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Tallitot have no specific size requirement, although the Talmud does say the tallit should be large enough to cover “a small child able to walk.”
A tallit may be created from an assortment of materials such as wool, silk, or rayon.
A variety of decorations and artistic patterns adorn the tallit gadol, although they all have a band sewn across the top called the atarah (crown). This section may be decorated with silver squares or fancy embroidery. Most atarah also contain the blessing the is recited when putting on the tallit.
When one is called to the reading from the Torah, known as an aliyah or going up to the bimah, the platform from which the Torah is read, it is the custom to place a corner of the tallit on the first word to be read, and to then kiss the corner of the tallit that has touched the Torah scroll.
Because the tallit represents God’s commandments and the blessing for donning the tallit appears on atarah of the tallit, it is improper to wear the tallit into the bathroom since sacred writings cannot be brought into the bathroom.
In many synagogues, there is a tallit rack outside the bathroom.
Jewish men are traditionally buried wrapped in their tallit. When this is done, the atarah is removed and one of the fringes cut off. This renders the tallit invalid and symbolizes that the dead are no longer required to keep the commandments.
Among the tzitzit, the Torah commands the inclusion of a blue thread called the tekhelet.
This is dyed with a special dye that comes from the blood of a shellfish called chilazon, which is found only in the Mediterranean Sea.
When the Jews were scattered from Israel, they lost the use of this special thread for many centuries.
More recently, with the return of the Jews to Israel, some rabbis claim to have found this shellfish using its description in the Talmud, and now tallit can be found sporting the blue thread. Other rabbis say, however, that the thread will not reappear until the coming of the Messiah.
