The Berachah Recited Over Tzitzis
Question: Does one recite a berachah over both the tallis kattan and the tallis gadol?
Discussion: Essentially, a berachah should be recited over both the tallis kattan and the tallis gadol. But according to custom, when a person puts the tallis kattan on when getting dressed, and he will soon be putting on a tallis gadol for davening, he does not recite a berachah over the tallis kattan.226 Two reasons are given for this. One is that the berachah over the tallis kattan may be considered a redundant berachah (ברכה שאינה צריכה), since the berachah that will soon be recited over the tallis gadol can apply to both talleisim. Additionally, there can often be questions regarding the validity of the size of the tallis kattan. Therefore, it is preferable to defer the berachah over the tallis kattan; rather, one should make the berachah over the tallis gadol and intend for it to include the tallis kattan. Despite these concerns, there is no true objection to reciting a berachah over the tallis kattan. Therefore, if one will not be putting on a tallis gadol, he should indeed recite a berachah when putting on the tallis kattan. This would apply, for example, to an unmarried man in many Ashkenazic communities.
Question: Why is the wording of the berachah on the tallis kattan “al mitzvas tzitzis,” whereas for the tallis gadol it is “lehisateif betzitzis”?
The wording of the berachah on the tallis gadol is lehisateif betzitzis – “to wrap oneself in tzitzis” – and indeed, one customarily wraps himself up in the tallis gadol when making the berachah, before arranging it in the usual manner. The tallis kattan, however, is usually too small to wrap oneself with, and it is commonly put on without wrapping – following the opinion that wrapping is not required for the tallis kattan (this is discussed further below). Since one does not wrap himself with the tallis kattan, the appropriate wording of the berachah is not lehisateif betzitzis, but simply al mitzvas tzitzis – “regarding the mitzvah of tzitzis.”227
Question: What if a long time will elapse between putting on the tallis kattan and putting on the tallis gadol – should one still defer the berachah over the tallis kattan and wait until he puts on the tallis gadol?
Discussion: Mishnah Berurah implies that even in this case, common custom is not to recite a berachah on the tallis kattan, but rather to rely on the berachah made on the tallis gadol.228 Nevertheless, some Poskim do consider it preferable to recite a berachah on the tallis kattan in this case, provided that the tallis kattan is indeed made according to strict halachic specifications.229
226 Mishnah Berurah 8:24.
227 Rema 8:6.
228 Halichos Shlomo Chapter 3, Dvar Halachah 18; see also Shalmei Todah, Sukkos, p. 236, for further elucidation of this ruling.
229 See Sefer Tzitzis Chapter 8, footnote 80b.