Obj. ID: 39371
Sacred and Ritual Objects  Prayer shawl (Tallit), Yemen, circa 1920

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

The Tallit is a Jewish prayer shawl, worn on the shoulders over the outer clothes during morning prayers and on a few special occasions as well, such as Yom Kippur evening or the wedding ceremony. Traditionally the Tallit is made of wool or linen, but sometimes from other textiles as well, such as silk or polyester and cotton. In most cases, the Tallit is worn from the time of the Bar Mitzvah and is often a gift from father to son on that occasion.

This multi-colored Tallit is quite different that its western counterparts, which are generally not cororful, carrying blue or black stripes only. A signiture and date in Arabic characters, are woven into the selvedge on one side of the textile. This form and colors are from a rural, mountainous area of Yemen. There are two similar examples in the Israel Museum, one of which is a Tallit Katan. Such colorful ritual shawls are very rare, even in Yemen. This example is also exceptionally large, stretching 3.3 meters in length.