The Holes in the Corners of a Tzitzis Garment
Question: Regarding the holes through which the tzitzis strings are threaded, how far should they be from the edge of the tallis?
Discussion: Chazal determined very specific criteria for the Torah’s requirement that the tzitzis be attached to “the corners of the garment.”184 If the hole is too close or too far from the edge, one does not fulfill the mitzvah of tzitzis, and a berachah recited on such tzitzis is considered in vain.185
In practical terms, one should position the hole such that the bottom of the hole186 is not more than 6 cm187 from the edge of the garment, and not less than 4 cm188 (these measures comfortably ensure that the hole is neither too close nor too far from the edge). It is best that the hole be made just over 4.5 cm from the edge.189
These distances should be measured in a straight line from the hole to the edge of the garment in both directions; not in a diagonal to the corner of the garment.190 Additionally, the measure is made in the garment before the tzitzis strings are attached; if the garment bunches up after the tzitzis are attached, we pay no heed to the reduction in the garment’s length.
Usually the holes are pre-made by the manufacturer, but the holes should be checked before purchase to make sure they are properly positioned.
If the edge of the hole begins to tear after a while, bringing the tzitzis strings closer to the edge than the desired 4 cm, the tzitzis remain valid, since they were tied on properly in the first place.191
Question: Why is it that some tallis garments have two holes in each corner? Is that preferable?
Discussion: Beis Yosef (end of Chapter 11) cites an approach held by Baal HaIttur, that the tzitzis should be threaded through two holes, with both sides of the folded string emerging on the same side of the garment, rather than each side of the folded string hanging down a separate side of the garment. This is in order to make it more apparent that the tzitzis tassel is in fact made of four doubled strings, rather than eight strings. Beis Yosef himself notes that the vast majority of Jews in his day strung the tzitzis strings through a single hole, with each side of the folded string indeed emerging from a different side of the garment. He concludes it would be considered haughty to make a point of following Baal HaIttur’s approach, and one should adhere to the commonly held practice of threading the tzitzis through a single hole.
Nevertheless, it was the practice of a number of great Kabbalists192 to have two holes through which the tzitzis strings were threaded. Bach states that it might be haughty to follow this approach with a tallis gadol, which is more conspicuous, but there is no such problem with the tallis kattan, which no one sees. Mishnah Berurah193 concludes that the matter depends on the custom of each community. Today, the tallis kattan with the single hole is more commonly worn, but many Chassidic Jews will wear a tallis kattan with two holes.194
Note that if one purchased a tallis kattan with two holes, it is perfectly acceptable to thread the tzitzis strings through only one of them, as one would do with a tallis kattan that only had one hole.
184 See Shulchan Aruch 11:9, and Mishnah Berurah ad loc. 46.
185 Mishnah Berurah 11: 43-44.
186 Mishnah Berurah 11:44.
187 This is in keeping with the measurements of R’ Chaim Na’eh, whose opinion (of smaller measurements) is stricter in this instance.
188 Middos V’shiurei Torah, 7:22, writes that the measurements provided by Chazal for this purpose is difficult to translate into a clear standard measurement. Nevertheless, he concludes that the above measurement is definitely sufficient, and that there is room for leniency as long as the hole is at least 3.6 cm from the edge of the garment.
189 Hilchos Yom B’yom, Tefillah I, 10:30, p. 327, following Arizal, cited in Mishnah Berurah 11: 42 and Beiur Halachah ad loc. ד"ה היינו גודלין.
190 Mishnah Berurah 11:47.
191 Shulchan Aruch 11:10; 15:5.
192 Cited in Mishnah Berurah below. See Me’asef Lichol Hamachanos 11 note 65 for an explanation of this practice based on Kabbalah.
193 Chapter 11, note 39.
194 Shtilei Zeisim Hashalem p. 79, Piskei Teshuvos 11:21.