I’m having a question how to tie a Chabad Tallis Gadol and was wondering if you could help me out. On a Chabad Tallis Gadol there are 2 holes, one main hole where you put all the strings through and then a small hole on the edge of the Tallis to put the shamash through after you have tied the first knot (I believe it’s there to hold the strings in place). My problem is that I’m not sure which string to pull through the small hole – the white shamash or the blue shamash?

1) Place all four strings through the main hole.
2) Tie one single knot of 4 over 4 strings (i.e., the first knot of a double knot).
3) Take the white shamash and put it through small “shamash” hole (passing it from the back side of the talit through to the front).
4) Tie one single knot of 3 over 4 strings thus completing the initial double
knot but with the white shamash out of the second knot.
5) Now tie (according to the Chabad/Radzyn method) the first wrap using the white shamash – this wrap is a single wrap “knot” which serves to hold the tassel in place at the side of the talit, thus insuring that the tassel is always on the correct side of the talit and is “notef” off the side of the talit (as opposed to getting pulled around the corner and merely hanging straight down).

– Mois Navon.