Halachot and Customs
Length of a Tallit Katan
What is the required size of a small tzitzit garment according to Rabbi Ovadia?
Question
What is the required size of a small tzitzit garment (the garment itself, not the fringes) according to Rabbi Ovadia? I saw in Mishnah Berurah that it is half an amah in length and three-quarters of an amah in width. What is the halacha according to Rabbi Ovadia?
Thank you very much.
Answer
Hello,
According to the opinion of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, of blessed memory, ideally a tallit katan should measure two amot in length [96 centimeters] by one amah in width [48 centimeters]. This measurement is in addition to the opening for the neck, meaning that the tallit should be one amah in front and one amah behind, not including the neck opening, and half an amah on each side in the width of the tallit over each shoulder (Kitzur Shulchan Aruch Yalkut Yosef, siman 16, subsection 1. It is written there that although in Yabia Omer, volume 5, siman 2, it states that the measure of a tallit katan is 48 cm, nonetheless in Halichot Olam, Parashat Lech Lecha, subsection 10, it is written as explained here. And the later ruling is primary).
With blessings, Hillel Meirs
