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Tallitot represent the traditional piece of Judaica art as one of the most important items in Judaism. As some are worn under your clothes every day, it is also very important that the tallit make you feel your best as a comfortable garment. Luckily, high quality talits are available in wide variety at the World of Judaica where all products of Judaica art from Israel including tallit bags, atara, and tallit clips are sold at the best prices and with the most dependable service.

The talit has a long history and is connected to intricate practices and traditions. The first known tallitot date back as far as 1800 BCE making them one of the oldest items of Jewish tradition to still be in use today. That’s impressive considering that the Jewish faith is one of the oldest surviving religions.

In their origins however, tallitot were designed and used much differently than today. There was no atara or tallit clips and there were no special tallit bags to protect and carry tallitot. There is no religious text commanding the use of tallitot themselves. Instead, Jews are commanded to wear garments with added fringes (tzitzit in Hebrew). The talit was invented so that the tzitzit could be worn on one piece of clothing instead of adding the fringes to all garments. Therefore the first talits were simple pieces of cloth with the tzitzit in all four corners. These plain pieces could be used as every-day clothing, prayer shawls, or as covering during burial.

With the development of artistic design and the need to adapt tallitot to more modern clothing, two different forms of the tallit came into being. Jews are expected to sport tzitzit every day of the week with a few special exceptions. Most now do this by wearing the comfortable, stylish Tallit katan (or small tallit) underneath the rest of their clothing. The tallit katan fits like a poncho over your head and according to text symbolizes a Jew’s “remembrance of all the commandments of the Lord.” To keep these pieces simple, the don’t include the elegant atara that was added to the larger prayer shawl.

The second of the tallitot now commonly used is the tallit gadol (or large tallit). The tallit gadol is the more commonly known prayer shawl worn on Shabbat, Jewish holidays, or any other prayer time. These tallitot prayer shawls include the required tzitzit and atara and are draped around your shoulders or cover your head during prayer. Over time, the prayers shawls have become recognized as keystones of Judaica with their often rich materials such as silk or hand embroidered cotton and designs that can easily be carried in a tallit bag.

With their widespread use, demand for well decorated tallitot prayer shawls has sky-rocketed. Now, many different Judaica artists such as well-known creator Yair Emanuel create tallitot of rich and meaningful design, and it’s all available at the World of Judaica.