Enveloped in Light: A Tallit Sourcebook

A teaching anthology, including all important information about the tallit (tallis, Jewish prayer shawl), including personal stories, academic articles, and halakhic norms. Essays, sermons, poems, and stories from authors including S.Y. Agnon, Yehuda Amichai, Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin, Rabbi Reuven Hammer, Rabbi Jack Riemer, Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, and many others. Ideal for bar and bat mitzvah students, high schoolers, and adult education.

Contents:

* Introduction—Steven Schwarzman
* The Tallit and Its Messages—Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins

The Tallit in Sermons and Commentaries
* A Message from Outer Space—Rabbi Jack Riemer
* Knots: A Sermon for Sh’lah—Rabbi Shamai Kanter
* “And the tzitzit shall be for you”: A Bar Mitzvah D’var Torah—Alon Futterman
* Curbing Your Lustful Eyes—Rabbi Pinchas H Peli
* The Fringed Garment: The Mitzvah of Tzitzit—Rabbi Hershel Matt
* My Grandfather’s Tallis—Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben
* The Tallit on Kol Nidre—Rabbi Steve Schwartz
* From Our Own Clothing to God’s Own Throne: The True Meaning of the Tallit—Rabbi Peretz Rodman
* Lehitatef Batzitzit: Recovering the Meaning of Tallit—Rabbi Kenneth R Leitner
* The Tallit and its Symbolism—Rabbi Martin Samuel Cohen
* Tekhelet – A Royal Reminder—Rabbi Mordecai M Kaplan
* To Wear Tzitzit—Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin
* A Union of Weavers—Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin

The Tallit in Stories
* Another Tallit—SY Agnon
* A Stranger’s Tallit—Allan Rabinowitz
* My Father’s Tallit and the Sefer Torah—Ruthy Bodner
* The Babies’ Aliyah in Jerusalem—Judith Weisberg
* Zayde’s Tallit—Karen Misler
* Tallit: Wings of Shekhinah—Susan Mitrani Knapp

The Tallit in Poetry
* Gods Change, Prayers are Here to Stay—Yehuda Amichai
* Jerusalem in Snow—Anat Bental
* Tallis: A Poem—Abraham Kinstlinger
* My Tallit—Ruth Brin

The Tallit in History
* Garments of Prayer—Rabbi Reuven Hammer
* In Search of Lost Hilazon—Rabbi Mordecai Kornfeld
* In Search of Holy Snail—Rabbi Ari Zivotovsky

The Tallit in Halakhah and Practice
* The Tallit: A Halakhic Summary—Rabbi Menachem Raab
* On Wearing Tallit and Tefillin—Dvora E Weisberg
* From Tzitzit to Tallit—Rabbi Moshe Tutnauer
* May You be Wrapped in Warmth—Susan Klingman

Acknowledgements
Contributors

From the Introduction:
“As far as we can tell, this book is the first attempt to bring together a wide variety of sources available in English on the subject of the tallit. In the pages that follow, you can find contributions by a Nobel Prize winner along with everyday people, rabbis and professors along with poets and Internet journalists. By design, we’ve included such different voices in hopes of producing a composite picture; just as the tallit is a very democratic garment, making the audacious statement that each one of us has within us the mark of royalty – while at the same time, enveloping us in a coziness that marks our relationship with God….
The tallit has been around for a few thousand years (as you will learn in some of the historically-oriented contributions herein), but there have also been some exciting developments in just the last few decades as the recipe for tekhelet – the blue dye for tzitzit – has apparently been rediscovered and women have begun (or begun again, as you will read!) to wear tallitot in some communities. We hope that this sourcebook will help more people learn about the beauty of the tallit and its rich potential as a ritual item in adding a spiritual and ethical dimension to Jewish prayer and life.”