Beth HaDerech; Messianic Jewish Congregation, Toronto, Canada

Tzitzi Wearing Woman

Can / Should Women Wear Tzitzit? Women are exempt from wearing tzitzit because it is a time-bound mitzvah which a woman does not have to follow. If women are exempt from this commandment, does that mean she cannot observe it at all if she willingly chooses?  We often see Reform and Conservative women draped in a tallit gadol. Many times it is argued, perhaps validly, they have not pursued this with a spiritual intent, but a feminist-political intent. Perhaps feminists who wear it merely to be equal to men negate its spiritual value because the motivation is not Torah, but political. We should pursue Torah for its own sake, so I find feminist egalitarian justification rather reprehensible. Is a woman wearing tzitzit considered to be in violation of the commandment not to wear the clothing of the opposite gender? Are tzitzit a gender-specific garment? Are tzitzit even considered a garment, or an appendage to a garment?  The Shulchan Aruch examines and addresses many of these issues, but it presents a mainstream Jewish position. There are varying opinions in the Talmud and issued by other rabbis.  One opinion was issued by Moses Isserles, a Rabbi and Talmudist, renowned for his fundamental work of Halacha and the Shulkhan Arukh, wrote, "If they (women) wish to wrap themselves in a tallit for woman and make a blessing over it, then it is...