Halakhah zu Jechezkiel 1:26

According to Rashi of Blessed Memory the color of Techelet resembles the firmament as it blackens towards evening which is in agreement with Rambam of Blessed Memory who says that the Techelet must lean towards and have a fringe of blackness. And behold, since G-d whose name is blessed has helped us to clarify the signs through which the Hillazon can be recognized, and I have spoken with many of the Sages of the Torah and spiritual giants of Israel and they have agreed with my words, it is incumbent upon all those who have strength to search for it, to bring merit to the nation of Israel with the precept (Mitzvah) which has been forgotten from Israel many hundreds of years. And anyone who merits to this will be blessed by the Lord, the G-d of Israel. And I in my lowliness have begun this process and have sent to the shores of the Mediterranean sea. This creature has been brought to me and it is of the species that are called inkfish what include 19 different kinds. It appears to me that in one of these species can be found all the signs that are mentioned previously as explained according to the words of our sages of Blessed Memory also its blood which is black as ink is under my hand. Nevertheless all the chemists have not been successful in extracting its blood. And if G-d will help me to come to the shores of the Mediterranean sea and be able to attain it unlike it is still alive if G-d so desires I will try with the help of G-d who is blessed to extract from it the color of Techelet. And I will pray to G-d who is blessed, that just as he has given me merit to living merit for Israel with words of Torah whose expositions are few, these being the remnants that occupy themselves in the order of Teharoth (laws of ritual impurity) and with the help of G-d due to the merit of my fathers I have set in order the entire order of Teharoth - And with the help of G-d I have published the Tractate of Kelim (laws regarding ritual impurity of vessels) which has been favorably received amidst the great sages of Israel and the wise men of the Torah, so too I shall pray with G-d and that he helps me complete the entire order and publish it, and I shall dwell in his tents forever. And so too regarding this Mitzvah of Techelet which has none that seek it out, may G-d help me to bring merit to the many and may it stand for me and my children and my children's children that the words of the Torah vanish not from my lips and the lips of my children and the lips of my children's children so says G-d from now until forever.

The root of the commandment is revealed in the verse: It is in order that we always remember all of the commandments of God. And there is no better reminder in the world than carrying the seal of the Master on the clothes that one wears at all times, as a person is [always attentive] to his clothes. And this is what is stated in the verse (Numbers 15:39), "and you will recall all the commandments of the Lord." And they, may their memory be blessed, said (Midrash Tanchuma, Korach 12) that the word 'tsitsit' alludes to the six hundred and thirteen commandments (in the numerical equivalent of the letters) when combined with the eight strings of the fringes and their five knots. And my heart also tells me that there is a reminder and allusion here that the soul and body of man all belong to God, Blessed be He. As the white portion corresponds to the body which is from the land, which was made from the snow, which is white, as we find in Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer 3, "From where is the land from? From the snow that is under the Holy Throne.” And the threads [also] allude to the body, as the matter that they said, that the initial formation of a body is like threads. [It is] as they, may their memory be blessed, said (Niddah 25b), "Rabbi Amram said, 'The two thighs are like two strands of crimson, the two forearms are like two strands of crimson.'" The blue (tekhelet), the appearance of which, is like the appearance of the sky hints to the soul which is from the upper beings. And they hinted to this in their saying (Menachot 47b), "What [makes] tekhelet different than all other colors? Because tekhelet is like the sea, and the sea is like the sky, and the sky is like the Throne of Glory, as it is stated (Exodus 24:10), 'And they saw the God of Israel, etc.' and it states (Ezekiel 1:26), 'The Throne appeared as sapphire stone'" - and the souls of the righteous are stored underneath the Throne. And because of this, they said (Menachot 39a) that we wrap the string of tekhelet around the white, as the soul is above and the body below. They said that we make seven or thirteen windings [around the white strings] to allude to the heavens and the divisions between them. And it is as they said (Menachot 39a), "It is taught, 'One who wishes to do fewer should not do fewer than seven, nor should he add more than thirteen, corresponding to the seven heavens and the six air-spaces between them.'"