THIS CHAPTER discusses talit and tefilin, the ritual garments traditionally worn by adult males for weekday morning pra yer, and the texts that surround them. The symbolism of the garments runs deeper than their appearance suggests, however, encompassing the nature of divine kindness, experienced as human contentment, and of divine judgement, experienced as suffering. The ritual garments are shown to be complementary, enabling the speaker to enact a Jewish view of the world.

EXTRACT 2. The Blessing Over Arba Kanfot

The intense attention paid to the moment of waking in the opening statement of the day is succeeded by the texts surrounding the talit and tefilin, the ritual garments worn by men (and in some congregations by women too) at morning prayer. One might expect to find some liturgical accompaniment to other stages of getting up, such as dressing and washing, to which these ceremonial clothes would provide the finishing touch. Indeed, in the talmudic source from which the first of these texts is drawn, they form the climax to a series of blessings designed to accompany each stage in preparing for the day, preparation-texts that were later transferred from the home setting for which they were intended to the synagogue, as will be seen in Extract 24–Extract 25, line 4. Only the blessings attached to the talit and tefilin, the coda to this series, remain in their intended setting as accompaniments to real life, while the others have been divorced from daily life and instead introduce the public liturgy. The present texts, therefore, stand in for the process of personal preparation, covering the time from waking to the departure from home for synagogue and leading the speaker towards the daily confrontation with the world.

The blessing over arba kanfot (Al mitsvat tsitsit)

Talit and tefilin have been divorced from their original function for procedural reasons. As the liturgy associated with dressing acquired new supplements and grew in length and complexity, fewer worshippers could memorize it, and most preferred to have it recited for them.