Question
I know this is going to probably bother someone, because the questions are off the wall, but I am going to try anyway. I read the answer the Rabbi gave on Tammuz 29, 5770 (I know that is over 10 years ago) for the question titled, "Tzitzit and Techelet." I would like to ask a follow-up question. He addresses the issue of Adding Strings to Tzitzit. He never said it could or couldn't or should or shouldn't be done. That Rabbi just said that the Rishonim disagree, and says that "The Mishnah Berurah quotes the Gra (Vilna Gaon) who agrees with the Itur that it is permitted to add as many strings as he wants as long as they are from the same type." That stuck out in my mind, because or family came from Vilna, Russia and my Elter-Elter-Zaide was named Eliyahu Dov, after the Vilna Gaon and his great-grandfather, who both passed away around the same time. I know it is irregular, but I have seen both younger and older men wearing 16 strings, with 4 whole Techeiles and 4 white. At first it was the young men, then the older men changed their tzitzit strings. Another man said he uses 6 strings, 3 and 3 on each corner, but never explained why. I have seen about 7 men also tying each corner a different way. You don't notice it at first, but it is obvious, if you look for a minute and see one tied according to the Raavad and another according to GRA. You can't mistake those as being the same. Our Rabbis have not said anything, and I don't want to ask and look like a fool. You can understand. My questions are these. First, is it acceptable to use more than the 4 turned into 8 strings? Could someone use 6 strings turned into 12 or 8 into 16 strings? I don't know how they would look, but would it invalidate the Tzitzit or the entire Tallis? Could one tie each corner of their tallis according to a different method? For instance, not four different ways, but could someone use Raavad 7 strings and tie GRA 7 for the bottom Tsitsiyot and Raavad Regular or Raavad Short and tie Regular GRA for the top Tzitziyot?
Answer
One should not have more than 4 double strings in each corner. The Shulchan Aruch rules that if one added strings even from the same type it is invalid. The conclusion in the Mishnah Berurah was also not to add strings. Only if one completed making the Tzitzit already and cannot fix it, he can wear it temporarily (based on the opinions permitting it) but he should fix it at his earliest convenience (Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 11, 12. And Mishnah Berurah 60).
If one ties each corner of the Talit according to a different method, the Talit is Kosher (See Mishnah Berurah 11, 65), but it doesn’t make any sense to do that, because he ends up not following any method.
