Ask the Rabbi: Beracha upon Returning Tzitzit | Rabbi Daniel Mann | Beit Midrash

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Question: I take off my tzitzit to play ball. When I put my tzitzit back on (still daytime) should I make a beracha?

Answer: Two gemarot regarding similar mitzvot are instructive. One (Menachot 43a) asks about Rav Yehuda’s consistency regarding tzitzit. He had his wife wear tzitzit because he saw it as a non-time-based mitzva (i.e., it applies 24/7), but he made a beracha on them every morning, as if each day were a new mitzva! The gemara answers that he posited that one who takes a break in an ongoing mitzvot makes a new beracha when resuming it. The source is Rabbi’s opinion (Sukka 46a) that one makes a beracha on tefillin each time he puts them on. The latter gemara tells of Rava making a beracha on tefillin every time he left the bathroom and those who made a beracha each time they "handled" them.
The Tur (Orach Chayim 8) understands the gemara about making a beracha upon handling tefillin as referring to a case where it slipped totally out of place, which made a beracha necessary upon its return. At first, he equated that case to one removing his tallit and returning it. However, he concludes that when one purposely removes tzitzit or tefillin with the plan to promptly return it relatively soon, he does not make a new beracha. The Beit Yosef (OC 8) argued based on the gemara about making a beracha on tefillin after the bathroom, despite the intention to return them soon, showing that after any break in the performance of tefillin or tzitzit, we need a new beracha (see Shulchan Aruch, OC 8:14; OC 25:12).
For Ashkenazim, the ruling is more complicated. The Rama (Darchei Moshe, OC 8:6) dismisses the proof from the beracha on tefillin after the bathroom, because the fact that it is forbidden to wear tefillin in the bathroom magnifies the break in the mitzva. In contrast, since one may wear tzitzit in the bathroom, and fundamentally even a tallit, the break for a bathroom visit does not require a new beracha. The Rama (OC 8:14) accepts a different distinction. If one takes his tallit off but keeps his tzitzit on, the mitzva continues sufficiently to make a new beracha unnecessary; if he takes both off, he needs a beracha. According to this, if one takes off his tzitzit (with no tallit on), then even if he returns it relatively quickly, he would seem to need a new beracha. Many have difficulty with this distinction, considering that the beracha on each garment is independent and that regarding tefillin the Rama (OC 25:12) does not require a beracha even though no tefillin remain on (see Nachalat Tzvi 8:14).
Despite the positions of the Shulchan Aruch and Rama, most Sephardi and Ashkenazi Acharonim (see Mishna Berura 8:37; Aruch Hashulchan, OC 8:21; Yalkut Yoself, OC 8:52) say that if one is planning to put tzitzit back on relatively soon, he need not make a new beracha. This is to a great extent because, given that there are respected opinions not to make a beracha, we say safek berachot l’hakel (in a doubt whether to make a beracha, we refrain from it).

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The remaining question is at which point the break is so long that a new beracha is needed. (If the plan was for a long break, it does not help if he ended it faster, and if the break was long, it does not help that he planned for shorter – Mishna Berura ibid.). The Beit Yosef (ibid.) posits that the time between Shacharit and Mincha is definitely too long but does not say what the cutoff is. The Shulchan Aruch Harav (8:23) also says that a few hours is too long, without giving a clear cutoff. Yalkut Yosef (ibid.) says the cutoff is half an hour. Most Ashkenazim assume it is longer, and while an exact cutoff is elusive (see Dirshu 8:52), something like two hours seems to be around right. The Be’ur Halacha (to 8:14) suggests that one can make a new beracha clearly appropriate by intending when originally putting on the tzitzit that the beracha’s efficacy will end with a sizable break, but people rarely remember to do so. You could (not required to) aid the approach of not making a beracha by putting the tzitzit on for a short time in the midst of the break.