daf bit: Menachot 43

[cellio]

The g'mara on today's daf discusses tzitzit, the fringes we are commanded to affix to the corners of our garments. The biblical commandment is to include a thread of blue (the others are white); this is (mostly) not done today because of uncertainty about the proper dye. The rabbis discuss this blue thread:

It was taught that Rabbi Meir used to say: why was blue chosen among all the colors for this special thread? The blue resembles the sea, which resembles the sky, which resembles a sapphire, which resembles the color of the Throne of Glory, as it is written: there was under his feet a paved work of sapphire stone (when Moshe and the elders ascended to heaven). (The g'mara does not explain why R. Meir went through the intermediate steps of sea and sky.)

It was also taught in Rabbi Meir's name that the punishment for neglecting the white threads is greater than for neglecting the blue. Why? He explains by way of a parable: a king of flesh and blood told one servant to bring him a seal of clay, and another servant to bring him a seal of gold. Both failed. Who is deserving of greater punishment? The one who could not even bring the seal of clay. (43b)

Comments

[loxian.livejournal.com]

Thank you, found it: 24:9, after the commandments and before the tabernacle instructions. I am afraid I read the bible very little, other than the bits I read with the children. I don't know why, because when I do read it, I'm always glad I did...

[cellio]

Sorry, didn't mean to be vague and send you on a hunting expedition! Glad you found it. :-)