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11 ‎[1] 11. The mitzvah of tzitzit in the time when teheilet existed: Its mitzvah was to take two doubled threads of dyed wool and two doubled threads of white wool or of flax, which would be spun for the purpose of tzitzit; had they not been spun for that purpose, they are unusable. And it is required that they be interwoven. Their length, doubled, should be three hand breadths of four fingers, with the thumb in each hand breadth. And if he wishes to add to its length he may add. One of the threads should be of longer length in order that he may wrap the fringe in it. Had he made it from thorns, meaning from the threads which are hanging on a sheet like a kind of thorn, which one customarily cuts off, or from threads, meaning the threads which extrude from the garment to sew, or from the threads which extrude from the edge of the garment, it is unusable. Had he made it from stolen wool, it is unusable. One who bows down to a beast, its wool is unusable for tzitzit, but one who bows down to planted flax, it is fit for tzitzit. He should make a perforation in the tallit within three fingers of the corner, lengthwise, and a distance from the corner in the measure from the thumb knuckle to the end of the nail. That which fills and above, up to three fingers from the corner, is the place for tzitzit. And had the distance from the corner been the space occupied by the thumb knuckle, and he severed it from the woof threads to the point where there did not remain the measure from the corner, it is fit for use. In any case, it is well to make a hem on the edge of the cloth so that he not sever it. Within the width of the garment there is no set measure, only that he should not put it on the threads that one makes on the edge of the garment. Ba’al haItur wrote that there is no upward measure; if he desires he may add as he wishes. The Ri explained that he may add up to eight doubled, which are sixteen, but no more. He should cut off the ends of the threads and insert them into the corner piece and double them over, at which point their length should be twelve fingers, which is the set length of tzitzit. He should take four threads from one side and four from the other side and tie two times one atop the other. Next, he should wrap the long thread around the seven. In the time when the teheilet existed, he was required to take great care with the wrapping, making seven sections as they are described in the gemara. At the present, when we do not have teheilet, one does not make it of mixed species, but rather of wool and wool, or flax and flax. There is also no need to take great care concerning the sections. Rambam, may his memory be a blessing, wrote: Our practice is to wrap the sections in it in the same manner which one wraps in teheilet. My master, my father, the Rosh, may his memory be a blessing, would not take such great care. The Ba’al haItur wrote that nowadays one does not need to take such great care concerning wrapping, and even if he wrapped the majority of it or only wrapped one section in it, it is fit for use; rather, the essence of its mitzvah is that he should wrap until the wrapping with the knot the width of a thumb. He ties two times and goes back and wraps; thus should he do until he completes five knots with four wrappings between them. The entire wrapping should be a hand breadth in width and the remainder two hand breadths. Further, there are other customs concerning its making, but that which I have written is the essence. He should be careful to cut the ends of the threads, making them eight prior to wrapping, for if he wrapped them and afterward cut the ends of the threads, it is unusable. But if he inserted them into the corner and subsequently cut them, it is usable; it is only that he should cut them before wrapping.
Version: Sefaria Community Translation
Source: https://www.sefaria.org
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