The
tallit is a prayer shawl, a unique Jewish garment that holds a lot of significance in Judaism and is commanded upon us in the Bible. The colors of this majestic garment are not random, every aspect of a tallit holds meaning.
In the book of Daniel 7:9, God's garment is described as “white as snow”, and based on that there is a Sephardic tradition to wear fully white tallitot without any stripes. Ashkenazi jews in the middle ages wore colorful ones, as the color is not specifically required to be any particular one. But the traditional white with stripes design most common today in Ashkenazi communities is a combination of the white of God's garment, and a commemoration of the Tchelet dye that used to be used in the tzitzit strings themselves but which is now not put there because we no longer know for certain how to get that specific dye. It's also a helpful and useful choice though, because you can tell the time when you are allowed to pray the Shema of the morning based on comparing the color of the techelet dye to the color white and if you can tell the difference, if there's enough light, you can then pray the morning prayers. Another aspect to the dark vs light design is that the white represents the Chessed (benevolence) of God, and the dark stripes represent the Gevurah, which is God's strict sense of justice.
There is another reason for keeping the dominant color of the tallit the same as the strings of the tzitzit attached at the garment's four corners - and that is that the Torah tells us to make the tzitzit fringes out of the same type of fiber as the corner of the garment itself. Because the strings are left white, some people who believe that the Torah means also the color must be the same, want the garment too to be white. Halachah rules that it is only concerned with the actual material, but this custom is why the corners of the tallit are always a special section that matches the color and fiber of the strings.
An interesting tidbit about the colors of the tallit:
the blue (reminiscent of Tchelet dye) stripes on white may remind you of the Israeli flag, adding a layer of meaningfulness to the tallit. That is not a coincidence! The Israeli flag is modeled after the Tallit, with a blue stripe near the top and another near the bottom, over white, similar to the traditional tallit's stripes. The Jewish tradition of donning the tallit was very meaningful to the founders of the Jewish
state.
Other colors may be used though and their creative and modern style designs can have meaning to their wearers, with themes painted or woven onto them that create a connection between this special garment and other biblical stories, or just make the experience more enjoyable for the wearer because of the color combinations. These
Tallitot, like the designs by Yair Emanuel, are also kosher, and at the corners they still have the fabric match the strings.
Traditional talitot like those of
Talitania are white with stripes, mostly blue or black but sometimes also other colors or featuring gold or silver stripes as well to make them special and luxurious looking, as it is highly regarded in Judaism to celebrate the commandments and to go about doing them in the most beautiful possible way. The original color of the stripes was blue, as it is similar to the Tchelet color that was supposed to be used but which has been lost. But stripes of other colors work as well to tell if the time has come for morning Shema, and so
black is another common choice, but there are also bordeaux and rainbow and feminine options. In fact, the more feminine designs mean a great deal to women wearing Tallits, because it means that they are wearing a garment specifically designated to be for women, important because the Torah prohibits wearing the clothes of the opposite gender.
Now that you know the many layers of significance of the design features in the Tallit, you can choose one that suits you and makes the prayers a particularly meaningful and personal time with God.
