Translation:Shulchan Aruch/Orach Chaim/8
8: Laws of tzitzit and wrapping them.
1 One should wrap himself with tzitzit and recite the blessing while standing.
2 The arrangement of its wearing is in the way people wear their cloths and engage in their work, sometimes while covering one's head, and others without a head cover. And it is proper to cover one's head with a tallit.
3 Our tallit kattans that we have a custom to wear, even though wearing them does not involve wrapping, fulfill the requirement of wearing tzitzit. And it is good to place them over one's head, hold them with their width in the direction of one's height, wrap oneself in them and stand like this for at least the time it takes to walk four cubits, and afterwards return it over one's head and wear it.
4 One arranges the tzitzit so two are in front and two are in back, in order to be surrounded by mitzvahs.
5 One says the blessing "to wrap oneself in tzitzit." If two or three wrap themselves in the tallit together (meaning, at the same time), everyone says the blessing. And if they wish, one says the blessing, and the rest answer "Amen."
6 On the tallit katan it is acceptable to say the blessing "to wrap oneself..." even though he does not wrap himself in them but merely wears them. Gloss: And there are those who say that one says on it "on the commandment of tzitzit" and this is our custom and should not be changed. (Kol Bo Chapter 22 and Nimukei Yosef on Halachot Ktanot daf 86 amud 2).
7 One must separate the threads of the tzitzit from each other.
8 One should have intention when wrapping, that the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded us to wrap in them in order that we should remember all of His commandments to fulfill them.
9
Before saying the blessing, one should examine the strings to ensure they are kosher, in order not to make a wasted blessing.
10
If one puts on the tallit katan when one's hands are not clean, one puts it on without saying a blessing, and when one washes his hands, one should fondle the tzitzit and say the blessing upon them; or when one puts on another tallit, one says a blessing on it with the intention of exempting the first, and does not have to fondle the tzitzit of the first one.
11 The main mitzva of tallit katan is to wear it over one's clothes, in order that one will always see them and remember the mitzvot.
12 If one has multiple four-cornered articles of clothing, all are required to have tzitzit. And if one puts all of them on without stopping, and had the initial intention on all of them, one should say only one blessing. If one stops between them, one must say the blessing on each one individually. And this is also the law if one had not had the initial intention on all of them, it is like having stopped between them.
Gloss: And similarly, if one removes the first one before wearing the second, one must say another blessing (Terumat HaDeshen Chapter 45)
13 One who wears a tallit katan and says the blessing on it, when he goes to the synagogue and wraps in a tallit gadol, he must say the blessing on it, because the walk from one's house to the synagogue is considered a pause. And if one is praying in his house, if he had the intention from the start also on the tallit gadol and did not pause between them to engage in conversation or other things, one is not required to make another blessing.
14
And if one took off his tallit, even if it was his intention to put it back on immediately, one must say the blessing when one puts it back on.
Gloss: And there are those who say that one does not say a blessing if it was his intention to put it back on [Agur, Chapter 35]. And there are those who say, only if the tallit katan remained on him. And so is our custom [ibid.]. [See below, Chapter 25 Paragraph 12].
15 If one's tallit falls off accidentally, and one then puts it back on, one must say a blessing. This is the case if it fell off entirely; however, if it did not fall off entirely, then even if the majority fell off, one does not need to say a blessing.
16 One who sleeps in his tallit at night must say a blessing on it in the morning even if he never took it off. And it is good to fondle with it during the blessing. And similarly should one do if one puts on his tallit before the morning light. [Notes of Maimuni in the name of Sefer Haterumah and Sefer Mitzvot Gadol and Sefer Mitzvot Katan and the Mordecai in the Laws of Tefillin].
17 One who covers himself with an article of clothing requiring tzitzit but did not put tzitzit on that garment has transgressed the mitzvah of tzitzit.