Menachot 38a (לח.) — the Talmud in English

The mitzva of tzitzit applies to a garment that has four corners, and it is a Torah mitzva to place on each of its four corners “twisted threads,” made of bundles of threads [threads wound together] that split into strands. The bundle and strands must be made of two white threads and two threads of techelet, which together constitute four threads, and when they are folded, they constitute eight threads.

Mishna:

1.

The techelet does not invalidate the white.

The mitzva to place a techelet strand in the tzitzit bundle does not prevent one from placing the white threads in it. That is, if one has no techelet threads, one may make the bundle and strands from four white threads [and when they are folded, they constitute eight white threads].

Likewise,

the white does not invalidate the techelet.

The mitzva of placing the white threads does not prevent fulfillment of the mitzva of placing the techelet threads. Therefore, if one has no white threads, he may place two additional techelet threads in their place, and fulfill the obligation of tzitzit with a bundle and strands made of four techelet threads 5 .

Therefore, if one has no white threads, one may place two additional threads of techelet in their place and fulfill the obligation of tzitzit

2.

The tefilla

[tefillin]

of the arm does not invalidate that of the head.

Therefore, if one does not have the arm tefilla, he may put on only the head tefilla 6 .

Likewise, the head tefilla,

if it is incomplete,

does not prevent

the fulfillment

of the mitzva of putting on the

arm tefilla,

and he may put it on his arm alone 7 .

Gemara:

And we raise a difficulty:

Shall we say that the Mishna,

which stated that the white and techelet threads do not invalidate one another,

is not in accordance with Rabbi?!

As it is taught in a beraita: “And you shall see it”—this teaches

that the sky-blue and white threads

prevent one another;

for if one of them is missing, it is impossible to fulfill the mitzva of tzitzit at all,

the words of Rabbi. And the Sages say: They do not prevent one another.

And the Gemara clarifies:

What is Rabbi’s reason

for holding that they prevent one another?

As it is written: “the corner,”

and we derive from this that the threads must be white, like

the species of the corner,

since most of the garments in their time were made of white linen fabric.

And it is also written

also:

“a thread of sky blue,”

and concerning both of them

the Merciful One said: “And you shall see it,”

which means:

only when both of them are present,

white and sky blue,

in one

tzitzit braid.

And the Rabbis,

from where did they derive that they do not prevent one another?

Because it is written:

“And you shall see it,”

and it does not say, “And you shall see them” [for had it been written “and you shall see them,” it would have implied that both are indispensable]. Therefore,

each one, by itself, is implied.

The mitzva of tzitzit can be fulfilled with white threads alone or with sky-blue threads alone, because the failure to fulfill one part of the mitzva does not prevent the other part 8 .

The Gemara returns once again:

Let us say

that our Mishna, which states that the sky blue and the white do not prevent one another, is

not in accordance with Rabbi,

who maintains that each prevents the other?!

And we answer:

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: You may even say

that our Mishna is

Rabbi’s

opinion. To fulfill the mitzva, one must provide both sky blue and white, and the Mishna is speaking of a case in which he provides both. Nevertheless, the Mishna can be reconciled, because when it says that they do not prevent one another,

it is necessary only with regard to precedence.

The Mishna is teaching that if one placed the sky-blue threads on the corner of the garment before placing the white threads, he has fulfilled his obligation after the fact. He need not detach the sky-blue threads in order to place the white threads first and then the sky-blue threads; rather, he may now place the white threads.

As it is taught in a beraita: It is a mitzva to place the white before the sky blue

when attaching them to the garment. The reason is that this is the order of performance in the Torah: first the white threads are placed, and afterward the sky blue, as it is written: “And they shall place upon the tzitzit of the corner a thread of sky blue.” That is, upon the tzitzit made of the species of the corner of the garment, which is white in color, as explained above, since most of their garments were made of white linen fabric, one should place “a thread of sky blue.”

And if he placed

the threads of

sky blue before the white, he has fulfilled his obligation, but has forfeited a mitzva.

And we explain:

What does “he forfeited a mitzva” mean?