Alright to have a tallit blessed?

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I imagine the answer is a simple yes, but I’m wondering if it’ll be awkward at all. I recently bought a tallit cloth, prayer shawl, and wish to have it blessed by my priest. I only intend to use it in personal prayer, not during mass or anything like that; though, I wish it could be worn during mass, except that it might be mistaken for a liturgical garment. Anyway, I digress. I just think it would be appropriate to have a prayer shawl blessed by my priest. Am I going to get uncomfortable looks for asking for it to be blessed? Is it too unusual?

I’m not Jewish, but I love the tallit. I wore one when I attended a messianic Jewish church for a while, and I felt closer to Yeshua, the Apostles, and the Prophets because the tallit has been a part of Jewish ritual clothing for thousands of years. The “mantle of Elijah” was a tallit. I know it’s not a necessary garment for Christians, but it helps me with my prayer life.
 
If one thinks of it as a kind of ‘retro’ mantilla, I don’t know why a priest would hesitate to bless it.
 
Interesting take on it, Maximilian. Though, a mantilla is usually a women’s head covering, and tallit are for both men and women. I’m male.
 
Yes, but the Tallit and themantilla, i believe, both convey the same thing-respect for a higher power by covering ones head
 
In the NT the requirement to cover your head when praying is only required to women. I don’t know what the priest will say but I am betting he will ask why you want it blessed. Is it because you feel that you need confirmation from a priest that the Church does not object to it? Or do you think the blessed tallit will help you more?
Have researched in OT if the tallit were blessed or not?
I am just guessing what questions he may ask. I personally just wear a scarf when I pray or enter church. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:
 
Mary88; simple answer; the same reason I had my rosary blessed, or we have images blessed. The objects themselves are tools, but it is good to have prayer tools blessed.
 
Mary888 said:
Have researched in OT if the tallit was blessed or not?
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No, it wasn’t not in the sense talked about here. Jewish priesthood (now extinct) and Rabbis are different from Catholic priesthood. The tallit is already blessed in the sense it is made under consultation with Rabbinical authority. You also say a blessing when you don it each time.
“Blessed are you oh Lord, king of the universe, who has sanctified us with your commandments and commanded us to wear tallit.”
My tallit has the blessing embroidered on it in Hebrew of course.
 
MysticMonist is correct. It was not traditionally blessed in the sense which we have things blessed, but they were blessed in other senses. Jewish priesthood didn’t work the same way. Ones wore by Levites were probably blessed, but the common person’s tallit may not have been; though, they said many blessings every time they were donned.

I’m not Jewish, nor am I practicing Judaism. I like the tallit, and I am Catholic. Catholics have objects we use in prayer, blessed. Rosaries, images of saints or our Lord, etc. Most of the responses have been great, and I thank you.

I’m surprised that some of the responses here seem like I have to defend why I want to wear a tallit to begin with. Can I not like to go back to a long-held ancient tradition? Can I not just simply like going into a prayer closet, what it’s called when you pull it over your head, because it frees from distractions? I’ve already stated other reasons I like it. Why do I have to defend it at all? Of course I want something I pull over my head for prayer, or wear on my shoulders when reading scriptures at home, to be blessed by my priest. Would you not want to wrap yourself in something which is blessed for that purpose? I grant you that I’ve only been Catholic for a couple of years, but it seems to me people have all kinds of things blessed, and especially those things which we use in prayers.
 
Are you familiar with the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel? I ask because you mentioned one of reasons the Jewish tallit interests you is because the mantle of Elijah was one. The Brown Scapular is even better than that - its the mantle of Our Lady herself and has a strong connection to the Prophet Elijah:

The most Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Simon Stock, the superior general of the Carmelite Order, on the 16th of July, 1251. She held a Scapular in her hand and spoke thus:

“Take this Scapular, my dear son. Whosoever dies wearing it shall not suffer eternal fire.” It shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and a pledge of peace.”

The Carmelite order originated in the 12th century on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land. According to tradition, Maria made a pilgrimage with the Child Jesus to this mountain. As the Prophet Elias prayed for rain, after a three year drought, a small cloud rose up over the sea which grew ever larger and finally brought the long desired rain. Elias saw therein a sign of the promised Virgin, who was to bring the promised Redeemer. Since that time there were hermits on Mount Carmel, praying for the coming of the Redeemer. For that reason, ever since the beginning, the Carmelite order has been under the special protection of Mary.

The Brown Scapular is highly indulgenced and any priest can invest you with it. It is a treasure of the Catholic Faith, and would have spiritual benefits that surpass the tallit.
 
R_H_Benson; Oh, most definitely! I am invested with the brown scapular of Our Lady of Mont Carmel, and I know the story behind it well. I need to replace mine, as my original one broke, but I also know that I don’t have to get the new one blessed. I only took my old one off for showering.

The spiritual benefits of having the tallit are personal to me, so it’s difficult for anyone else to say how much or little it would have an impact on my spiritual walk. It’s not something I think everyone has to do, or even that I “have” to do; only, something which has meaning to me, which I want to do.
 
newcalling said:
I know it’s not a necessary garment for Christians, but it helps me with my prayer life.
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If you were to encounter a problem in asking for your tallit to be blessed, the problem would not be with your having asked but with the cleric.

I received my first tallit many many years ago, when as a priest I was visiting the Holy Land. Of course I blessed it and have made good use of it over the years.

Prayer shawls of all types are quite common now and we clergy are happy to bless them.
 
newcalling said:
The spiritual benefits of having the tallit are personal to me, so it’s difficult for anyone else to say how much or little it would have an impact on my spiritual walk.
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Yes, true. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.
 
newcalling said:
The spiritual benefits of having the tallit are personal to me, so it’s difficult for anyone else to say how much or little it would have an impact on my spiritual walk. It’s not something I think everyone has to do, or even that I “have” to do; only, something which has meaning to me, which I want to do.
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Indeed. And you have expressed that reality quite splendidly.

How wonderful that we live in the era after Vatican II and in a time when we, as Catholics, can appreciate that which is beyond Catholicism but which can nevertheless help and enrich us in our own spiritual journeys…such as re-discovering treasures in Judaism, as you have done.
 
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