Personal
On this page you will find articles that focus on those chance or passing moments in our personal lives that appear to be outwardly small but are significant nonetheless for their influence upon our mood, our feelings of connection with others, and our spiritual lives.
To access the Personal Archive, click here.
Wearing A Tallit
It is said that in each Jewish soul that there is a pintle, a single thread, that ties
the soul to its people. From one generation to the next, this thread is woven into the
cloth that we call community. In this way, a tallit acts as an outward symbol of
our inner reality. With the tallit over our shoulders, a simple cloth connects us
to the past, to the present, and to the continued craft of weaving.
Meditation:
V’arastikh li l’olam...
Encircle me with your covenant
Wrap me in your light.
Ritual:
Carefully unfold the tallit. Grasping the atarah, the long stripe of
cloth which contains the blessing or embroidered design, hold the tallit stretched out
before you. Recite the blessing, then lift your right hand over your left shoulder,
wrapping the tallit around you. Toss the tzitzit, the fringes to both
sides. Adjust the tallit so that it hangs equally over both shoulders.
Blessing:
Barukh atah Adonai eloheinu melekh ha’olam, asher kidshanu b’mitvvotav
v’tzivanu l’hitatef b’tzitzit.
Praised are you. Lord our God, ruler of the universe, whose mitzvot make our lives holy
and who gave us the mitzvah to wrap ourselves in tzitzit.
Teaching:
Let all my being praise the Lord who is clothed in splendor and majesty, wrapped in
light as in a garment, unfolding the heavens like a curtain.
(Psalms 104:1-2)
"The glory upon their children" (Psalms 90:16) Rabbi Hezekiah taught: When the
children of Israel are wrapped in their prayer shawls, let them not think that they are
clothed merely in ordinary blue. Rather, let the children of Israel look upon their prayer
shawls as though the glory of the Presence were covering them. (Midrash Tehillim 90:18)
Like paratroopers who always take their parachutes with them when they jump from planes,
those who have begun wearing a tallit as they pray discover just how essential it
is. Like the parachute that catches the breath of the wind, protecting those dare to jump
into the air, the tallit ensures God’s embrace for those who dare to leap into
prayer. (CLAL faculty)
For many people…this ritual seems to activate and empower them to feel their
spirituality…making their Judaism accessible to them in a new way. Perhaps it is
because many of them do not wear tallitot and have had their access to
spirituality cut off from them, this ritual seems to awaken them deep within their being.
(Shonna Husbands-Hankin,Blessing the Fringes)
l’hitatef b’tzitzit
To wear the sacred fringes
(CLAL Faculty)
To join the conversation at Personal Talk, click here.
To access the Personal Archive, click here.
To receive the Personal column by email on a regular basis, complete the box below:
