"Tekhelet" (תכלת) is a color dye which the Hebrew Bible commands the Jews to use for one, two, or four of the eight half-strings hanging down (as interpreted in Rabbinic Judaism), or a number of cords ranging from one up to the same number of threads as the non-tekhelet threads (according to opinions in Karaite Judaism). At some point following the destruction of the Second Temple, the knowledge and tradition about the correct method of the dye was lost for Rabbinic Judaism in Israel and since then, most rabbinic diaspora Jews and Israeli Jews as well have worn plain white "tzitziyot" without any dyes. Tekhelet, which appears 48 times in the Tanakh – translated by the Septuagint as "iakinthinos" (, blue) – is a specific blue-violet dye produced, according to the rabbis, from a creature referred to as a Ḥillazon, other blue dyes being unacceptable. Some explain the black stripes found on many traditional prayer shawls as representing the loss of this dye.