Transcript
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A prayer shawl is a garment that Jewish
people use when we pray to God. Now,
there are two types of prayer shawls.
There's a prayer shawl that is worn in
the outside over our existing clothes,
and then there is a small prayer shawl
that we wear in our undergarments.
They both have in common that they are a
four-cornered
garment. Now, this is straight out of
the Bible
where God tells us in two different
places that you need to wear a
four-cornered garment. So, in
yesteryears, people used to wear this
outer garment all the time. But
nowadays, it is not practical so that we
wear the inner garment all the time, and
we wear the outside garment during
[music] prayer services. It is called in
Hebrew a tallit, and you can find them
in many different stripes and colors.
There are so many different traditions,
but they are practically all made out of
wool, and some have black lines, some
have blue lines, some have a
combination, some have multi-colors.
But what makes a prayer shawl a prayer
shawl is that it's four-cornered.
It cannot be rounded. It has to be four
corners.
And at the end of each corner, there are
tassels.
These tassels are strings. Each of these
tassels have eight strings. Each of
these eight strings have eight strings
within them. Now, you may have noticed
by some Orthodox Jewish people when they
walk around, they see strings hanging
down. And I've had it many of times that
I'm walking around, a person would stop
me and say, "Sir, excuse me, you got
some strings hanging out of your pants."
And I would explain this is a religious
garment. But those strings are what's
called tzitzit. Now, tzitzit, when you
add up the numerical value in Hebrew,
it's number 600. And then there are five
knots,
and then eight strings, which adds up to
613,
which represents the 613
commandments.
And as the Torah tells us, as it's read
in the Bible,
that you should wear this garment, and
you should look at the tassels.
Because the tassels are going to remind
you of the 613 commandments.
And indeed, we do need reminders. As we
go about our day-to-day events, we can
be so distracted
that we can forget who we are and what
we stand for.
It is the tzitzit. It is these tassels
that stand as a reminder that there are
commandments. So, when we pray in the
morning, we wrap ourselves in this
garment, which is almost like a poncho,
but it's got four corners, and we grab
the four corners that represents the
four corners of the world. And when we
begin the morning prayer, we actually
take the four corners and we wrap
ourselves with it. It's like a hug from
God. In the words of the Kabbalah, you
are taking God's light, and you're
wrapping yourself with God's light. And
then we continue to pray. It is also
another reason why people pray with a
prayer shawl, so that when we pray, we
should all be dressed alike. There are
different categories. There are some
wealthy people, some poor people, and
poor people may and may not be able to
dress as well as the wealthy people.
When it comes to synagogue and praying,
we all want to be alike. We don't want
to be able to see the difference between
the wealthy and the poor, but rather
we're all equal. In the eyes of God, we
are all one. When we wear a prayer
shawl, we don't just wear it over our
shoulders. Many of us also drape it over
our head. So, our whole upper body and
middle body is surrounded by the spirit
of godliness. It also helps us in our
concentration.
Many times, we could just pull the
prayer shawl down and be by yourself
with God and zooming out from your
surroundings, everyone around you, just
meditate on your prayers. So, the prayer
shawl is a great, great gift from God to
us to understand and to appreciate how
he wants to wrap himself around us. And
that is through the prayer shawl.
It is also a symbol of Jewish pride that
we wear a prayer shawl. It represents
who we are. It represents that we are
proud of our heritage, no matter what
the circumstances are. Sadly, you may
have seen many pictures from the sad
days, the dark days of the Holocaust,
when they would rip people out of the
synagogue, they would still be wearing
the prayer shawls. But that represented
who they are unmistakably,
that these are the children of God
trying to bring light into this world
and to pray to God wholeheartedly, not
just for ourselves, but for the whole
world. The inner garment is almost like
a bulletproof vest. According to
Kabbalah mysticism,
when you wear the inner garment all day
and even in the nighttime,
you are bringing upon yourself extra
protection from God to protect your
body, to protect your spirit. And we
could use as much protection as we need.
Children from 3 years old and up begin
wearing the undergarment, and they say a
prayer every single day. They grab the
four corners, and they look at the
tassels, and they say, "Thank you, God,
for giving me the opportunity to wear
this undergarment."
And then, when you get married in the
Ashkenazi part of the world, this part
of the world, we wait till we get
married to wear the big prayer shawl
during prayers. Although in the
European,
in the Spanish areas, the Sephardi, they
wear it from 13 years old and up. And
these are all just different traditions.
But no matter where you come from,
it is a wonderful experience and a
wonderful opportunity to feel wrapped
around with God's light as you pray, as
you connect with God. Cuz that is what
prayer is all about. Prayer is about
making a connection.
Prayer is not just saying the words, but
it's feeling the connection that you
have with God, that every day you have
an opportunity to be able to pray to
God, to pray to the almighty, dominant,
potent, and connect with him,
and ask God what your needs are, what
your needs are for today, what your
needs are for your family, for your
community, or for all of Israel.
And God will certainly answer your
prayers in an abundant [music] measure.
So, the next time you see a prayer
shawl, you would understand that this is
a garment that has been prescribed by
the Bible to wrap yourself in so that
God can wrap himself around you and
provide you with all the love and all
the blessings and all the light that you
[music] need. God bless you.
God love you.
