What tzitzit are
Tzitzit is the Hebrew word for the tassels God told his people to wear. English Bibles render it “fringes” or “tassels”. The instruction is short, and it explains itself.
“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them that they should make themselves fringes on the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put on the fringe of each border a cord of blue. It shall be to you for a fringe, that you may see it, and remember all the LORD’s commandments, and do them; and that you don’t follow your own heart and your own eyes, after which you used to play the prostitute; so that you may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD your God.”
Numbers 15:38-41
Three things are asked: tassels on the corners of your garments, a cord of blue in each, throughout your generations. The purpose is plain: to see them, remember all the LORD’s commandments, do them, and not wander after your own heart and eyes. The command ends with the words that open the Ten Commandments: I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt. Redemption comes first; the tassel is a reminder for people already rescued.
Deuteronomy repeats it in a single line.
“You shall make yourselves fringes on the four corners of your cloak with which you cover yourself.”
Deuteronomy 22:12
The Hebrew word for “corners” also means edges or wings; on the rectangular cloak of that time the four corners were the natural place to hang something. God chose a physical, visible object for a spiritual job, as he did with words bound on the hand and written on the doorposts (Deuteronomy 6:8-9). We are forgetful creatures, and he knows it.
Jesus wore them
The Gospels mention Jesus’ tzitzit four times, always at a moment of healing.
“Behold, a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years came behind him, and touched the fringe of his garment; for she said within herself, “If I just touch his garment, I will be made well.”
Matthew 9:20-21
Luke tells the same story and says she “touched the fringe of his cloak” (Luke 8:44). In Galilee whole crowds did the same.
“and they begged him that they might just touch the fringe of his garment. As many as touched it were made whole.”
Matthew 14:36
Mark adds that this happened in villages, cities and countryside alike (Mark 6:56). The Greek word in each case is kraspedon, the word the Greek translation of Numbers 15:38 uses for the tassels. Jesus wore what the Torah commands, and we are told to walk as he walked (1 John 2:6).
Matthew 23 criticizes the show, not the practice
Jesus did say one thing about tzitzit, and it is the line people remember.
“But they do all their works to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the fringes of their garments,”
Matthew 23:5
Read what he is objecting to: doing their works “to be seen by men”. The fault is enlarging the tassels for display, as the fault with their phylacteries was making them broad. He was wearing tzitzit while he said it. In the same passage he told the crowds to do what the scribes and Pharisees read from Moses’ seat, but not to imitate their conduct (Matthew 23:2-3). He treated charity, prayer and fasting the same way: keep doing them, stop performing them (Matthew 6:1-18). Tzitzit are meant to be seen by the wearer; once they become a costume, they have stopped doing their job.
Who should wear them
The command is addressed to “the children of Israel”, the same audience as the Sabbath command, the food instructions and the appointed times, and in each case it means the whole people. Nothing in Numbers 15 or Deuteronomy 22 limits tzitzit to men or to adults, and the reason given, remembering and doing all the commandments, applies to everyone who has commandments to keep.
The same chapter also settles who counts as Israel for this purpose.
“For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner, a statute forever throughout your generations. As you are, so the foreigner shall be before the LORD. One law and one ordinance shall be for you and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner with you.”
Numbers 15:15-16
One law for the native and for the stranger who joins them, a few verses before the tassels are commanded. Believers from the nations are grafted into Israel (Romans 11:17-18), so this is our instruction too.
In our fellowship men, women and children wear tzitzit. 119 Ministries teaches the same, and we find it the plainest reading of the text. Children especially benefit from a reminder they can see and touch while they learn what the commandments are (Deuteronomy 6:6-7). Many believers, following long Jewish practice, hold that tzitzit are for men only, often reasoning from the prayer shawl being a man’s garment or from Deuteronomy 22:5. We respect that conviction and do not make it a test of fellowship; we simply read the command as addressed to the whole people.
How we make and wear them
Scripture gives little detail, and we should be honest about that. Here is what it asks.
- Tassels on the corners or edges of the garment you wear.
- A cord of blue in each tassel.
- Worn where you will see them, since seeing them is the point.
It does not specify a knot pattern, a number of windings, a length, a particular dye, or a garment of a particular shape. The elaborate knotting patterns, and the teaching that the blue must come from one particular sea snail, are traditions, permitted so long as they are not taught as commandments or allowed to crowd out the command itself (Deuteronomy 4:2; Mark 7:8-9). Some tie their tzitzit the traditional way and find meaning in it; others tie a simple tassel with a blue thread. Both have done what God asked.
Modern clothing rarely has corners, so believers solve that practically. Some wear a four-cornered garment made for the purpose, over or under the shirt; some attach tzitzit to belt loops; some wear a simple belt or sash that carries them. Each keeps the substance of the command: on the garment you are wearing, carrying the blue, hanging where you can see them through the day. Making your own is a good afternoon’s work and a good conversation with children.
Why a tassel matters
Tzitzit are not a badge that says we are better than anyone. They are aimed at the wearer. Numbers 15:39 names the danger: following our own heart and our own eyes. A tassel brushing your hand as you reach for something, or catching your eye in a mirror, is a small interruption that asks a small question: what has God said? Over a day that adds up. Over a life it shapes a person.
They also start conversations. Zechariah pictures people from the nations taking hold of the corner of a Jew’s garment and saying, “We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you” (Zechariah 8:23). A tassel invites the same question today. We wear them not to be saved, for salvation is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-10), but because we love the one who said, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15), and this is one of them.