A serious breach in today's tallis market is liable to
mislead many people purchasing a tallis kotton or a
tallis godol, who are unaware of the problems involved in
knotting tzitzis strands.
A Yated Ne'eman investigation found serious problems in
the products marketed. According to the report, some
manufacturers send out large quantities of talleisim to
"knotting contractors" who return the talleisim with
the tzitzis attached, but without any supervision by
the manufacturers -- or anyone else.
The element of tzitziyos is a vital component in the
kashrus of a tallis, and they are not produced
and attached following halachic guidelines, the
tallis is liable to be unkosher.
According to many knowledgeable persons interviewed by
Yated Ne'eman, those used to attach the tzitzis
strings are sometimes non-Jews, Shabbos desecraters and
others who are not scrupulous about mitzvah observance. In
many cases the knotting is done properly, but manufacturers,
merchants and distributors alike all admit that the knotting
is unsupervised.
Many people buy the garment and the tzitzis strings
separately, and either tie them together on their own, or
give the job to someone with whom they are familiar. Others
simply but a finished, ready-to-wear product, and it is in
those that the problems were found.
In many cases, deliberate deception is involved. Many people
are unaware that the kashrus certificate given to
talleisim does not apply to the process of tying the
tzitzis strings onto the garment. The certification
applies to the tallis garment itself -- stating that it
is 100% wool -- and/or to the tzitzis strands,
indicating that they have been manufactured according to
various standards. Consumers are liable to be misled into
believing that the knotting has been similarly supervised,
though it is not supervised. In addition, it is difficult to
differentiate between expensive handmade and lower-cost
machine-made strands, and fraud creeps into this element as
well.
