From Rabbi Gadi Capela

It was one of those moments in synagogue that intrigued me, challenged me to look deeper at Torah commentary. In discourse this Shabbat about the clothing of the High Priest, I was explaining the difference between the word tzitz at the forehead of the High Priest in Exodus 28:36, and tzitzit – the tassels with the singular blue string that we are commanded to extend from the Talit. Twice a day, we read in the Shema prayer: “Speak to the Israelite people and instruct them to make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout the ages; let them attach a cord of blue to the fringe at each corner. That shall be your fringe; look at it and recall all the commandments of The Lord and observe them, so that you do not follow your heart and eyes in your lustful urge.”

Curiously, the Torah does not use the word tzitzit to describe the blue string; the Torah uses the word ptil — like the wick of a candle. Once I pointed out the use of the word ptil, Ari Paul asked why the Torah differentiates the blue thread in its wording. The color is different, of course, but is that the reason for the usage? I was intrigued to find out. Right after Shabbat, I began searching further in a quest for an answer.

I discovered much commentary on this point. Ibn Ezra commenting on Numbers 15:38:3 writes about the thread of blue as being a sky-like color, also referring to threads that are not woven. That brought me to Haamek Davar, who compares ptil to Naftali, which means twistedness, entangled.  The matriarch Leah called her son Naftali, hoping that now her husband Jacob would be entangled with her. The blue thread is the one wrapping the rest of the strings. It reminds me how Broadway cuts across the avenues on an angle, connecting the other avenues that run parallel.

According to the Malbim, the string was entwined, interwoven. The blue resembles God’s throne, which connects everything from the inside.  Similarly, for Kitzur Ba’al HaTurim, the Techelet resembles the sky and the throne of God.  “…He who is careful with the mitzvah of tzitzit will see the face of the Shekhina — the glory of God, and God will carry him on wings of eagles.”  The Techelet, which means Everything, can bring everything together, bundled, integrated. It makes sense then that the sky-blue color was used also to construct the Tent of Meeting, God’s sanctuary, and the clothing of the High Priest. According to our Rabbis, the blue color was found in a sea creature, perhaps a squid or an octopus; we don’t know for sure. But a creature living in the water is like living in heaven.

And then there is the Kli Yakar, who says, “…This is the secret of the Techelet that reminds us of all the mitzvot. And by that he makes a full clothing for the soul, and he will not be buried naked until he becomes like Adam — the first human.  Only one mitzvah was given to him [to avoid the Tree of Knowledge], and he stripped himself from it. But there is another mitzvah that reminds us of all the mitzvot — love thy neighbor — which means that one string can bring the human being to the essence of everything…”

The blue string reminds us that we are connected directly to what is above us, that each of us is like a High Priest, and each blue string is part of the coat of blue worn by the High Priest. But since everything in the work of the High Priest and the Temple is about capturing the heavenly light, the ptil is also the wick in the eternal light. God’s original clothing for Adam and Eve before the sin was light. Therefore, the Zohar writes: “A candle is a Mitzvah and the Torah is the light. A candle without a light is nothing, and light without a candle cannot shine; both need each other: When we perform the Mitzvah, we correct the candle; and when we study Torah, we light the candle. To the Hasidic sages, the flame of the candle is made of white fire that wraps the heart of the flame in blue. The white fire symbolizes the Mitzvah, and the blue fire is the Torah.

Come join us every Shabbat as we journey through the Torah and navigate through life…

—Rabbi Gadi Capela