Cantor Brian is the cantor and director of education at my temple back home. So, everything that I learned about a tallit came from him. Not only did I want to speak to him because of this reason, but I also always loved his personal tallit that he would wear during services– it’s black and grey, with gold accents and fringes. While I couldn’t get any clear pictures of his tallit, I am so grateful for the conversation that we had about this embodied belief and ritual practice. Our conversation focused on the senses elicited by wearing a tallit; he described the comforting hug that a wrapped tallit could feel like, and the power of creating space for the self in a larger community

I have three tallitot. I have the big, white one, it covers my whole body. I wear that during High Holy day services. I have a black and gold one that I wear more usually, that’s the one you’ve probably seen. And I have the one that I will be buried in

This is the closest approximation to Cantor Brian’s tallit that I could find online. The unconventional dark black and grey colors always struck me; I’ve never seen a tallit quite like this before

“After the destruction of the Temple the second time, we lost that central location, that holy place where services were held and people were gathered– that sacred place for Jews to come together. The destruction of the Temple brought the destruction of the Jewish priesthood. And the priests, they were not good for Judaism, for many reasons, but they wore gold and jewels and crowns and breastplates and had that high status, and dressed for it. That’s not…. That’s not what a tallit is. It does not establish a hierarchy within Judaism, within the Jewish people. It’s about the people, and it’s about establishing a personal line of contact, a direct connection to God.”
“The tallit is that connection. It is the vehicle to our connection with the other mitzvot, it is our vehicle to access the other commandments. It is the platform that we stand on to access the covenant. With this commandment, we wear the other 613 commandments on our shoulders, on the fringes.”
“Exactly, yes. I can put someone under it. You can use it… it’s used… it’s cradle to grave. You stand under it when you’re married. You’re buried in it. God has many names. He has hundreds, and one of them is המקום, The Place. And that means many things but, Thinking about that place that is created within, underneath the tallit. You create a place for yourself, you make a place of holiness and peace and sanctity. And you can invite people into that place, but you can also make that place for yourself.”
“The tallit, wearing one during service, serves as a visual placement, it works as a visual signifier. It does, it creates a collective, it creates a people that you can see visually. It’s part of what distinguishes us as a people. It’s like a hug, it hugs you and you wrap yourself. You feel that hug, and it’s in that, you know, that’s God, that’s the Torah, that’s the rest of the Jewish people, right there, in that hug. That’s the covenant, and that’s yours. That’s… that’s your people. Generations and generations, thousands of years of a people. Who all took part, and are taking part, in that ritual.”
“We wrap ourselves up to guide our direct discussion with God. In some services, you’ll see people lift it over their heads to create a private space. It is a physical act, it is a physical expression of all the different ways that the tallit is used as a tool to guide prayer and facilitate the conversation with God. You create a private space, you wrap your fingers with the fringes to say certain prayers, and you use the tallit, you wrap your hand in it, when you touch and hold the Torah.”
“There is no one person who can make a service, jewish prayer, praying in a synagogue, having a public service, a gathering of Jewish worship, that requires a minyan. We are now, we are a kingdom of priests, the Jewish people, we are a nation of priests. We, ourselves, we dress ourselves, we shroud ourselves in the commandments, in the tallitot.”