תשובות בעת מלחמה (אנגלית), ציציות על טליתות למתיםCollected Responsa in Wartime, Fringes on Talleithim For the Dead
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1Question:
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2The Quartermaster Department will buy talleithim to be placed in the coffins of soldiers of Jewish faith. The question has been asked whether these talleithim need the fringes or not, and if they need fringes, do these fringes need to be made pasul before being put into the coffin.
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3Answer:
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4Before dealing with the question itself, there is a related matter which conerns us with regard to the talleithim. These talleithim will be new and will never have been used in worship. Jacob Emden in his Responsum I #166 deals with the question based upon some objections to the use of a new, unused tallith for the dead. He says that there is no objection at all to a new tallith that has not been used for worship.
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5As to the fringes, this is an almost classic dispute. It is discussed in the Tur, Yore Deah #351 and in the Shulchan Aruch (ibid.). The Tur says that it is an old dispute whether to have fringes or not on the tallith for the dead. He quotes the dying statement of Rabbenu Gershom, who said: "Tsitsis chutz", and they did not know whether he meant that the fringes should be removed from the tallith or whether they should hang outside of the coffin. The Ramban says, however, that there is no doubt that the dead is buried with the tallith that has fringes. In the Shulchan Aruch, Isserles says that the fringes should be made pasul first, and that is frequently the custom. But he adds, they can either be made pasul or they can be just folded up under the corners. This last suggestion of Isserles that the fringes be folded up is in consonance with the opinion of Joel Sirkes (Bach) quoted by Be'er Hetev (see large Shulchan Aruch, edition Lemberg), who said that the Bach wrote that the fringes should not be made pasul but they should be tied or folded up.
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6Since the CANRA decided in the previous discussion of the tallith that the tallith should be placed folded in the coffin, it will fulfill the general requirements of the law if the talleithim will have fringes but the whole tallith be folded up.