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Weekend Update
Feb. 18th, 2008 11:17 pmSince I'm coming out of a 3-day weekend and at the moment there's not much work I can do, I figured I should update.
( Friday night services )
( gaming )
( Saturday morning )
( saturday lunch and stuff )
( Saturday Night )
( Sunday )
( Minyan and food today )
( D&D- skip if you don't want technical details on gamingness )
And then I came home and apparently spent over an hour writing this post. I probably should go to bed soon before I write a birthday rant, which will come later and will be filtered and stuff.
1Tzitzit are these fringes that go on four-cornered garments. Jewish law requires that when you have a 4-cornered garment >= a certain size with the corners having 90 degree angles, then you need to put these fringes on them. However, this has been traditionally interpreted as something that was only obligatory for men. Technically, women can wear tzitzit, but among Orthodox Jews this is seen as Not Done, and is a Dangerous Feminist Practice. Etc.
Anyways, the thread used to make these tzitzit has to be spun l'shem mitzvah, that is, with the express purpose of it becoming tzitzit thread. I.E. you can't just go to a store, buy thread, and turn it into tzitzit.
There was a debate as to whether or not women could spin tzitzit thread for men since they are not obligated to wear tzitzit. Most sources (including the Shulchan Aruch and the Taz) say they can, and that the problem would be with them tying the tzitzit, which is a completely different act. I suspect the real reason they allowed this was because spinning was women's work, and God forbid a man do women's work! That, or spinning requires a lot of skill and practice and women had this skill and men didn't.
In modern times, all tzitzit thread that you can buy in a store is made out of wool. So if you have a wool allergy, you're in trouble. Unless you happen to know someone who spins, and who can spin thread with the intention of it becoming tzitzit thread.
In this case, the question of whether or not I am allowed to spin it is moot since I'm spinning it for another woman. But I was curious, which is why I looked up the rules.
( Friday night services )
( gaming )
( Saturday morning )
( saturday lunch and stuff )
( Saturday Night )
( Sunday )
( Minyan and food today )
( D&D- skip if you don't want technical details on gamingness )
And then I came home and apparently spent over an hour writing this post. I probably should go to bed soon before I write a birthday rant, which will come later and will be filtered and stuff.
1Tzitzit are these fringes that go on four-cornered garments. Jewish law requires that when you have a 4-cornered garment >= a certain size with the corners having 90 degree angles, then you need to put these fringes on them. However, this has been traditionally interpreted as something that was only obligatory for men. Technically, women can wear tzitzit, but among Orthodox Jews this is seen as Not Done, and is a Dangerous Feminist Practice. Etc.
Anyways, the thread used to make these tzitzit has to be spun l'shem mitzvah, that is, with the express purpose of it becoming tzitzit thread. I.E. you can't just go to a store, buy thread, and turn it into tzitzit.
There was a debate as to whether or not women could spin tzitzit thread for men since they are not obligated to wear tzitzit. Most sources (including the Shulchan Aruch and the Taz) say they can, and that the problem would be with them tying the tzitzit, which is a completely different act. I suspect the real reason they allowed this was because spinning was women's work, and God forbid a man do women's work! That, or spinning requires a lot of skill and practice and women had this skill and men didn't.
In modern times, all tzitzit thread that you can buy in a store is made out of wool. So if you have a wool allergy, you're in trouble. Unless you happen to know someone who spins, and who can spin thread with the intention of it becoming tzitzit thread.
In this case, the question of whether or not I am allowed to spin it is moot since I'm spinning it for another woman. But I was curious, which is why I looked up the rules.
