There is actually nothing halachically “unkosher” about using Raavad strings with the Radzyner tying method. Many view the two issues as independent, that is, the determination of how many strings of blue to use is based on certain considerations versus the determination of how to tie being based on other factors. Of course, there are…
read moreHalachically, your method certainly fulfills the d’oraita requirements of kesher elyon and one chulya of 3 winds. As for d’rabannan, however, Rava (Men. 38b) requires a knot on every chulya, and though not everyone paskin’s like Rava, the Rambam does as he explains in Hil. Tzitzit 1:7 – wherein he says to “make a knot”…
read moreTosafot makes his opinion based on the Mishna (Men. 4:1) which states the tekhelet does not hinder (m’akev) the white and the white does not hinder the tekhelet. The mishna goes on to state that the head tefillin does not hinder the arm tefillin and the arm tefillin does not hinder the head tefillin. The…
read moreIn Pri Etz Hayim, Shaar Hatzitzit, Ch. 4 (pp. 58-59). He explains that in the time of the Mikdash they had 7 white and 1 tekhelet on each corner. He says that from a kabbalistic perspective tekhelet represents malchut and thus we would really only need one string on one corner – i.e., 31 strings…
read more1) 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…
read moreReferring to the relevant seifim in the Shulchan Aruch Harav (see https://www.tekhelet.net/diagrams/ChabadTyingSource.htm), you are correct that the Baal Hatanya holds that the strings should be according to the opinion of Tosafot. Nevertheless, his explanation of tying appears to be like the Radzyner – though he only writes “leave some distance” to make the chulyot visible…
read moreThe various methods of tying tzitzit stem from the various interpretation that the poskim applied when trying to understand the Rabbinic directives given in the Talmud. All the methods fulfill the Torah obligation which requires only one “kesher elyon” (upper knot) and one chulya of three wraps. So on the one hand you will be applying an integration of…
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