Until now, I had not been privileged to find this idea in the sources. However, after more than a decade, I found in the Sfas Emes (5647-5648) a parallel idea in a different form that adds another layer to it. He says as follows: “Behold, it is written, ‘Daber... veʼamarta...' ('Speak... and say...'). This appears to be because tzitzis, said the Sages, is equivalent to all the mitzvos. It seems that the white and the techeles correspond to the positive and negative commandments, just as ‘zachor' (‘remember') and ‘shamor' (‘keep') regarding Shabbos correspond to the positive and negative commandments, respectively. Therefore, the Torah uses both expressions, ‘daber and ve 'amarta.' It says, “And you shall remember,' and afterwards 'do not stray,' which is the aspect of turning away from evil, corresponding to the negative commandments. Then it says, 'So that you shall remember,' in accordance with what the Sages hinted at: “Whoever is included in ‘shamor' is included in ‘zachor.” These two aspects, love and fear, both bring a person to remembrance, and through this itself, the prevailing over the evil inclination, one merits 'so that you shall remember'...”
How great was my joy when I saw that I had been walking along a straight and established path, and that there is a foundation for my idea in the words of the holy Sfas Emes. The only difference is that he associates the positive commandments and love of Hashem with the white threads, and the negative commandments and fear of Hashem with the techeles, whereas I associated the positive commandments and love of Hashem with the branch-like loose strands, and the negative commandments with the knots. There is no contradiction here, only complementarity.
