468. Women, Minors and Others

Tzitzis 3:9

One may enter a restroom or a bathhouse while wearing tzitzis. If a white strings or a techeiles string gets torn, it may be discarded in the trash because the mitzvah of tzitzis does not convey holiness to the object. One may not sell a garment with tzitzis to a non-Jew until he removes the tzitzis. This is not because the garment has an inherent holiness (it doesn’t), but because we are concerned that the non-Jewish buyer will put it on and accidentally be mistaken for a Jew. The Torah does not obligate women, indentured servants, or minors to wear tzitzis. There is a rabbinical law for boys who know how to dress themselves to wear tzitzis so that they should learn to fulfill mitzvos. If women or indentured servants want to wear tzitzis, they may do so without reciting a bracha. This is also true of other positive mitzvos in which women are not obligated: if they want to perform them without reciting a bracha, they should not be prevented. A tumtum (the gender of whose genitals is unclear) and an androgyne (who has genitals of both genders) are obligated in all positive mitzvos out of doubt. They perform these mitzvos without reciting a bracha.

Tzitzis 3:10

Everyone who is obligated in the mitzvah of tzitzis, if he wears a garment requiring them, should attach tzitzis to the garment and then wear it. If he wears it without first attaching the tzitzis, he has neglected to fulfill the mitzvah. There is no obligation to attach tzitzis to a garment that requires them so long as it remains in its place without anyone wearing it. The mitzvah of tzitzis is incumbent upon the person, not the garment.