Shulchan Aruch: Chapter 12 - Factors that Invalidate Tzitzis

SECTION 12 Factors that Invalidate Tzitzis. (1–7)

1 As explained above,1 when tzitzis are being attached to a garment, each of the eight threads must be [at least] twelve thumbbreadths long. Nevertheless, after the tzitzis have been attached, if all the eight threads are severed2 and there remains from each of the four long threads3 only enough to tie a slipknot4 around each of the other [three] shortened threads individually,5 [the tzitzis are still] valid.6

This means to say that if all the eight threads are severed, [each] of the four severed original threads must be long enough to enable one to make three slipknots around one other thread. Even if only seven [of the eight] threads were severed, each of the four severed original threads must still be of this measure.

Some authorities maintain that [the tzitzis] are valid even if there remains from all four of the severed original threads only enough to make one tie out of all of the four threads together. One should, however, be stringent and follow the first opinion.

2 When does the above [requirement] — that the severed threads must be of knottable length — apply? When five or more of the eight threads are severed. [Different rules apply,] however, if only four of the threads are severed, even if nothing remains [beyond the braid]. [There is room for leniency] if all of the four severed threads emerged from one side of the knot, and [one had taken the following precautionary measure] when attaching the tzitzis to the garment: If one had made a sign at the [same] end of the four threads, so that they were always on [the same] side of the knot, and the other four threads remained on the other side of the knot, [the tzitzis] are valid. [The rationale is that] the other end of each of the [four] severed [original] threads remains, and that end is of even more than knottable length.

Moreover, [if one took the above measure when attaching the tzitzis, they] are valid even if all eight threads were severed, the four on one side of the knot being cut off entirely, and the four on the other side being only of knottable length. Since each of the four [original] threads is still of knottable length, no more is necessary.

When does the above apply? When all [four] severed threads are on one side of the knot. [This is not the case,] however, if they are on both sides of the knot. Even if only two — one from either side of the knot — of the eight threads were severed without a knottable length remaining, there is room to suspect that perhaps the two severed threads are [the two ends of] one long thread. Thus one of the four long threads will have been severed entirely without leaving a knottable length. [Hence] the tzitzis are invalid, for one of the four long threads which Scriptural Law requires for tzitzis [may be] lacking.

[A similar ruling applies] even if the two severed threads were on the same side of the knot, but when the tzitzis were being attached, care was not taken to keep the same four ends of the threads together on the same side of the knot.

If, out of the eight threads, neither of the two severed ones is of knottable length when considered alone, but the two remaining portions would be of knottable length if considered together, [the tzitzis] are nevertheless invalid. Though there remains [in total] enough of the one long thread to be of knottable length, nonetheless, neither of the two shortened ends extending beyond the knot is itself of that length. Hence it is considered as if they do not exist, for any part of a thread that is less than of knottable length is considered as if it did not exist. Thus it is as if nothing remains from that one long thread.

3 Some authorities maintain that even if [each thread] remains of knottable length, the tzitzis are never considered valid unless two long threads — i.e., four ends [out of the eight] — each remain of full length, i.e., twelve thumbbreadths. [The rationale is that] this was the required length and the minimum number of white threads at the time that techeiles was available. Therefore, in the present era also, when we must substitute two [other] white threads for the two threads of techeiles, severed threads of knottable length are sufficient for this [mere] compensation. [This leniency was granted] since at the time when the tzitzis were first attached to the garment, all of the threads were intact.

By contrast, the two [long] threads — which are the essence of the mitzvah, and which were required even when techeiles was available — must always be whole. [Only when they are intact] are other threads, even if severed, deemed to be valid, [provided] each of the two severed original threads remains of knottable length.

Therefore, [according to this view,] if three of the eight ends were severed — even if each of them remains of knottable length — [the tzitzis] are invalid. For we suspect that perhaps two of the shortened ends are not part of [the same] long thread, but instead each of them is the end of a [different] long thread. Thus it is possible that two long threads have not remained intact. If, however, only two ends were cut short, and one of them remains long enough to tie a small loop,⁴ [the tzitzis] are valid.

[According to this view, the definition of “tying a loop” is lenient.] Even if one cannot insert any other threads inside this loop apart from the thread with which the loop is made, [the tzitzis] are valid. The reason: Even if the two severed threads are part of [the same] long thread, none of the long threads has been severed entirely, for a knottable length remains.

[More stringent rules apply, however,] when neither of the two severed threads is left with the length needed to make a small loop. If these two threads do not emerge from the same side of the knot, but instead they emerge from either side of the knot, the tzitzis are invalid. [The same ruling applies] even if they are both on the same side of the knot, but when the tzitzis were being attached, care was not taken to keep the same four ends of the threads together on the same side of the knot.

[The rationale is that] one may suspect that the two shortened ends are not part of two different long threads, but are both part of the same long thread. This would mean that one of the long threads had been cut so short that not even a knottable length remains. We would thus be left with only three long threads — and tzitzis must have no fewer than four long threads, as stated in sec. 11[:1].

If, however, the two threads emerge from the same side of the knot, and when the tzitzis were being attached a sign was made on the ends of four [neighboring] threads so that they would always remain together on the same side of the knot, [the tzitzis] are valid — even if the two ends were cut so short that not even a knottable length remained.

[The rationale is that] these two ends definitely belong to two different long threads, each of which is still left with a knottable length at its other end, which was left intact.

4 It is universal custom to rule stringently, according to the second opinion. Nevertheless, in a pressing situation — for example, when [spare threads for] tzitzis are not available to replace [a severed thread] — one may rely on the first opinion, for it is fundamentally valid.7

5 Wherever a knottable length is required, but the threads at hand cannot be knotted only because they are thicker than the average, [the tzitzis] are valid.8

[The rationale is that] if [the threads] were not so thick, they would be valid because they would be knottable. Hence, they most certainly should not be disqualified in such a case, when they are thicker and more noticeable.

6 In all cases which require that a knottable length of thread remain, some opinions maintain that the entire braid must remain intact and that beyond that, it is the loose threads which emerge from its end that must be of knottable length. Other opinions maintain that the tzitzis are valid even if the threads are severed at some point during the stage in which they are wound up in the braid, and there remains only a knottable length from that point until the place at which the tzitzis meet the edge of the garment, i.e., at the beginning of the braid.

According to the first opinion cited at the beginning of subsection 2, even if all the threads which are wound in the braid were severed, each leaving only a remnant of knottable length, the tzitzis would be valid. Nevertheless, some of the coils in the partly-remaining braid should be unwound, so that there will be some freely-hanging threads. For example, if three coils remain in the braid, two of them should be unwound and one should be left, so that one-third [of the length of the tzitzis] will be a braid, and two-thirds will be occupied by freely-hanging threads.

The universally accepted custom is to rule stringently and require that the minimal knottable length relate to the freely-hanging threads that emerge from the braid, as in the first opinion cited in this subsection. If, however, there is no alternative, for example, when no [spare threads for] tzitzis are available, one may rely on the second opinion.9 One should not, however, recite a blessing over these tzi­tzis, for when there is a doubt whether or not a blessing should be recited, the lenient view prevails and its recitation is not required.10 Likewise, one should not go out to the public domain wearing such tzitzis on Shabbos.11

7 [The following rules apply] whenever any of the eight threads becomes untwined after the tzitzis were attached to a garment. [These rules apply] regardless of whether the entire length of the thread became untwined into two strands, or whether only part of the thread became untwined and part remained twined. Since tzitzis are invalid if they are not twined,12 a thread or part thereof that became untwined is considered as if it was utterly severed from the tzitzis. Accordingly, the above laws regarding partly severed threads also apply in such a situation.

In this instance, however, there is room for greater leniency, and the first opinion mentioned in subsection 2 may be followed. [Thus,] even if the twined part of each of the four long threads is of no more than knottable length, [the tzitzis] are still valid. [The rationale is that] there is an authority who maintains that the threads of the tzitzis need not be twined at all. Here, therefore, greater leniency can be shown than in situations in which the threads are actually severed.13