Tzitzis on a Towel
למודי משה | August 04, 2025
Print This Article
View Original PDF
If one is by the seaside and he starts getting cold and wraps himself in a towel, or he wraps himself in a towel to make berachos, does the towel require tzitzis?
R’ Zilberstein (Alon Beis Dovid, Shoftim 5737) was asked the above and he offers two reasons for why a towel doesn’t require tzitzis?
- The Shulchan Aruch (10:10) rules, that a hat is exempt from tzitzis as its main purpose is to cover one’s head, and: כסותך אמר רחמנא ולא כסות הראש – “the Torah requires a garment that one wears on his body in tzitzis, not a garment one wears on his head”. Similarly, a towel is designed to dry oneself and not to be a garment, therefore, even if one uses it as a garment, it is still exempt.
- The Rema (10:12) describes a certain type of garment that they would wear in certain places, and he writes, “since it is not designed to be worn with two corners at the front and two at the back, it is exempt from tzitzis”. Similarly, a towel isn’t designed to be worn with two corners at the front and two at the back, therefore, even if one decides to wear it, it would be exempt from tzitzis.
View The Full Article (PDF)