A Borrowed Tallis
Question: Does one recite a berachah when wearing someone else’s tallis?
Discussion: Essentially, the mitzvah of tzitzis does not apply to a garment that is not one’s own, since the Torah states that tzitzis are required for כסותך – “your garment.”256 Thus, one does not fulfill the mitzvah with someone else’s garment (unless one had actually attached his own tzitzis strings257). Essentially, this means that if one has borrowed a tallis, he would not recite a berachah on it.
But in practice, if one borrows a tallis for the purpose of performing the mitzvah, it is presumed that the owner intends to give it to the recipient in a way that he can fulfill the mitzvah; namely, he is not merely lending it to him, but rather giving it him as a matanah al menas lehachzir – “a gift given on condition that it be returned.” In this case, the tallis is considered as belonging to the recipient until he returns it, and so he may recite a berachah on it. Nevertheless, it is preferred that one clearly specify that he wishes to receive the tallis as a matanah al menas lehachzir, and not rely on the presumption.
Note that this presumption applies where one clearly wishes to use the tallis to fulfill the mitzvah. It might not apply in a case where one borrows a tallis for an aliyah, or to be the shaliach tzibbur. In these cases, one’s purpose in wearing the tallis may simply be because this is considered the appropriate manner of dress for these functions, for which purpose a regular loan suffices; one need not fulfill the mitzvah of tzitzis per se. To avoid any doubt, Mishnah Berurah (14:11) suggests that, in such a case, the borrower should have specific intent not to acquire the tallis; it is then clear that he does not recite a berachah.
256 Shulchan Aruch 14:3
257 Mishnah Berurah 14:9.