Practical advice for keeping tallis on while waving 4 species

Question

Whenever I wave my four species in shul, I always find that my tallis repeatedly slips off my head and shoulders. I typically have to adjust it every single set of waves, which is rather distracting. Do other people experience this? How do you keep your tallis on while waving the four species?

I have tried a variety of approaches, with little success, including:

Rolling the tallis underneath itself
Pulling the tallis tight
Leaving extra slack

This seems to happen regardless of what I'm wearing, including when wearing a suit jacket with shoulder pads.

This is a special case of https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/8608/how-to-keep-a-talis-from-sliding-from-ones-shoulders . Maybe a duplicate? — Isaac Moses, Oct 20 '19 at 14:55
@Isaac I think not a duplicate since suggestions could be specific to this case (e.g. suggestions about how to wave the species better) which wouldn't work for the general question. — Daniel, Oct 20 '19 at 18:35
it would be helpful for you to edit in a discussion of which of the answers to the previous question you've tried or considered for this case, and how you found them wanting. — Isaac Moses, Oct 20 '19 at 18:54
Could you say more about how you're waving now? In particular, are you raising your arms straight upward, or just lifting from the elbows? I've mostly seen the latter and it doesn't seem to be disruptive, though (a) I haven't watched closely how they wear the tallit in the first place and (b) I don't know the relevant halachot. (I could turn this into an answer but it'd be unsourced, so starting with this question in a comment.) — Monica Cellio, Oct 20 '19 at 19:38
@Monica Definitely not lifting my arms straight up. I would say my arms go slightly above shoulder level when waving "upward" but the tallis has usually nearly come completely off by the time I get there. — Daniel, Oct 20 '19 at 20:17
Oh, odd. So much for my theory, then. Is this the only time you have trouble with tallit slippage? What happens when you do hagbahah? (Or don't you?) — Monica Cellio, Oct 20 '19 at 20:20
@Monica I don't generally have a lot of issues with slippage, although hagbahah is a similar movement. I'd say it's about 50/50 whether it slips when lifting the Torah, but it's less bothersome because it's at most once per service and most of the time doesn't come up. — Daniel, Oct 20 '19 at 20:26

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 20 '19 at 14:54

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If you take your talis from the sides and roll them in and under on top of shoulder it should stay in place without any movement.

answered Oct 20 '19 at 14:54

sam

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I have tried this and there's been minimal improvement. – Daniel Oct 20 '19 at 18:34
Is it over your head as well? – Akiva___ Oct 20 '19 at 21:20
@Akiva yes it is – Daniel Oct 20 '19 at 21:21
Your Tallit must be very light then. Tuck all four corners under the belt at the part of your body where it naturally would hang. – Akiva___ Oct 22 '19 at 12:00
@Akiva___ I have done that as well. That keeps the tallis from falling off completely, but it actually seems to make it "unfold" from my shoulders more often. – Daniel Oct 24 '19 at 16:09

Alaychem goes to Codidact · Answer 2 · 2019-10-22T08:33:27.290

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Get a Talit made of a cloth which is a bit coarse [that is, not very smooth] (I got one like this).
Works 100%.

edited Oct 22 '19 at 08:33

answered Oct 22 '19 at 06:10

Alaychem goes to Codidact

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score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 23 '19 at 00:35

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In my opinion, the addition (not during the holiday of course) of some velcro strips could assist you in this endeavor.

edited Oct 23 '19 at 00:35

Dr. Shmuel

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answered Oct 22 '19 at 20:00

ZalmyFeivish

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You should give an English translation of the Yiddish sentence that you used for an answer – sabbahillel Oct 23 '19 at 00:20

Practical advice for keeping tallis on while waving 4 species

3 Answers3