The Importance of the Tzitzit
Jews place a lot of importance and value on the tallit. However, the tallit itself has no religious or spiritual significance to the Jews. Instead, they wear this prayer shawl due to the tzitzit placed on the four corners of the tallilot.
The tzitzit is the fringes or the tassels on the tallits. Wearing the tzitzit is considered as a time-bound commandment; this means male Jews, at a certain point in their life, are required to wear the tzitzit. The tradition of wearing the tzitzit came from the book of Numbers in the Hebrew Bible. In this particular verse, God said the Israelites should wear the tzitzit on the corners of their clothing as a remembrance of their faith and observance of the mitzvah (or their commandments). During these days, male Jews wear rectangular-shaped garments on the outer layer of their regular clothing, which allows them to wear the tzitzit or the fringes on the corners.
The wearing of the tzitzit is considered by many as one of the major Jewish practices, comparable to the likes of Brit Milah (or the covenant of circumcision). Besides serving as reminder of the mitzvah for the Jews, the tzitzit serves also as a remembrance of the of the Israelities exodus from Egypt.
Of course, today, wearing the tzitzit is no longer viable or possible. For one, the clothes of today no longer have four corners or edges. The edges are an important part of the tradition, because it was specifically said that the tzitzit should cover the body. So the Jewish authorities have opted to use the tzitzit on prayer shawls or the tallits instead. They consider is change in the tradition a transgression, because this was not how the tzitzit was intended to be used. But this change was also necessary in order to keep the Jews from maintaining the practice.
In fact, the tzitzit today is no longer exactly the same as before. This is because of the tekhelet. The tekhelet is a type of color dye, and the Hebrew Bible instructs the Jews to use this color on one or more of the fringes of the tzitzit. However, the tekhelet, said to have come from a type of snail, is no longer available. So the Jews use plain white fringes on the tzitzit instead. Some Jews, however, use different shades of blue to represent the tekhelet, while some use black to mourn for losing the said color shade.
Before the use of the tallits as people know them today, however, the Jews used tzitzit on tallit katan, an undergarment that is rectangular in shape. The tallis of today evolved from this type of garment.
The tzitzit on the tallits are no merely fringes, however, since it requires the knowledge on how to tie it properly. Each knot has a numerical importance, each part symbolizing a particular element in the Jewish tradition. While anyone can make tallit, the Jews are careful when they are tying the tzitzit since it is the most important part of the prayer shawl.
