הכל חייבים בציצית רבי שמעון פוטר בנשים מפני שהזמן גרמא כל קטן שהוא יודע להתעטף בציצית אביו עושה לו ציצית טלית שהוא מכסה ראשו ורובו חייבת בציצית: All1Even women. 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.2From which women are exempt. The duty of wearing zizith is restricted to day-time. Any minor who knows how to wrap himself with a ṭallith3lit. zizith, 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.
וסדין ב״ש פוטרין וב״ה מחייבין אפיקרסין פטורה ור׳ עקיבא אומר חייבת טלית כפולה חייבת בציצית ר׳ שמעון פוטר טלית שכולה תכלת חייבת בציצית כר שעשאו סדין וסדין שעשאו טלית הרי אלו חייבין כסות הלילה ופרסי המטה הרי אלו פטורין מן הציצית והטריגון והפילגס ופוכלתרין וארביקוה ואנטנה הרי אלו פטורין זה הכלל כל שאין לו ארבע כנפים פטור מן הציצית: As regards a [linen] sheer, Beth Shammai exempt it [from zizith],4Because woollen zizith in a linen garment are forbidden as mingled stuff, wool and linen together (Deut. 22, 11). but Beth Hillel declare it liable.5In their view the prohibition of wearing mingled stuff is superseded by the commandment of zizith, since the prohibition in Deut.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.6Since if it should happen to be unfolded, the zizith 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.7The blue texture of the ṭallith 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-curtains8Or, ‘covers’. are exempt from zizith.9In the commandment it is stated, That ye may look upon it (ibid.), which rules out garments worn during the night. A toga,10Reading ṭoga’ 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,11In V pilgas 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,12In V pokaltorin, which Jastrow reads as pibolaṭorin, the Latin fibulatorium. a cloak worn on the head,13In V ’arbiḳwah. [Krauss loc. cit. identifies it with saga Nervica, a garment of various materials and in different colours.) and an ’anṭenah14According to Jastrow possibly a corruption of the Greek tebenna, a kind of Roman toga. are exempt. This is the general rule: Any [garment] that is without four corners is exempt from zizith.
מצות ציצית ב״ש אומרים ארבע חוטין של ארבע אצבעות וב״ה אומרים שלש חוטין של שלש אצבעות א״ר יוסי בר יהודה אף שאמרו ב״ה שלש של שלש קרובים דברי אלו להיות כדברי אלו: 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.15lit. ‘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.
שייר את התכלת ולא שייר את הלבן את הלבן ולא את התכלת מעכב שהתכלת והלבן מעכבין זה את זה רבי אומר אינם מעכבים: 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]16The name is added in H. maintains: The absence of one does not invalidate the other.
ארבע ציציות מעכבות זו את זו מפני שכולן מצוה אחת הן ר׳ ישמעאל אומר ארבע מצות הן: [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.
הציצית ניתנה בתוך ג׳ אצבעות של כנף יתר מכאן פסולה ניתנה בפתיל פסולה בין טפח לפתיל כשרה ר׳ אליעזר בן יעקב פוסל קצצה וחיברה כשרה ר״מ פוסל עשאה בפני עצמה כשרה : [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]17So according to Men. 41a (Sonc. ed., pp. 247f.). was cut off [from a ṭallith]18That had no zizith (Rashi ad loc.). and then rejoined to it, [the ṭallith] is valid. R. Meir declares it to be invalid.19His reason being that, as it is proper to insert zizith 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.
הלוקח טלית מן העובד כוכבים ומן הכותי ומצא בה תכלת הרי זו פסולה ומשל ישראל הרי זו בחזקתה: If one buys a ṭallith from an idolater or a Samaritan and found blue threads in it, it is invalid;20The colour might not be that of the ḥillazon blue, which is the only colour that is recognized. but [if a ṭallith is bought] from an Israelite, it is presumed to be valid.
טלית שנטלה אחת מציציותיה אוחז בה ויוצא ניטלו שתים מכסה כמין טריגון ניטלו שלש אסור לצאת בה: A ṭallith, one of whose zizith is missing,21lit. ‘taken’. may be worn in public.22lit. ‘one takes hold of it and goes out’. If two zizith are missing it may be folded into triangular shape.23So covering the missing zizith. If three zizith are missing, it may not be worn in public.24lit. ‘to go out with it’.
אין מתירין ציצית על המת אבא שאול בן בטנית אומר אבא אמר לי כשאמות התיר לו ציציות שיש בה משום קדושה וחכמים אומרים אין בה משום קדושה אלא עושה אותה תכריך למת ומרדעת לחמור: Ẓizith [of a ṭallith used as a shroud] upon a corpse should not be undone.25The removal of the zizith 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”‘.26And should be undone before the ṭallith 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.
הצובע טלית לעצמו אם (לכסות) [לנסות] בה הרי זו פסולה צבעה אפילו ארבעה וחמשה פעמים פסולה שאין צובעין תכלת אלא בחלזון חלזון למה הוא דומה בריאתו דומה לדג וגופו דומה לרקיע ואינו עולה אלא (לשבע) [לשבעים] שנים לפיכך דמיו ביוקר: Should a man dye [the zizith of] a ṭallith for himself, they are invalid for religious use if he intended to test [the dye].27The dyeing of zizith 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.28A species of mollusc. 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 occurrence29lit. ‘it only rises [from the sea] in seventy years’. and consequently it is very costly.
המוצא תכלת אף על פי שהיא שזורה פסולה שאין לוקחין תכלת אלא מן המומחה: If one finds blue [threads], even though they are twined,30As zizith are. they are invalid, since the blue [for zizith] may be bought only from a reliable person.31Or, ‘expert’, who knows that only ḥillazon blue may be used.