Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 11:51, 26 August 2014

Tekhelet (Template:Lang-he, "turquoise" or "blue"; alternate spellings include tekelet, t'chelet, techelet and techeiles) is a blue dye mentioned 49 times in the Hebrew Bible/Tanakh. It was used in the clothing of the High Priest, the tapestries in the Tabernacle, and the tassels (Hebrew: ציצית, tzitzit [tsiˈtsit], pl. tzitziot) affixed to the corners of one's four-cornered garment, such as the tallit (garment worn during prayer).

According to the Talmud, the dye of tekhelet was produced from a marine creature known as the ḥillazon (also spelled chilazon). Tosefta (Men. 9:6) suggests that the hillazon is the exclusive source of the dye. But of course the tosefta is only supplementary commentary from the time of the late second century ace. It is a derivative text and comes from more than 110 years after the destruction of the Second Temple.

Some people claim that after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans, the sole use of the tekhelet (blue) dye was in tzitzit but this has not proven to be true. There are claims that the earlier Persians, Greeks and later Romans were so intrigued by the turquoise colour of tekhelet that the Jews had that they cajoled, bribed and even tortured and killed some of the Dying Guild Priestly Family's members to extract the information, of which they wer largely unsuccessful. The Dying Guild families were sworn to secrecy and were extremely proud of their role and responsibilities. The technology/knowhow/intellectual property for tekhelet was a closely guarded secret. Even King Solomon did not know the secret. He called the dyers "Cunning". The High Priests were probably the holders of the knowledge. This tradition would have originated from the time of Aaron. (See "Greek Fire" for how people of the ancient world sought to protect intellectual property.) A tzitzit is made of four strands, a number of which be tekhelet. There are three opinions as to how many are to be blue: 2 strings; 1 string; 1 half string. There is a more than 80% chance that the correct configuration was actually three (3) white strings and one (1) blue string which doubled over made six (6) white and (2) blue dangling threads. These strands are then threaded and hang down, appearing to be eight. The four strands are passed through a hole 25 to 50 mm away from the corners of the four-cornered cloth.

Tekhelet is mentioned in the third paragraph of the daily prayers known as the Sh'ma Yisrael (Hebrew: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל; "Hear, Israel"), citing Bamidbar - Parshas Shelach (Book of Numbers 15:37-41).

37. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 38. Speak to the children of Israel and you shall say to them that they shall make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations, and they shall affix a thread of sky blue on the fringe of each corner. 39. This shall be fringes for you, and when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord to perform them, and you shall not wander after your hearts and after your eyes after which you are going astray. 40. So that you shall remember and perform all My commandments and you shall be holy to your God. 41. I am the Lord, your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord, your God.

— Bamidbar - Parshas Shelach, Numbers 15:37–41

Septuagint translation

In the Septuagint, tekhelet was translated into Greek as hyakinthinos (ὑακίνθινος, "blue").

Biblical references

Of the 49 (or 48 ) uses in the Masoretic Text, one refers to the whole nation of Israel (Numbers 15:37–41), 44 refer to the priesthood or temple. The remaining 6 in Esther, Jeremiah and Ezekiel are secular uses; such as when Mordechai puts on "blue and white" "royal clothing" in Esther. The colour could be used in combination with other colours such as 2 Chronicles 3:14Template:Bibleverse with invalid book where the veil of Solomon's Temple is made of blue (tekhelet), purple (Hebrew: אַרְגָּמָן argaman) and crimson (Hebrew: כַּרְמִיל karmiyl). Ezekiel 27:7 may indicate the source of the shellfish to have been the Aegean region. But of course the time of Ezekial was at least 600 years after Moses. Also it is 100% sure that Moses and the Hebrews during the time of the Exodus went nowhere near the Aegean Sea. Thus the theory that hillazon was found there by Moses and the Hebrews is incorrect.

Talmudic references

The Talmud teaches that the source for the blue dye is a marine creature known as the ḥillazon (Hebrew: חילזון, translated as "snail" in Modern Hebrew). Of course the Pentateuch is not written in "Modern Hebrew" thus the actual creature may not in fact be a snail. The Talmud also mentions a counterfeit dye from a plant called kela ilan, identified as Indigofera tinctoria, the ubiquitous source of blue dye in the ancient world. The Talmud explains that it is forbidden to use this counterfeit dye intentionally, however, if one was duped, the strings are still kosher (i.e., one still fulfills the religious requirement for tzitzit), but they do not fulfill the requirement for tekhelet strings. The Tosefta explains that kela ilan is not the only invalid dye source.

In the Talmud, Tractate Menachot 44a, the ḥillazon is described as follows:

1. Its body is similar to the sea.
2. Its form is like a fish.
3. It comes up once in 70 years,
4. With its "blood" one dyes tekhelet,
5. Therefore: It is expensive.

Other criteria (with Talmudic references):

• The fishers of the ḥillazon are from Haifa to the ladder of Tyre (Shabbat 26a)
• The color of the ḥillazon dye is identical to that produced from the dye of the kela ilan plant (Indigofera tinctoria, a source of the indigo dye), which served as a counterfeit source of the dye (Baba Metzia 61b)
• Cracking open the shell of the ḥillazon on Shabbat violates the laws of Shabbat (Shabbat 75a)
• The shell of the ḥillazon grows together with it (Midrash, Song of Songs Rabbah 4:11)
• It is an invertebrate (Jerusalem Talmud, Shabbat 1:38a)

History

At some point following the Roman exile of the Jews from the Land of Israel, the actual identity of the source of the dye was lost. Since that time, a period spanning over 1,300 years, Jews have only worn plain white tassles (tzitzit).

The stripes on prayer shawls, often black, but also blue or purple, are believed to symbolize the lost tekhelet which is referred to by various sources as being "black as midnight", "blue as the midday sky", and even purple. These stripes of tekhelet inspired the design of the flag of Israel.

Over the last two centuries, attempts have been made to identify the ancient source of the dye by comparing Talmudic sources to physical evidence. Since then, tzitzit with blue thread has made a comeback, and many people wear such tallitot. However, manyposkim (deciders of Jewish law) remain silent on the re-identification of the ḥillazon and so many observant Jews still continue to wear only white tzitziyot.

Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn maintained that according to the teachings of Kabbalah, the ḥillazon will not reemerge until the coming of the Messiah. Many other famous Jewish sages like the Chazon Ish have also claimed that the true source of tekhelet will only be revealed at the time a certain person appears on the world stage. (See "The Twelfth Article of Faith" by Maimonides.)

Identifying the source of the dye

Various shellfish have been suggested for the source of the dye. Claims that the murex trunculus are the source of tekhelet are not supported by all of the accepted poskim of the current day. Dov Lior and his ilk who gave their "Stamp of Approval" regarding the ersatz blue do not have the requisite authority to make such decisions. According to Zvi Koren, a professor of chemistry, tekhelet was close in color to midnight blue. But of course there is much controversy as to the actual shade of blue that is the correct colour. The truth is that the correct colour of the tekhelet must be turquoise. This is a shade of blue that can be seen at certain times of the day in the sky and sea in South Sinai. The colour was also well known to to the people of the time, circa 2400 bce to 1200 bce, as the turquoise was mined at Serabit el-Khadim (Arabic: سرابيط الخادم‎) in the south west of the Sinai Peninsula. Many Hebrews worked there as miners and overseers for the various Pharoahs during the one thousand years preceding the time of the Exodus.

Excavations at Tel Dor in 1986 unearthed an intact ancient dye manufacturing installation based on dye extracted from murex marine snails.

Identifying the ḥillazon

Three types of mollusks have been proposed as the lost ḥillazon. so far. None have been universally accepted, though the Murex

Sepia officinalis

In 1887, Grand Rabbi Gershon Henoch Leiner, the Radziner Rebbe, researched the subject and concluded that the Sepia officinalis (common cuttlefish) met many of the criteria. Within a year, Radziner chassidim began wearing tzitzit dyed with a colorant produced from this cephalopod. Some Breslov Hasidim also adopted this custom due to Rebbi Nachman of Breslov's pronouncement on the great importance of wearing tekhelet and in emulation of Rabbi Avraham ben Nachram of Tulchyn, a prominent Breslov teacher who accepted the view of his contemporary, the Radziner Rebbe.

Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog (1889–1959) obtained a sample of this dye and had it chemically analyzed. The chemists concluded that it was a well-known synthetic dye "Prussian blue" made by reacting iron sulfate with an organic material. In this case, the cuttlefish only supplied the organic material which could have as easily been supplied from a vast array of organic sources (e.g., ox blood).

Janthina

Within his doctoral research on the subject of tekhelet, Herzog placed great hopes on demonstrating that the Murex trunculus was the genuine snail ḥillazon. However, having failed to consistently achieve blue dye from the Murex trunculus, he wrote: “If for the present all hope is to be abandoned of rediscovering the ḥillazon shel tekhelet in some species of the genera Murex and Purpura we could do worse than suggest the Janthina as a not improbable identification”. Although blue dye has indeed been obtained from the Murex trunculus snail, in 2002 Dr. S. W. Kaplan of Rehovot, Israel, sought to investigate Herzog's suggestion that tekhelet came from the extract of Janthina. After fifteen years of research he concluded that the Janthina was not the ancient source of the blue dye.

Murex trunculus

In his doctoral thesis (London, 1913) on the subject, Rabbi Herzog named Murex trunculus as the most likely candidate for the dye's source. Though M. trunculus fulfilled many of the Talmudic criteria, Rabbi Herzog's inability to consistently obtain blue dye (sometimes the dye was purple) from the snail precluded him from declaring it to be the dye source.

Other applications

The Australian Flinders University Biological scientists Dr Kirsten Benkendorff and Dr Catherine Abbott, investigating the anti-cancer potential of the local species of sea snail Dicathais orbita or Australian dogwhelks found the bioactive compounds involved in the production of a purple dye which have many possible medicinal uses, including a novel anti-cancer agent that proved effective in curing breast cancer. They announced in October 2008 that the research into Murex purpurea will also be conducted which has an active ingredient sourced from the same family of mollusc as the Australian Dogwhelk.

See also

• Blue in Judaism
• Tantura
• Tyrian purple
• Tzitzit

References

1. Compilation (2006). Chumash : the five books of Moses : with Rashi's commentary Targum Onkelos and Haftaros with a commentary anthologized from classic Rabbinic texts and the works of the Lubavitcher Rebge (Synagogue ed.). New York, N.Y.: Kol Menachem. p. 967. ISBN 9781934152010. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
2. ^ "Techelet (Blue Thread)". Tzitzit and Tallis. Chabad Media Center. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
3. ^ Zohar, Gil. 50561 "Fringe Benefits - Kfar Adumim factory revives the lost commandment of tekhelet". www.ou.org. Retrieved 14 March 2013. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
4. ^ Amir, Nina. "Lost thread of blue, tekhelet color reestablished". Religion & Spirituality. Clarity Digital Group LLC d/b/a Examiner.com. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
5. Rashi, Tosafos, Rosh
6. Raavad
7. Rambam
8. "Tekhelet" in Hebrew
9. Tekeleth - Strong's Hebrew# 8504
10. Gesenius Hebrew lexicon entry for "Isles of Elisha" - more modern source needed
11. False Tekhelet http://www.divreinavon.com/pdf/FalseTekhelet.pdf
12. The Hillazon Braita http://www.divreinavon.com/pdf/HillazonBraita.pdf
13. Threads of Reason http://www.divreinavon.com/pdf/ThreadsOfReason.pdf
14. On History, Mesorah and Nignaz http://www.divreinavon.com/pdf/HistoryMesorahNignaz.pdf
15. Simmons, Rabbi Shraga. Tallit stripes
16. The Mystery of Tekhelet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aAJgB4xAIw
17. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Page 1057 Geoffrey W. Bromiley - 2007 "The most highly prized dye in the ancient world obtained from the secretions of four molluscs native to the eastern Mediterranean: helix ianthina, murex brandaris, murex trunculus, and purpura lapillus. Various shades could be produced"
18. Wisdom as a woman of substance: a socioeconomic reading of Proverbs 1–9, Christine Elizabeth Yoder
19. Herzog, p.71
20. Volunteer Service supports fresh ideas http://www.flinders.sa.gov.au/fmcfoundation/files/links/InvestigatorAutumn08.pdf

Template:Link GA

• Articles with links needing disambiguation from June 2012
• Jewish ritual objects
• Hebrew words and phrases in the Hebrew Bible
• Jewish religious clothing
• Non-clerical religious clothing
• Animal dyes