connection to Judaism. It is rare for women to wear a . Karaite tzitzit Karaite Jews maintain that the must be braided and have the appearance of chains, rather than being knotted as are the of Rabbinic Judaism. Karaites have blue-violet threads () in them. In contrast to rabbinic Jews, Karaites believe that the source can be any dye, except those produced from impure (a definition mostly overlapping "un-kosher") species, such as the molluscs used by Rabbinic Jews. Instead, Karaites propose that the source of the dye was indigo or woad (Isatis tinctoria). Karaites also consider synthetic blue or blue-violet to be acceptable for . Contrary to some claims, Karaites do not hang on their walls. Samaritan tzitzit In the Samaritan tradition, the is a gown worn over their clothes during most holy days, and the are the 22 "buttons" on the right lapel of the gown, and the corresponding loops on its left lapel. The are always in the same color as the gown, which is usually white. Another version of Samaritan is the simple fringes on the sides of the very large white worn by the priests when carrying a Torah scroll. Similarly to most Orthodox rabbinic Jews, the Samaritans hold that the blue-violet thread for their was produced from a specific dye, and claim that the tradition for producing it was lost. Contrary to some rumors, the Samaritans do not use either rabbinic or Karaite . In archaeology and secular scholarship According to the modern documentary hypothesis, the reference to in Numbers comes from the Priestly Code, while that from Deuteronomy comes from the Deuteronomic Code. They are believed to date to around the late 8th century BCE and late 7th century BCE, respectively, some time after the practice became part of regular ritual. The custom however, clearly predates these codes, and was not limited to Israel. Images of the custom have been found on several ancient Near East inscriptions in contexts suggesting that it was practiced across the Near East. Some scholars believe that the practice among ancients originated due to the wearing of animal skins, which have legs at each corner, and that later fabrics symbolized the presence of such legs, first by the use of amulets, and later by . While uses the Hebrew , employs the plural form of , which is an Akkadian loanword for a 'cord' or 'string'. The reason for