Tallit

A tallit is a Jewish prayer shawl. The tallit is worn over the outer clothes during the morning prayers (Shacharit) and worn during all prayers on Yom Kippur. The tallit has special twined and knotted fringes known as tzitzit attached to its four corners. Most traditional tallitot are made of wool, silk, or linen. Tallitot are often first worn by children on their Bar Mitzvahs. In orthodox Ashkenazi circles, a Tallit is customarily presented to a groom before marriage as part of the dowry.

The Bible does not command wearing of a unique prayer shawl or tallit. Instead, it presumes that people wore a garment of some type to cover themselves and instructs them to add fringes (tzitzit) to the 4 corners of these (Numbers 15:38, Deuteronomy 22:12). These passages do not specify tying particular types or numbers of knots in the fringes. Nor do they specify a gender division between men and women, or between native Israelite/Hebrew people and those assimilated by them. The exact customs regarding the tying of the tzitzit and the format of the tallit are of post-biblical, rabbinic origin and can vary between various Jewish communities.

Encyclopaedia Judaica describes the prayer shawl as "a rectangular mantle that looked like a blanket and was worn by men in ancient times". Also, it "is usually white and made either of wool, cotton, or silk".

The tallit can be made of any materials except a mixture of wool and linen. Usually, the mixture of wool and linen—a combination known as shatnez — is specifically forbidden by the Torah. In the case of tallit however, this is a Rabbinic prohibition, because biblically, the mixture might be allowed for a Talit during the daytime (however at nighttime there would be a transgression on behalf of the wearer). Most traditional tallitot are made of wool.

According to the biblical commandment, a blue thread known as "tekhelet" itself, is included in the tzitzit.