Q. During the Independence Day I saw a religious teenager wearing a kipa, wrap himself with an Israeli flag. Was this permitted, or did he have to put tzitzit on the flag?
A. Biur Halocho (10: 11) quoting Bais Yosef mentions that in regards to the mitzvah of tzitzis the Torah expresses "on the four corners of your garment which you cover yourself" (Devarim 22,12), therefore you are to place tzitzis only on garments that are made for protection from the cold or heat as normal clothing does.
Consequently Poskim exempt from tzitzis covers used when one is at the barber (Piskey Teshuvos ibid. and note 82), Purim disguises and costumes, (ibid., Shevet Hakehosi 4: 4) large towels used at the mikva, even when you are allowed to wear them on a street on Shabbos.(Emek Hateshuvo p. 182.)
Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit'a opinion is that indeed you do not have to place tzitzis on a flag that you wear as a symbol.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit"a
Doesn't a piece of clothing only require tzitzis when two corners are in the front and two corners in the back, whereas when one wraps oneself in a flag, all the corners are in the front?
Important Numbers
