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I have been told by some friends of Scottish ancestry that a proper kilt is not sewn closed in the form in which it is worn, rather it is a single long piece of fabric which is held in place with a belt. Taking this into account, as well as the fact that its smaller dimension is larger than one amah, it would seem to require tzitzit.

My question here is two-fold:

  1. Would a kilt require tzitzit to be worn?
  2. According to the opinion of the Rambam, what colour would the strings be, considering the tartan pattern?
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Noach MiFrankfurt
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  • Where are the four corners located when it's being worn normally? I'm not entirely sure I get your picture. – Double AA Dec 01 '15 at 16:36
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    I remember an article that a multicolored garment uses white tzitzis because there is no "main" color for the string to match. – sabbahillel Dec 01 '15 at 17:06
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    @DoubleAA, two are visible, two are covered – Noach MiFrankfurt Dec 01 '15 at 18:00
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    @NoachmiFrankfurt And where on the body is each located? – Double AA Dec 01 '15 at 18:08
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    @DoubleAA, two are by the waist, two by the knee. I should probably mention that I've never really learned hilchot tzitzit. – Noach MiFrankfurt Dec 01 '15 at 18:11
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    Is it wrapped around the body repeatedly in a spiral, like paper towels or toilet paper? (That's the picture I'm getting from your words.) cc @DoubleAA – msh210 Dec 01 '15 at 20:16
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    @msh210, similar, but not as many wrappings. – Noach MiFrankfurt Dec 01 '15 at 20:25
  • An easier solution for those who wish to wear a kilt is to round off one of the corners. Three corners require no tzitzit. At first glance, the four corners of the kilt would require, but making bracha is a question. There is for sure no 'atifah' going on. And based upon where you are wearing the garment, I'm not even sure if the idea of covering the majority of ones body would be applicable. This would all require further investigation. Concerning the color, @sabbahillel is correct. – Yaacov Deane Dec 02 '15 at 16:38
  • @Double I see where you're going with this but it is still does not specifically have all four on one side with no other way to be worn. – user6591 Dec 02 '15 at 16:50
  • @user6591 Without any litotes, I don't know if that's the case. That's why I'd asked him to clarify. Maybe having the end back in front is part of the way for it to clip together or something. – Double AA Dec 02 '15 at 16:53
  • @Double Do you think the Ramma would've told a Scott to not put Tzitzis on, or was that just his desperate svara for limud zchus for the minhag? – user6591 Dec 02 '15 at 17:54
  • @user6591 He probably would've told a scott the same as a pole (assuming the cases were parallel). Whether hat was just his desperate limmud zechus is a seperate question – Double AA Dec 02 '15 at 17:56
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    is it permissible to wear a kilt in the first place? – Dude Dec 14 '15 at 01:20
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    @Dude Why not? (And why would that affect the Chiyuv Tzitzis if one wore it anyway?) – Double AA Dec 14 '15 at 02:15
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    @DoubleAA it wouldn't impact tzitzis which is why my question is a comment rather than an answer. I was wondering if it's permissible to wear a kilt or would this fall under the category of not following social and cultural practices of other nations? – Dude Dec 14 '15 at 02:18
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    @Dude How is it different than wearing a suit? – Double AA Dec 14 '15 at 03:33
  • @DoubleAA the kilt originally worn by the highland clans in Scotland followed by others were a symbol of pride and had patterns than indicated what tribe someone would be from. Like much of early culture these varying clans practiced avoda zara. A suit isn't necessarily tied to any one specific culture – Dude Dec 16 '15 at 02:00
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    @DudeThe suit as we know it was developed by Christians, who are ovdei avodah zarah al pi haRambam. – Noach MiFrankfurt Dec 16 '15 at 02:03
  • @NoachmiFrankfurt And al pi the Talmud [and nearly all of traditional Judaism]. – Double AA Dec 16 '15 at 15:52

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