A knotty problem for my r'shimat chaverim

[rhu]

The tzitzit on my arba kanfot have deteriorated to the point where I need to replace them. The begadim themselves are in fine shape.

Does anyone out there have experience with replacing the tzitzit?

There are lots of web pages, not to mention pages in The Jewish Catalog, that give instructions, but they seem to take the position that the reason to tie your own tzitzit is to be more connected with the mitzvah. That doesn't answer my question: is it worth doing it myself to save the money and not waste perfectly good begadim, or am I going to get really frustrated and be dissatisfied with the end result?

Comments

[sethg]

You're going to get really frustrated. I have tied my own tzitzit and came away from the experience feeling like I was half-blind from squinting at the number of windings.

According to my local halahkic authority, once proper tzitzit have been attached, they are not actually passul until they break on the side closest to the beged. I.e., if you have four intact strings between the hole in the beged and the first knot, then you have kosher tzitzit, even if everything beyond that first knot is a frayed and broken mess.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Both of those pieces of information are good to know. Thanks!

[abbasegal.livejournal.com]

I don't know if they are as prevalent in Boston as here in Israel, but around the time I bought Tchelet for my Tallit, a local high school kid/Yeshivah Bocher (the son of neighbors) sent an email out on the local email list offering to tie tzitzit for a small fee (Bet Shemesh at the time). He did a great job; it was, as they say, a "win-win" deal. I got nicely-tied tzitzit without going nuts, and he earned a few shekels and got to help a Ba'al HaBayit do a mitzvah.

Shanah Tovah!

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

I tied my own (using, yea verily, The Jewish Catalog for instructions), and didn't find it that hard. However, the strings (which I got at the Israel Book Shop several years ago when I started making my tallit!) feel like rather different material than I'm used to on a commercial tallit, so they didn't seem to tie down very tightly, and now the knots are already coming a bit loose on the outside, so either IM DOIN IT RONG or it's an actual problem with the materials.

[hatam-soferet.livejournal.com]

I tie my own. Works fine for me, but then I'm good with my fingers. If you're not much cop at knots, don't bother, but if you can tell a half hitch from a bowline and could tie either of them in more or less anything, you're probably good to do tzitzit.