiles.
However, the Gaon is unsure whether the Rambam or Raavad is correct.
Today, must of us hold that the identity of the marine
animal “chilazon” necessary for
making techeiles is unknown. Rashi[5]
writes, and Tosafos and the Rosh concur, that the blue strings are replaced by
white ones, and not just omitted. Which is why we wear 4 white strings (8
ends).
Rav Gershon Henoch of Radzin identified the chilazon with the cuttlefish, a
squid-like animal. The cuttlefish ink is processed to make a blue dye. Strings
dyed with this dye are worn today by Radziner and Breslover Chassidim. More
recently, a means of making a dye from the snail murex trunculus was found.
Many, mostly in the modern Orthodox and Hesder communities, have started
wearing strings with this dye.
In summary, there are three opinions about how many
strings ought to be techeiles, when
possible:
1- Raavad:
3 white, 1 blue
2- Rambam:
3-½ white, ½ blue
3- Rashi,
Tosafos: 2 white, 2 blue
Chulyos - Chain-links
What is the measure of a chulyah? We learned that Rebbe said, “So that you can wind, then
again, and a third time. We learned that one who minimizes shouldn’t have less
than seven, and one who maximizes may not exceed 13. One who minimizes
shouldn’t have less than 7: corresponding to the seven heavens, and one who
maximizes may not exceed 13: corresponding to the 7 heavens and the six spaces
between them.[6]
Most read this Gemara to mean that tzitzis should have 7 to 13 chulyos,
and each chulyah consists of a string
wound around the others three times.[7]
The Raavad, based on Rav Natrunai Gaon, understands the Gemara to mean that
each chulyah should ideally consist
of 7 to 13 kerichos (windings). He
alternates the color between each individual kerichah, and requires an odd number of alternations (i.e. 7, 9, 11
or 13 kerichos) so that the it begins
and ends with a white winding.
Rava says. “This implies one must tie a knot after
each and every chulyah.”[8]
Rava says. “This implies that the uppermost knot is
an obligation from the Torah”.[9]
It is unclear if the “uppermost knot” means the one
closest to the garment or furthest.
It is also unclear from the flow of the Gemara whether the
second statement is in addition to, or a replacement for, the first. If Rava’s first
statement remains at the end of the discussion, the Gemara associates the
number of chulyos with the number of kesharim. In other words, a chuliah is defined as a set of windings
grouped by a kesher.
Alternatively, there are a number of opinions that assume
the Gemara rejects the first statement of Rava as an incorrect variant of the
final statement. This requires having something other than a kesher group the kerichos into chulyos. Of the extant shitos, only that
of Rav Amram Gaon offers an alternative. According to him, each chulyah is a solid color, and the chulyos alternate color, first white,
then blue, then white ... with an odd number of chulyos (either 7, 9, 11 or 13 chulyos
of three windings) so that the last chulyah
is also white. In this way, the chulyos
are distinguished by color, and do not need separating or grouping knots to be
distinct.
Last, it is the opinion of the Rosh, Tosafos and Rashi who say that chulyos are a law in techeiles,
and that their nature need not be resolved until techeiles is properly identified. This seems to be the opinion
followed by most of contemporary Jewry.
Colors of chulyos:
1- Tosafos:
all blue
2- Rambam:
first winding and last winding white, the rest blue
3- Rav
Natrunai Gaon: alternate kerichos
within the chuliah, white, blue,
white ... insuring that you start and end with white
4- Rav
Amram Gaon: alternate chulyos between
white and blue, the first and last must be white; each chulyah is a single color
Types of chulyos:
1- Rambam:
three windings, made distinct by knotting (Yemen: this means the winding-knot);
7 to 13 chulyos
2- Rav
Amram Gaon derivatives: three windings, made distinct by color (as above) with
5 knots interspersed; 7-13 chulyos
3- Ra’avad:
7, 9, 11, or 13 windings of alternating color (R’ Natruna’i, above); 4 chulyos
4- Rosh
(without techeiles): arbitrary number
of windings, 4 chulyos
Kesharim - Knots
The Medrash Tanchumah’s description calls for five knots:
“Tzitzis”
equals 600 [in gematria], 8 strings
and 5 knots add up to 613 [the number of mitzvos in the Torah].[10]
This notion is repeated by Rashi on Parshas Shelach and on
Menachos.
This presents us with a dilemma, since a knot after each chulyah, plus possibly one on top, would
yield 7 to 14 (13 chulyos plus 1)
knots, not the five of the medrash.
Two interpretations of the Gemara avoid this problem.
According to the Raavad, the Gemara does not specify the number of chulios. With only four chulyos, one would have an upper knot
and four chulyah knots, which
conforms to the 5 knots of the Tanchuma.
According to Rav Amram Gaon, a chulyah is defined by the color of its windings, not by a
separating knot. We can therefore have multiple chulios per kesher – and
the seven to thirteen chulios
required by the Gemara could be interspersed amongst only five knots.
The Rambam appears to ignore the medrash and requires one
knot per chulyah. This is justifiable
since the Medrash Tanchuma is not a halachic work, and the Gemara ignores the
view.
The Yemenites (as is their wont) largely follow the
Rambam, and make 13 sets of winding-knots. In addition, they make a knot after
all the windings as the uppermost knot that Rava tells us the Torah requires.
A fourth resolution is that of the Rosh, the Tosafos and
Rashi who do not resolve the problem. However, without techeiles, the number of windings per chulyah and the number of chulyos
is unimportant, and can be decided to fit whatever symbolism you would like.
Since there is a source for 5 knots, 4 chulyos
of symbolic length between them is normal.
The last position is to bifurcate the notion of kesher into the 5 knots of the medrash
and the knot for each chulyah. This
is how the Radziner Rebbe zt”l understood the Baal HaTanya’s interpretation of
the Ari. The knots on the side are the “knots after each chulyah”. In addition there are 5 double knots to satisfy the
medrash’s numeric symbolism.
The traditional Yemenite definition of “kesher” is that the winding is knotted
together. The Sepharadi knot per winding is not a “kesher”; as we saw, there is at most one knot per chulyah, not per kerichah. Tosafos reject this idea, explaining that we consistently
find the Talmud using the word “kesher”
to mean a double knot, such as in the laws of Shabbos. They therefore define kesher as double knot including all 8
strings.
Types of kesharim:
1- Yemen:
a- one knotted loop of three windings; b- one final biblical knot
2- Tosafos:
5 double knots
3- Baal
HaTanya: a- tying together the windings of the chulyah; b- 5 double knots
Kerichos - Windings:
In Ashkenazi custom a winding is simple. Take the shamash, the winding string, and wrap it
around the others.
Sepharadim make a loop out of the shamash and wind around the others and through the loop, and then
tighten. When done, there is a daisy chain down the side of the windings.
The Baal HaTanya understood the Ari’s custom to be similar
to the Sepharadi, but a single loop is used to make groups of three windings
(as discussed above). The Radziner Rebbe held that these are the kesharim required by the Gemara, one per
kerichah. This is in addition to the
.
Yemenite custom is more complex, and combines the ideas of
kerichos and kesharim. You make a loop and wind three times around the other
strings and through the loop. The windings are then unwound from the loop side,
moving them to the loop itself, which is not a knot that appears as three
windings from the outside.
Again, to summarize, there are four definitions of a kerichah:
1-Ashkenaz:
each kerichah is a simple wrap of one
string around the others.
2- Sepharad:
loop, and then wrap through the loop.
2-Radzin:
a chulyah is a knot that loops over
three kerichos, each a simple
winding.
3- Yemen:
each chulyah is a knot, the outside
of which is visible as three windings which are the kerichos.
1- Ashkenaz:
Most Ashkenazim do not
believe we can currently make techeiles.
They therefore follow the Ro”sh and wind four chulyos to accommodate five knots. The number of windings total 39,
the same as 13 chulyos of 3 kerichos. This number of windings isnt
chosen for “laws of tzitzis reasons”
but to symbolize the connection to the 39 categories of work (melachos)
prohibited on Shabbos. Each chulyah
has 7, 8, 11 and 13 windings, respectively. The melachos are also broken down
into 4 groups: 13 related to crops, 11 are about making clothing, 8 for cooking
and 7 miscellaneous.
Each knot is a double knot
of all 8 strings, following Tosafos.
2- Sepharad:
Sepharadim also do not use
one of the blue dies, and also rely on the Ro”sh. The two differences with
Ashkenazi custom are in the definition of chulyah,
where the Sepharadim require a loop on the side, and in the number of windings
of each chulyah. Sepharadim wind 10,
5 6 and 5 windings in the four chulyos,
following the gematria for each
letter in the tetragrammaton.
3- Rambam version I, Yemen:
The
Yemenite community make 13 chulyos of
three knotted windings each (see above), in accordance with the Rambam, and one
final knot to fulfil the requirement of the Torah according to Rava. There are
no double knots. The first and last kerichos
are white.
4- Rambam, version II:
The
Rambam is unclear in how he defined a kesher.
Another understanding, that practiced by Rav Herchel Schachter shlit”a, is that he requires a 13 chulyos placed between 14 double knots.
The first and last kerichos are
white.
5- Tosafos I:
The first opinion in Tosafos also 13 chulyos (same colors) placed between 14
double knots. The difference is that all the kerichos are blue – including the first and last.
6- Shulchan Aruch HaRav
The Shulchan Aruch HaRav, and therefore a number of
forms of Chassidus, follows the Ari, in that the knots around the chulyos are independent of the four
double knots. They make 13 chulyos of
three windings each, but also place double knots after 7, 8, 11 and 13 windings
like other Ashkenazim. This means that the second and fourth knots split chulyos into two, so that the total
pattern is:
double-knot;
3 in one
side-knot, 3, 1; double-knot;
2, 3, 3;
double-knot;
3, 3, 3, 2;
double-knot;
1,
3, 3, 3, 3; double-knot
6a- Radzin and Breslov:
They use cuttlefish dye, and follow the Rambam’s
ruling that the first and last winding be white. Other than that, they follow
the Shulchan Aruch HaRav.
7- Raavad:
The
Raavad had 4 chulyos between 5 double
knots. The windings of each chulyah
alternate in color (following R Natrunai), but must begin and end with white.
His chulyos were therefore 7, 9, 11
or 13 windings wide.
8- Rav
Amram Gaon:
Rav
Amram Gaon defined chulyah as a
stripe made by three windings of one color. A “kesher” is a loop on the side, to tie together the windings. He made
7, 9, 11, or 13 chulyos starting with
white and alternating in color to end with white.
8a- Baal Haittur:
The Baal Haittur only differed in that defined “kesher” like Tosafos, a double knot, and
so he alternated the stripes with double knots.
In these opinions, there are 5 knots. Chulyos are three windings each of alternating
color as per Rav Amram Gaon. Therefore they are distinguished by color, and
dont require knots to separate them, following the Tanchuma rather than the
first quote of Rava. There are three variants, as shown in this table. (Photos:
Chinuch, top; Gr”a bottom.)
|
Chinuch |
Gr”a |
Tosafos |
|
Knot |
knot |
knot |
|
White |
white |
white |
|
Blue |
blue |
blue |
|
White |
white |
|
|
Knot |
blue |
|
|
Blue |
knot |
knot |
|
White |
white |
white |
|
Blue |
blue |
blue |
|
Knot |
white |
|
|
white |
blue |
|
|
Blue |
knot |
knot |
|
white |
white |
white |
|
Knot |
blue |
blue |
|
Blue |
white |
|
|
white |
blue |
|
|
Blue |
knot |
knot |
|
white |
white |
white |
|
Knot |
knot |
knot |
