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The majority opinion is that, when we had the tradition on techeilet (the wool-dyed-blue string on tzitzis), each corner of the garment would have 7 white strings and one techeilet string.

If I've heard correctly, Rambam has the interesting opinion that the 7 strings should match the color of the garment. Red tallis means 7 red strings and 1 techeilet string. (We don't follow the Rambam!)

But according to Rambam:

  • If the garment was entirely techeilet, would it get 8 strings of techeilet?
  • What if the garment was entirely kala ilan (indigo, the Gemara says it appears close enough to techeilet to fool people; it's also chemically identical to some of the techeilet formulations out there today)? 7 strings of pseduo-techeilet and one of real techeilet?
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He says (Hil. Tzitzis 2:8) that in that case you can make the "white" strings any color except black, because that's too similar in color to techeles. (Kesef Mishneh there adds that according to this, using the actual color of techeles - whether the real stuff, or indigo - would also be no good.)

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  • He says any "dye" other than black; I assume leaving them white/natural is okay too?
    – Shalom
    Dec 8, 2010 at 19:08
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    Yes, that's how R' Yaakov ibn Chaviv (cited in Kesef Mishneh here) understands the Rambam.
    – Alex
    Dec 8, 2010 at 20:10

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