Talitot and tefillin - order of putting
In the Talmudic and post-Talmudic periods the tefillin were worn by rabbis and scholars all day, and a special tallit was worn at prayer; hence they put on the tefillin before the talitot, as appears in the order given in "Seder Rabbi Amram Gaon" (p. 2a) and in the Zohar. In modern practice, however, the opposite order is considered more "correct". Based on the talmudic principle of Tadir V'She'ayno Tadir, Tadir Kodem, (תדיר ושאינו תדיר, תדיר קודם). Meaning, when one performs several mitzvot in order, those that are performed more frequently should be done first. Since tefillin are not worn on the Sabbath and holidays while the tallit is, one is obligated to put on the tallit first.
The Kabbalists considered the tallit as a special garment for the service of God, intended, in connection with the tefillin, to inspire awe and reverence for God at prayer (Zohar, Exodus Toledot, p. 141a). The tallit is worn by all male worshipers at the morning prayer on week-days, Shabbat, and holy days; by the hazzan (cantor) at every prayer while before the Ark; and by the reader of Torah, as well as by all other functionaries during the Torah service.
A person generally selects or receives his/her first full tallit during the process of preparation for b-mitzvah. Some Jews always wear a light-weight tallit under their clothes called a tallit kattan, "little tallit" and others prefer the full shawl-style talit for prayer and special occasions in life. For example:
- A Jewish wedding canopy is often a large talit, canopy of spirit, held over the couple on four poles.
- A Jewish person is buried wearing a talit.
-An old talit that is unsightly/torn/unusable gets donated to the synagogue or a Judaic library and will be used to wrap worn out or superfluous documents like photocopies with Adonai, the sacred name of G*d on them in Hebrew script so that they can be buried with dignity in a geniza, a Jewish cemetery section set aside for this purpose.
-There was a time, when a child became sick, the parents would wrap her/him in a tallit and pace the floors praying, sensing that the power of all the prayers ever said under that tallit would intensify prayers of love and healing for the child.
- On Simchat Torah many communities hold up a tallit canopy and invite the children to stand underneath and receive a taste of honey or candy to symbolize the sweetness of the experience of Torah in life.
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