Talits -
who wears it?
The Talits are a 4-cornered prayer shawls with specially knotted fringes, called tzitzit, worn as a reminder to live a mitzvah-centered life. The tallit is a portable spiritual home in which you can wrap yourself at home, in synagogue or when you are away on adventures and desire time for prayer, reflection or healing from a sore spot in your life.
Men: Obligation
The prayer shawl (No. 1 above) is worn over one's clothes, and is traditionally worn by Sephardi males from early childhood and by the majority of Ashkenazi males only after marriage; although many Ashkenaz criticize this practice as it delays an important mitzvah beyond the time a Bar Mitzvah male is responsible for it. In some Ashkenazi communities, especially western European Ashkenazim, one accordingly has the practice of all men over 13 wearing the tallit gadol.
Women: diverse views on obligation/permissibility
Historically, the tallit has mostly been permitted (but not seen as obligated) for use by women, but with a gradual movement towards prohibition mainly initiated by the Medieval Ashkenazi Rabbi Meir von Rothenburg (the Maharam). Since the 1970s, in non-Orthodox denominations of Judaism it may be worn by women.
The source for this debate between sects and even within Orthodoxy is based on a halachic tenet that females are exempt from all positive commandments that are time-bound. Thus, any positive commandment that involves an action that is to be completed within a certain time frame is not incumbent upon women. Many of the popular commandments, such as that of sitting in a sukkah or waving the lulav on the holiday of Sukkot or hearing the shofar blown on Rosh Hashanah, therefore, do not apply to women, and the wearing of tzitzit also falls under this category because it is a commandment only during the day and not at night.
The Holy One, blessed be, surrounded Israel with the commandment of Tephillin for their heads, Tephillin for their arms, tzitzit for their clothing and mezuzot for their doors. Talmud Menachot 43a-b
And God told Moses ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and guided them throughout their generations to make fringes on the corners of their garments.'" Numbers 15:37-40
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