The dear sweet Rabbi, Avraham Yissacher Englard, who lived in Bnei Brak has left this world. He died last night. He was known affectionately as the Rabbi of Radzin, and was most famous for discovering the snail from which the sky blue ink is derived which is used to color one of the strings of the fringes of the garment we call the tallit. This thread is mentioned in the bible as the thread that binds the other fringes of the garment into a series of knots. Our holy teachers used to tell us that this thread of sky blue that gathers the other thread of the garment and ties them into knots represents the function of spiritual values that hold the material aspects of life and give them form. There are numerous traditions of how to tie the knots, and the one I loved the best used a numerical code to represent the name of the creator of the universe. When gathering the four corners of the tallit in our prayers, remembering this commandment to tie knots to our garment, we pray that just as we gather the fringes from the four corners of the garment, so should all the Jews of the world be gathered from the forgotten corners and brought together in the holy land. The source of the sky blue ink was lost when the Jews were exiled by the Romans from the land of Israel 2000 years ago, and for most of that time, Jews used a white thread instead of the traditional blue.
Rabbi Englard was 97 years old, and his long life may be attributed to the healthy way in which he lived, despite the hardship that he knew. He was the son-in-law of the much loved previous Rabbi of Radzin, Baal HaTifereth. His brother-in-law should have been the next Rabbi of Radzin, but he, like most of the Jews of that community, was murdered in the holocaust along with his wife and his only daughter.
After the holocaust, Rabbi Englard gathered the few ragged remnants of his community, and re-established the community, first in America, and then in Israel. He worked hard to bring the awareness of the blue thread to orthodox Jews, and there are many, who are grateful for his work, and will remember him with love.
