All¹ are subject to the obligation of zizith. R. Simeon exempts women since [the commandment of zizith] is a positive commandment which is dependent on a fixed time.² is restricted to day-time. Any minor who knows how to wrap himself with a ṭallith³, but applied to the shawl to which it is attached. [Cf. the wording of the benediction connected with the performance of the commandment in P.B., p. 14, where ‘fringed garment’ is simply zizith in the Heb.] should be provided with it by his father. A ṭallith which is [long enough to] cover one’s head and the greater part of the body is subject to zizith.

footnotes: ¹ Even women. ² From which women are exempt. The duty of wearing zizith ³ lit. zizith

As regards a [linen] sheer, Beth Shammai exempt it [from zizith],⁴ in a linen garment are forbidden as mingled stuff, wool and linen together (Deut. 22, 11). but Beth Hillel declare it liable.⁵ is superseded by the commandment of zizith, since the prohibition in Deut. is immediately followed (in verse 12) by the commandment of twisted cords or zizith. The juxtaposition of the two commandments indicates that the latter supersedes the former. An undergarment is exempt, but R. ‘Aḳiba holds that it is liable. A [double-sized] ṭallith that is folded over is subject to zizith, but R. Simeon exempts it.⁶ would not be in their proper place, in the four corners, but in the middle of the sheet. A ṭallith consisting entirely of blue wool is subject to zizith.⁷ does not exempt it from zizith although one thread of blue (Num. 25, 39) in each of the four zizith is sufficient. A bolster converted into a sheet or a sheet converted into a ṭallith is subject to zizith. A night garment and bed-curtains⁸ are exempt from zizith.⁹ (ibid.), which rules out garments worn during the night. A toga,¹⁰ with Jastrow. V has ṭrigon which means ‘a triangular [cloak]’. [It was oval in shape and therefore did not require zizith; cf. Krauss, Talmudische Archäologie, I, p. 611, n. 589.] a travelling cloak,¹¹ which Jastrow emends to pinolës (the Greek phainoles). [It is the paenula worn by Roman slaves; Krauss, op. cit. I, p. 170.] shawls fastened at the shoulder,¹², which Jastrow reads as pibolaṭorin, the Latin fibulatorium. a cloak worn on the head,¹³. [Krauss loc. cit. identifies it with saga Nervica, a garment of various materials and in different colours.) and an ’anṭenah¹⁴, a kind of Roman toga. are exempt. This is the general rule: Any [garment] that is without four corners is exempt from zizith.

footnotes: ⁴ Because woollen zizith ⁵ In their view the prohibition of wearing mingled stuff ⁶ Since if it should happen to be unfolded, the zizith ⁷ The blue texture of the ṭallith ⁸ Or, ‘covers’. ⁹ In the commandment it is stated, That ye may look upon it ¹⁰ Reading ṭoga’ ¹¹ In V pilgas ¹² In V pokaltorin ¹³ In V ’arbiḳwah ¹⁴ According to Jastrow possibly a corruption of the Greek tebenna

As for the commandment of zizith, Beth Shammai say: [It requires that there shall be] four threads, [each] of four finger-[breadths in length]; but Beth Hillel say: Three threads [each] of three finger-[breadths in length]. R. Jose b. Judah remarked: Although Beth Hillel said, ‘Three [threads, each] of three [finger-breadths in length]’, their ruling is practically identical with that of the other.¹⁵

footnotes: ¹⁵ lit. ‘the words of these are near to be like the words of those’; i.e. of Beth Hillel, who refer to the fingers of a larger hand, and Beth Shammai to those of a smaller hand.

Leaving out [from the zizith] the blue threads though not the white ones, or the white threads though not the blue ones, invalidates them because [the absence of] either the blue or the white invalidates the other. R. [Ishmael]¹⁶ maintains: The absence of one does not invalidate the other.

footnotes: ¹⁶ The name is added in H.

[The absence of one] of the four zizith invalidates the others, because all of them [constitute] a single religious observance. R. Ishmael says: They are four independent observances.

[Each] zizith is inserted [in a hole] within three finger-[breadths] of [each] corner; farther away than this is invalid If it was inserted in the border, it is invalid; if between a handbreadth [from the edge] and the border, it is valid. R. Eliezer b. Jacob declares it to be invalid. [If a strip less than three finger-breadths in length]¹⁷ was cut off [from a ṭallith]¹⁸ (Rashi ad loc.). and then rejoined to it, [the ṭallith] is valid. R. Meir declares it to be invalid.¹⁹ within three finger-breadths from the corner, one might use a hanging thread left from the sewing as one of the four threads required for the zizith. But that would render the entire fringe invalid, since all the threads have to be made specifically for the purpose of the commandment, whereas the hanging thread was one ready made (cf. Men. Sonc. ed., p. 248, nn. 1f.). [If the detached part] was made into [a smaller ṭallith] on its own, it is valid.

footnotes: ¹⁷ So according to Men. 41a (Sonc. ed., pp. 247f.). ¹⁸ That had no zizith ¹⁹ His reason being that, as it is proper to insert zizith

If one buys a ṭallith from an idolater or a Samaritan and found blue threads in it, it is invalid;²⁰ blue, which is the only colour that is recognized. but [if a ṭallith is bought] from an Israelite, it is presumed to be valid.

footnotes: ²⁰ The colour might not be that of the ḥillazon

A ṭallith, one of whose zizith is missing,²¹ may be worn in public.²² If two zizith are missing it may be folded into triangular shape.²³. If three zizith are missing, it may not be worn in public.²⁴

footnotes: ²¹ lit. ‘taken’. ²² lit. ‘one takes hold of it and goes out’. ²³ So covering the missing zizith ²⁴ lit. ‘to go out with it’.

Ẓizith [of a ṭallith used as a shroud] upon a corpse should not be undone.²⁵ would be an insult to the dead, which is condemned in Prov. 17, 5, Whoso mocketh the poor blasphemeth his Maker, and a dead man is the poorest of all. Abba Saul b. Boṭhnith said, ‘My father told me, “When I die, undo the zizith [in my ṭallith] because they come within the category of holiness”‘.²⁶ is used as a shroud. The Sages said: It does not come within the category of holiness, so one may use it as a shroud for the dead or as a pack-saddle for an ass.

footnotes: ²⁵ The removal of the zizith ²⁶ And should be undone before the ṭallith

Should a man dye [the zizith of] a ṭallith for himself, they are invalid for religious use if he intended to test [the dye].²⁷ must be for the specified purpose of the commandment. The reading ‘to test’ [lenassoth] is preferable to the variant ‘to cover himself’ [lekassoth]. If he dyed them [with an ordinary dye], even four or five times, they are invalid, since the blue [of the zizith] must be dyed only with that of ḥillazon.²⁸ What does the ḥillazon resemble? In its formation it resembles a fish and [the colour of] its body resembles [the blueness of] the sky. Its appearance is a very rare occurrence²⁹ and consequently it is very costly.

footnotes: ²⁷ The dyeing of zizith ²⁸ A species of mollusc. ²⁹ lit. ‘it only rises [from the sea] in seventy years’.

If one finds blue [threads], even though they are twined,³⁰ are. they are invalid, since the blue [for zizith] may be bought only from a reliable person.³¹ blue may be used.

footnotes: ³⁰ As zizith ³¹ Or, ‘expert’, who knows that only ḥillazon