The Tzitzit
A list of many tying styles
Rav Huna said in the name of Rav Sheshet in the name of Rav Yirmiyah bar Abba in the name of Rav: The most ornate tekhelet ought be a third windings, and two thirds hanging threads. - Mehachot 39a[The word] tsitsit is numerically equivalent to 600, 8 strings and 5 knots add up to 613, the total number of all commandments. (Tanchuma, Korach 12)
1.
Rav Amram Gaon
Rav Amram Gaon
(Hebrew:
) or Rav Amram bar Sheshna (died 875) was a famous Gaon orhead of the Jewish Talmud Academy of Sura in the 9th century. He was the author of many Responsa,but his chief work was liturgical.
Rav Amram Gaon
has seven or thirteen chulyot alternating white then tekhelet. A knot at thebeginning and at the end. (These knots are not double, but rather the winding string tucked underitself.) The Baal Haitur's shitta is virtually identical but he has a knot after each chulya.
2
.
The Yemenite Rambam
Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon
(
Maimonides
), also known as
Rambam
, was the preeminent medieval Jewishphilosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. He was born in Córdoba, Spainon Passover Eve, 1135, and died in Egypt on 20th Tevet, December 12, 1204. He was as a rabbi,physician and philosopher in Morocco and Egypt.Although his writings on Jewish law and ethics met with respectful opposition during his life, he wasposthumously acknowledged to be one of the foremost rabbinical arbiters and philosophers in Jewish
history, his copious work a cornerstone of Jewish scholarship. His fourteen-volume
Mishneh Torah
stillcarries canonical authority as a codification of Talmudic law. In the Yeshiva world he is known as
H
anesher
H
agadol
in recognition of his outstanding status as a
bona fide
exponent of
Torah Shel Baal Peh
, particularly on account of the manner in which his
Mishneh Torah
is elucidated by
Rabbi ChaimSoloveitchik
.The
Rambam
has all twists tekhelet except the first and last. Seven or thirteen chulyot are tied with aknots keeping them together and separate from each other. The Yemenites have a tradition (even withwhite tsitsit) of tying a special knot that is the chulya.
The
Yemenite
knot is also known as t
he
Teimani knot
According to the Rambam, of the four strings placed on a corner, only one half of one string is to be blueand the remaining three and a half strings are to be white (resulting in one blue and seven white stringswhen the strings are folded through the corner hole). Only the windings around the white core must betekhelet. The Rambam seems to be of the opinion that if there are non-white strings in the core of thetzitzit (as per Raavad or Tosafot) then one has not fulfilled the mitzvah of white. There must be seven tothirteen chulyot.
3
.
The Raavad
Rabbeinu Abraham ben David
was a
Provençal
rabbi, a great commentator on the Talmud, SeferHalachot of rabbi Yitzhak Alfasi (
"
) and Mishne Torah (
) of Maimonides (
"
), and isregarded as a father of Kabbalah (
) and one of the key and important links in the chain of Jewishmystics. He was born in Provence, France, about 1125 CE; died at Posquières, 27 November 1198 CE.
The
Raavad
quoting Rav Natronai Gaon has five knots. Between each knot, seven or thirteen twists,with the twists alternating white then tekhelet. Between the second and third knot, the amount of twists is not definite.Raavad, Based on the Sifre in Shelach holds that one full string (when folded it becomes two of theeight) must be tekhelet.
4
.
Baalei Tosafot
The
Tosafot
or
Tosafos
(Hebrew:
) are medieval commentaries on the Talmud. They take theform of critical and explanatory glosses, printed, in almost all Talmud editions, on the outer margin andopposite
Rashi
's notes.According to Tosafot (and Rashi), of the four strings placed on a corner, two are to be blue and two areto be white (resulting in four blue and four white strings when the strings are folded through the cornerhole).
The Baalei Tosafot - consists of 5 knots, in between which there are four groups of winds. Groups 1, 2, 3consist of a white chulya (of three winds) and a blue chulya (of three winds). Group 4 consists of a singlewhite chulya.
As to the question of the Tosafot using two full strands of Tekhelet,
"
and you shall place on the tzitzit of your corner a PTIL tekhelet,
"
though the standard translation of
"
ptil
"
is
"
strand,
"
there is support forthe word
"
ptil
"
carrying the meaning of
"
tassel
"
- i.e., multiple strands.Vilna Gaon called this version into question for its use of two Tekhelet strings. The Raavad also takesissue with this and holds that of the four strings placed on a corner, one is to be blue and three are to bewhite (resulting in two blue and six white strings when the strings are folded through the corner hole).
5
.
Baal HaItur
The common Baal Ha'Itur tying method is explained by Rabbi Binyomin Zev.
"
.Rabbi Binyomin (son of Matityahu).
)' ,
16
(
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The Tzitzit - A List of Many Tying Styles
A list of many tzitzit styles, all of which have historic record.
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