How to put on a Tallit and matters of Tallit size

The Tallit is put on before the commencement ofup to the same side of the chest. The final stance
the morning prayers. It is only after the Prayer Shawlshould see all tzitzit (4) lie on the left. Two must be
has been donned that the person can wear theat the front and the remaining two behind. Should a
tefillin. Mitzvah of the tzitzit can only be ideally doneperson find the need to remove the Tallit for a brief
after the individual is fully draped in this fringedperiod of time, say to visit the restroom, and he or
garment. This is in turn only achieved after theshe intends to wear that same prayer shawl
donning of the prayer shawl. Before the Tallit can bethereafter, there is no need to say the blessing once
worn, the individual has to recite a special blessing.again when re-wearing the prayer shawl. If the
Prior to donning the Tallit, one should have made aperson did not intend to re-don the Tallit and finds
thorough inspection of the tzitzit strings to ensurethe need to do so then it is mandatory that the
that none of these are torn. This is in fact theblessing be repeated.
practice that is followed day after day and theSometimes the Tallit may inadvertently slip off. In this
significance of doing so is to have the prayer shawlinstance, wearing the prayer shawl must be preceded
always maintained in a condition of kosher. In theby the blessing. The only exception is if some part of
course of the examination, any entangles fringes arethe prayer shawl managed to stay on the body.
disentangled. It is necessary to have these fringes inHands are not considered body here. If the slip
a singular orientation as each of these depicts aoccurs during prayer, the person can wear the Tallit
unique mitzvah.without saying the blessing so as not to interrupt
The donning of the Tallit is broken down into fourproceedings. After prayers are over the person must
stages. In the first stage, the individual, who has tofind a place and say the blessing while holding the
be in a standing position, has the folded prayer shawlprayer shawl’s fringes. This is the same case
over his/her right shoulder. This is the position inshould it happen that one donned the Tallit without
which the tzitzit are examined. Secondly, the personhaving his/her hands in the morning.
unfolds the Tallit. It is opened wide and the personAspects of size are also very important when it
proceeds to kiss the upper edge of the prayer shawl.comes to wearing the Tallit. The law that governs
After this, it is swung such that it changes positionthis statute dictates that the least size of prayer
from your front to hanging on your back. It is at thisshawl should be able to cloth a child who is of the
point that one begins to recite the blessings. Onage of standing and walking. There exist charts that
completing the blessings, one proceeds to grasp thehelp to determine the appropriate size of Tallit
prayer shawl’s 2 right corners and this isaccording to the height of the individual. These charts
followed by raising them up. Finally, these corners areare separate for the case of modern Tallits and
placed on the other shoulder (the left) and broughttraditional Tallis.