Tzitzit ציצית
The fringes on the corners of a four-cornered garment—a commandment worn on oneself, "that you may remember all the commandments of God".
The Torah commands tying fringes to the corners of one's garment and weaving into them a thread of techelet, sky-blue; looking at the fringe, one remembers the commandments. When four-cornered garments went out of daily wear, the prayer shawl and the small tallit worn under the shirt appeared—so that the commandment should not vanish with fashion.
The blue dye came from a sea creature called the chilazon; by the age of the Geonim the secret was lost and the fringes became white. In our own day several communities have restored techelet, identifying the chilazon with the murex snail—and the argument over the identification continues. The laws of tzitzit are worked out in tractate Menachot.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Tanakh
- Numbers 15:37–41 — the commandment of tzitzit
- Menachot 43b — «he sees and remembers»
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.