Numbers 15:37

"And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of each border a cord of blue: and it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of Jehovah, and do them; and that ye follow not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to play the harlot; that ye may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God. I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am Jehovah your God."

The Jews enumerated the commandments of God as 613, and the garment selected by them for the application of this regulation was the [~taliyth], or prayer shawl, and Orthodox Jews still observe this, with one exception. Uncertainty as to the exact color of blue for the cord, and the scarcity of the sea shell from which the supposed color was manufactured led them to substitute a white cord for the blue cord. It is significant that Jesus Christ himself observed this. See Matthew 9:20, where it is stated that the woman sought to touch "the border of his garment." Adam Clarke noted that this should probably be understood "as the fringe, rather than as the hem or border."[6]

The [~taliyth] to which the fringe was attached was an oblong rectangular garment with a hole in the center for the head, much in the manner of the "poncho" seen in Latin America.

This device was psychological. By associating the commandments of God with the very garment of men, it naturally led to a more faithful remembrance and observance of the Divine commandments. Today, the Orthodox Jew wears this garment at all religious services. And when he dies, he is wrapped in it for his burial. The garment utilized multiple knots in the fringe in order to be able to identify each thread (with the knots), and each knot with a particular commandment.