Jesus and WomenSample

Furthering Our Understanding of Jesus’ First-Century World 

Look: The Torah and the Tallit

Before the teaching, read Numbers 15:37-40, Deuteronomy 7:6-7, and Deuteronomy 22:12. 

Just as Christians have subdivided the Old Testament into categories (for example, Law, History, Poetry, Major Prophets, Minor Prophets), the Jews have divided their sacred text. Torah is a section of Jewish Scripture that includes instruction and the Law. 

For the Jews, nothing is more important than Torah. It’s the first place they go when deriving authority from Scripture. The books of Torah include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy—what scholars today call the Pentateuch (literally “five books”). Though traditionally translated as “law,” the word Torah implies instruction more than law. According to Torah, the commandments offer freedom more than oppression. 1

The tallit is a prayer shawl. It has been used and is still used today in a variety of ways, depending on a person’s tradition and orthodoxy. The tallit is often worn in prayer and worship. 2 In Numbers 15:37-40 and Deuteronomy 22:12, the Torah instructed the Israelites to put tassels (tzitzit) on the corners of their garments. 3

Each tzitzit (tassel) contains several little knots—for a combined total of 613 knots on a tallit, each representing one of the commandments in the Torah. 4 Every time the Israelites saw the knots on the tassels, they were to remember the commandments. The Hebrew word used for the corner of the tallit, kanafayim (corners), can also mean “wings.” 5 Likely, the tassels were permanently fixed on the corners or wings of the outer hem of the garment. 

The Torah also instructed the Israelites to run a blue or violet cord through the tassels on their tallits. Both rabbinic sources and archaeological data tell us the blue dye used to color these tassels was made from a gland of the Murex snail (located in the Mediterranean). Each snail produced a very small amount of dye, making it very expensive. 6 

Neighboring cultures used the colors blue and violet as symbols and signs for royalty. For the Israelites, this blue or violet cord may have been a sign or a symbol of the royal status of the entire community. The blue cord in every Israelite’s tassel symbolized they were all to be a royal priesthood among the nations—each and every one of them. 

This idea of the royalty of the nation of Israel was tied to God’s covenant relationship with them. The Israelites were not royal because of any worldly qualifications, but they were a royal community because they were God’s people (Deut. 7:6-7). God set them apart with His love, and His love lifted them up. 

1. Encyclopedia Britannica, ed. Brian Duignan, s.v. “Torah, Sacred Text,” Sept. 18, 2019, accessed Oct. 7, 2019, britannica.com/topic/Torah.  
2. Merriam-Webster, s.v. “Tallit,” accessed October 7, 2019, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tallit.
3. Merriam-Webster, s.v. “Tzitzit,” accessed October 7, 2019, merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tzitzit. 
4. Rabbi Abraham Millgram, “The Tallit: Spiritual Significance,” My Jewish Learning, accessed Oct. 22, 2019, myjewishlearning.com/article/the-tallit-spiritual-significance/. 
5. Strong’s H3671, Blue Letter Bible, accessed Sept. 30, 2019, blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=h3671. 
6. Noga Tarnopolsky, “The Bible described it as the perfect, pure blue. And then for nearly 2,000 years, everyone forgot what it looked like,” Los Angeles Times, Sept. 10, 2018, accessed Oct. 7, 2019 latimes.com/world/la-fg-israel-blue-20180910-htmlstory.html.