929/Vayikra 11-15: Wrapped In Prayer

(45) As for the person with a leprous affection: the clothes shall be rent, the head shall be overgrown, and the upper lip shall be covered over; and that person shall call out, “Impure! Impure!” (46) The person shall be impure as long as the disease is present. Being impure, that person shall dwell apart—in a dwelling outside the camp.

A mourner is obligated to wrap his head, as Hashem says to Ezekiel: “And cover not your upper lip” (Ezek. 24:17), by inference that everyone else is obligated to do so.

Uncovering the head, i.e., removing the head covering usually worn by a mourner; reversing the tear to the back and standing the bed upright, are all obligatory for the mourner to uphold in honor of Shabbat. However, wearing shoes, engaging in sexual relations, and washing one’s hands and feet in hot water in the evening are optional activities on Shabbat. And Rav said: Uncovering the head is also an optional activity. ...The Gemara answers: Shmuel conforms to his standard line of reasoning, for Shmuel said: Any rending of garments that is not done at the time of the most intense grief, i.e., the time of death, is not considered proper rending of garments. And any wrapping of the head that is not done in the manner of the wrapping of the Ishmaelites, is not wrapping. Rav Naḥman demonstrated the elaborate procedure by covering up his face to the sides of the beard, leaving only the center of his face exposed.

And this is as it is written: “And Mordecai returned to the king’s gate” (Esther 6:12). Rav Sheshet said: This means that he returned to his sackcloth and his fasting over the troubles of the Jewish people. Simultaneously, “but Haman hastened to his house, mourning, and having his head covered” (Esther 6:12). “Mourning”; over the death of his daughter. “And having his head covered”; due to what had happened to him, as his head was full of filth.

“And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed” (Ex. 34:6). Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Were it not explicitly written in the verse, it would be impossible to say, this teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, wrapped Himself like a prayer leader and showed Moses the order of the prayer. He said to him: Whenever the Jewish people sin, let them act before Me in accordance with this order, and I will forgive them.

§ The Sages taught: Once all the Jewish people ascended for the pilgrimage Festival to Jerusalem and there was not enough water for them to drink. Nakdimon ben Guryon, went to a certain gentile officer [hegemon] and said to him: Lend me twelve wells of water for the pilgrims, and I will give back to you twelve wells of water. And if I do not give them to you, I will give you twelve talents of silver. And the officer set him a time limit for returning the water. When the set time arrived and no rain had fallen, in the morning the official sent a message to Nakdimon: Send me either the water or the coins that you owe me. Nakdimon sent a message to him: I still have time, as the entire day is mine. At noontime the official again sent a message to him: Send me either the water or the coins that you owe me. Nakdimon sent a message to him: I still have time left in the day. In the afternoon he sent a message to him: Send me either the water or the coins that you owe me. Nakdimon sent a message to him: I still have time left in the day. That officer ridiculed him, saying: Throughout the entire year rain has not fallen, and now it will rain? He entered the bathhouse in a state of joy, anticipating the large sum of money he was about to receive. As the master entered the bathhouse in his joy, Nakdimon entered the Temple in a state of sadness. He wrapped himself in his prayer shawl and stood in prayer. He said before God: Master of the Universe, it is revealed and known before You that I did not act for my own honor, nor did I act for the honor of my father’s house. Rather, I acted for Your honor, so that there should be water for the Festival pilgrims. Immediately the sky became overcast and rain fell until the twelve cisterns were filled with water, and there was even more water, so that they overflowed.

Rabbi Ḥanina would wrap himself in his garment and stand at nightfall on Shabbat eve, and say: Come and we will go out to greet Shabbat the queen. Rabbi Yannai put on his garment on Shabbat eve and said: Enter, O bride. Enter, O bride.

This was the custom of Rabbi Yehuda bar Elai: On Shabbat eve, they would bring him a bowl full of hot water to wash his face, hands, and feet, and he would wrap himself, and sit in linen cloaks with ritual fringes, like an angel of the Lord of hosts. And his students, would conceal the corners of their linen garments from him. He said to them: My sons, did I not teach you to attach ritual fringes to a linen cloak: Beit Shammai exempt linen sheet because the wool of the ritual fringes would mixt with the linen? And Beit Hillel obligate linen because positive mitzva overrides the prohibition. The halakha is in accordance with Beit Hillel, that linen require ritual fringes. And the students held: the Sages issued a decree that one may not do so due to garments worn at night when there is no mitzva of fringes to override.

(5) ... The practice of all the sages and their disciples is not to pray unless their heads are wrapped in the Talith (praying shawl).

Rabbi Yehuda said: There was an incident involving Hyrcanus, son of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, who went outside with a scarf on his shoulder on Shabbat. However, a thread from the garment was tied around his finger so that the garment would not fall. When this matter came before the Sages, they said: It is permitted to go out in that manner even if a thread is not tied around one’s finger. And likewise, Rav Naḥman bar Rav Ḥisda taught in the name of Rav Ḥisda: The halakha is that one may go outside with a garment around one’s shoulders even if a thread from the garment is not tied around one’s finger.

the sun reached directly over the midpoint of the sukka roof. Once again, Rabbi Yoḥanan said to him: What is the halakha; may I spread a sheet over it? Rabbi Eliezer evaded and said to him: There is no tribe of Israel from which prophets did not emerge. And the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were unique because they established kings according to prophets, as Saul and David were anointed by the prophet Samuel. At that point, the light of the sun reached the feet of Rabbi Eliezer. Yoḥanan took a sheet and spread it over the sukka. Rabbi Eliezer slung his cloak over his shoulder behind him and emerged not because he was seeking to avoid answering by diverting his attention with his words, but because Rabbi Eliezer never said a matter that he did not hear from his teacher.

(14) So she took off her widow’s garb, covered her face with a veil, and, wrapping herself up, sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, yet she had not been given to him as wife.

(2) In what ways is a hermaphrodite like men? He causes impurity with white discharge, like men; He dresses like men...

(15) ...[If a person] makes [a garment] with Tzitzit (fringes) [on it] for himself he says [the following Beracha after completing it]: Baruch Shehigiyanu. When he wraps himself in it he says: Baruch Asher Kideshanu Lehitatef Batzitzit...

What is added by the statement of a baraita: Everyone is obligated in ritual fringes? to add a minor who knows how to wrap himself in a garment. As it is taught: A minor who knows how to wrap himself is obligated in ritual fringes.

(1) He shall wrap himself in a fringed garment and make the blessing over it while standing up. (2) The order of wrapping is like the way that a person covers his head for work. Sometimes his head is covered and sometimes his head is exposed. And it is correct to cover the head with the fringed garment.

(1) Immediately after hand washing he should wrap himself in tzitzit while standing. The geonim explained the order of wrapping as being like that of the Ishmaelites, which is complete wrapping. The master of the Ittur wrote that we do not require such an extent, but rather like the way people who wear coverings and engage in their work; sometimes with a covered head and sometimes with an uncovered head. The manner of wrapping: its width is a man’s height. He places two tzitzit before him and two tzitzit behind him, so that he is surrounded with mitzvot, and he covers his head in order that he not be of uncovered head. He should recite the blessing ‘to be wrapped in tzitzit.’ It is called a tzitzit on account of the threads which separate from it, ...