Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

At the end of this week’s parsha we have the commandment to make fringes on our garments, called “tsitsit”. The tsitsit are placed on the corners of our prayer shawl. Most of us wear this prayer shawl when we attend morning services. It is customary to recite this biblical passage as the third paragraph of the Shema. When we do so, we gather the tsisit on the four corners of our prayer shawl, our “Tallit”, and kiss them each time we come to the word “tsitsit”.

There are eight woolen threads that make up each corner of the Tallit. Those threads are fashioned into five knots and windings between each knot. There are 7 windings between the first and second knots, 8 windings between the second and third knot, 11 windings between the third and fourth knot, and 13 windings between the fourth and fifth knot. None of this is specified in the Bible. (Numbers 15:37-41). The Torah does say that one of the threads should be turquoise. According to the medieval sage Rashi, this turquoise dye was made from an aquatic sea creature called the “chilazon”. Eventually, Jews stopped using the turquoise thread in their tsitsit. Perhaps the animal from which the dye was extracted became extinct. Perhaps the dye became too expensive. Or maybe the knowledge of the process for making the dye was lost. We do not know why the blue thread dropped out, but today the threads on our prayer shawls are all white. Nevertheless, we still fulfill the mitzvah of “tsitsit” even with all white threads.

Our Rabbis taught that the turquoise thread had a purpose. “[The color of the turquoise thread] is similar to the color of the sea, the color of the sea is similar to the color of the sky, and the color of the sky is similar to the color of God’s Throne of Glory”. How did the Rabbis know the color of God’s Throne of Glory? In Exodus 24:9 we are told that Moses, Aaron and two of his sons, and the 70 Elders of Israel ascended and saw the Throne of Glory, and “under His feet was the likeness of sapphire brickwork”. Ezekiel (1:26) describes God’s Throne as “the appearance of a sapphire stone.”

This is a poetic way of saying that the turquoise thread was there to inspire us to look beyond our material world and aspire to a greater vision of holiness. We can find inspiration in many people and experiences, if we only keep our eyes open and our imagination active.

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