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What I’ve Been Up To Lately
- Remember kids, Twitter Torah experiment at 2:30PM EST: Collaborative discussion on Parshat Balak. Get in on it at #balak. 20 hrs ago
- RT @spagnoloacht Video of my Creative Commons Salon presentation on the Jewish Digital Narratives platform http://blip.tv/file/2305108/ 1 day ago
- Yes Men pull out of Jerusalem Film Fest http://su.pr/1uJUsU 1 day ago
- More updates...
Talit HaKatan Shel Shabbatai Tzvi
Speak to the children of Israel and say to them,
they should make themselves tzitzit on the corners of their clothing
throughout their generations,
and give the tzitzit of each corner a thread of blue.
And they shall be tzitzit for you,
and when you look at them you will remember all of the Lord’s commandments
and do them and not follow after your heart
and after your eyes, which lead you astray.
In order to remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your God.
This verse comes from The Shema — the holiest prayer in Judaism, which is found in the Torah (The Old Testament).
Tzitzit are those funky fringes you see hanging out of religious Jews’ pants. As you can see, the intention of the fringes is so that you look down at them and remember all the commandments in the Torah. “There are 613 mitzvahs [commandments] in the Torah. The numerical value of the word Tzizit is equal to 600, plus the 8 strands, plus the 5 coils. This is a total of 613.” Hence, the tzitzit serve as a symbolic reminder of the commandments.
So there’s a portion of the Sifra (Kedoshim 4:12, thanks MB!) where the rabbis are debating what the point of Torah is. What’s the deal with all these commandments? Where are they supposed to get us? One rabbi pipes up, “B’nai Adam!” We should recognize that all of humanity are the children of Adam! Another chimes in, “B’tselem elokim!” Everyone is created in the image of G-d! And finally the last, “V’ahavta l’rekha kamokha!” Love your brother as yourself!
Hence, what is the point of wearing tzitzit? So that you should remember that all of humanity are the children of Adam, that we are all created in the image of G-d, and that you should love your brother as yourself.
And, considering the current attitude of mainstream Jewry towards the Islamic world (be it justified in some ways or not), who moreso than our brother Ishmael and his descendants, the Arab Muslim people, could truly benefit from our recognition of these klalim gedolim (major themes) of Torah?
One kaffiyeh, one set of tzitzit, a whole lotta thread, and a few drops of blood later, I give you the talit katan kaffiyeh. A Mobius “Sorefinger” original. Because fringes are apparently not enough.
…Oy, the hell I’m gonna catch for this one. I’d wear ‘em out on the street but I’m afraid I might get stabbed.
Wow. Someone up there’s just been struck dumb with their own creativity in forming you
And I’m impressed I have the opportunity to share a common tselem with an individual who would take that kind of step.
Yishar-kochecha
Incindentally, what custom do you use to tie the tekhelet on?
Yasher Koach, Mobius. Very creative and a very good point.
i don’t really have an inyan alan. i went by standard tying instructions. if and when i find a friend who knows better, i’ll have him or her retie them.
Okay cool, just wondered if you had a favorite. Nobody’s really expert in that arena anyway.
Frankly,
I can’t stand it, but heck, it’s a fucking incrediblly fine statement.
Sh’koyach.
And rightfully so
Wow…
I’d just like to add a different version of how tzitzit remind you to keep mitzvot:
Tekheilet is the color of the sea,
and the sea is the color of the sky,
and the sky is the color of God’s throne.
And it looks like you’ve got tekheilet on there!
Which kind did you get?
http://www.tekhelet.com
or
http://www.begedivri.com/teche...
?
But… why did you title the post “Talit HaKatan Shel Shabbatai Tzvi? What does your crazy kaffiyeh tzitzit-beged have to do with Sabbatianism?
he converted to islam
beurk…
it’s a shame.
Wow.
Brilliant.
FWIW, I tie my tchelet the same way.
khaver! teyere khaver!
brings tears to my eyes.
joyful and bitter….
and makes me want to to make one and wear it every day – and for a 3rd generation apikoyres like me, that’s ***something***.
*so* much respect and khavershaft.
I wonder if your subconcious didnt get the idea from my phrase “the kafiyeh tallis” when i posred on the neturei kartaniks praying for arafat’s health wearing kaffiyehs for the prayer service.
I wonder if your subconcious didnt get the idea from my phrase “the kafiyeh tallis” when i posred on the neturei kartaniks praying for arafat’s health wearing kaffiyehs for the prayer service.
Love it, Moby. Really superb.
And TTC, that meme began with me, I think.
that actually came to mind while i was sewing it. if i manufactured these i bet NK would buy a caseload.
DUDe, i came up with that one on my own and i do believe my posts were before yours!
no point quibbling — it’s clearly an idea whose time has come. and this is the nicest one i’ve seen. i’ll buy one when they go on sale.
religious anarchist zionists unite!
Talit Katan shel Kefirah is better of a title i think
BS”D
I’m telling all my Muslim friends!
i came across your page by accident. I was looking for a blue and white kaffiyeh. Why? because I have one on now as a scarf not tallis qatan, with tzit-tzit tied into it. i didn’t know that anyone else ever did this. tend to be anarchist 2.
my son freaked out when he saw it because he thinks someone will kill me! he says why look like palestinian. I say take that frown and turn it upside down. What if Jews take a symbol of hate for them and make it their own with the tzit tzit?
We Jews did wear the Keffiyah as well as turbans back in the day before we “wanted” to look like Russians, Europeans, Americans etc. We should not forget that we are indeed Middle Easterners.
There are 3 major ways to tie the TziTzot. It’s all in wich way you preffer (and/or wich way you were taught is correct). I like the sephardic method of looping the threads back underneath the preceeding loop. It looks prettier and can be easily applied to the ashkenazi and Yemmenite tradtions of tying. The biggest difference is where you tye the actual knots and what math is used to get to 613.
Very nice work by the way.
You can also wearTallit and the Tzitzit tucked inside your other garments if you are in an area that displaying them might get you more attention than is desired; though it’s preffered to wrap them around your belt or better yet to hang loose.
[...] Talit HaKatan Shel Shabbatai Tzvi [...]
[...] The night I came up with my now infamous kaffieyh tzitzit (aka tallit kattan shel Shabbatai Tzvi) one of the thoughts that crossed my mind was to create a blue and white kaffieyh laden with Magen Davids instead of black diamonds. The scope of the project was well beyond my means, but it was one of those brain crack ideas I kept on the back-burner, awaiting the right moment in which I could finally pull it off. [...]