Blue is one of the more common color of the stripe on tallit (prayer shawl) and sometimes tzitzit. Numbers 15:38 says "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel." The Israelites used a blue colored dye called tekhelet, which is made from a mollusk. As Jews dispersed from the Middle East actual tekhlet dye are hard to find, so a pure white (often used by Sephardic Jews) or white with black stripe tallit became more common. However the color blue was still known to be the color associated with Judaism. For example Austrian poet Ludwig August Frankl wrote: "The hems of the white robe are crowned with broad stripes of blue; Like the robe of the High Priest, adorned with bands of blue threads. These are the colours of the beloved country, blue and white are the colours of Judah; White is the radiance of the priesthood, and blue, the splendors of the firmament."

According to Michael Strassfeld's A Book of Life: Embracing Judaism as a Spiritual Practice, "The tallit may be any combination of colors, but until recently it was most commonly white with black stripes. In modern times blue stripes have become more common. Blue and white, the colors associated with the State of Israel and its flag, actually originated as the 'Jewish colors' because of the tallit."