Lost Knowledge
At some point following the Roman exile of the Jews from the land of Israel, the actual identity of the source of the dye was lost and as a result the Jews have worn only plain white tassles.
The stripes on prayer shawls, often black, but also blue or purple, are believed to symbolize the lost tekhelet which is referred to by various sources as being "black as midnight", "blue as the midday sky", and even purple. These stripes of tekhelet inspired the design of the flag of Israel.
Read more about this topic: Tekhelet
Famous quotes containing the words lost and/or knowledge:
“We have not the reverent feeling for the rainbow that a savage has, because we know how it is made. We have lost as much as we gained by prying into that matter.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of the one whose knowledge is perfect, you whose garments are hot when the earth is still because of the south wind? Can you, like him, spread out the skies, hard as a molten mirror?”
—Bible: Hebrew, Job 37:16-18.
One of Job’s “comforters,” of God.