The Mystery of Tekhelet - Part III of III

The Mystery of Tekhelet is a fascinating documentary that takes the viewer on a journey through history in search of the ancient blue dye, Tekhelet.

The movie, richly filmed, travels through 3000 years of Jewish history. Come see scuba divers collecting the snails of Tekhelet off the coast of Israel. Observe Bedouin shepherds shearing sheep. Participate in sophisticated chemical analysis of the dyes as well as the actual dyeing of Tekhelet in a 2500 year old Tekhelet factory.

The Biblical commandment of Tzitzit and Tekhelet becomes meaningful in a profound way in P'til Tekhelet's The Mystery of Tekhelet.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Tekhelet
• Techeles
• Techeiles
• Tzitzis
• Tzitzit
• Dye
• Science
• Archeology
• Chemistry
• Bible
• Biblical
• blue
• snail

[Pauldaystar]

It is written .. Their clothes did not wear out during the 40 years in the desert ... So the color blue also did not wear out or fade .. So no need to replace tzitzit ...

[mnavon]

@Pauldaystar That seems to be a valid inference. But what is really interesting about the idea that their clothes didn't wear out is the Midrash which asks how did the babies not get new clothes as they grew bigger. The midrash answers: Go and learn from the hillazon, all the time that it grows, its shell grows with it. This statement clearly fits the description of a snail. As such, this is but one of the many statements which point to the Murex trunculus as the hillazon.

[papacowboy]

Fascinating!! B"H!! I do have an honest question, though. I can see how that once in the land, the snail could become the halakhacally "demanded" source, but how would this techelet be made in the wilderness of Sinai, where the snail was not available? I have been wondering this for some time and would appreciate some insight. Thank you!

[mnavon]

@papacowboy

There are at least 3 answers to this question:

1) Part of the goods the Jews left with from Egypt included the blue dyed wool (there is archeological evidence that ancient Egypt used the dye).

2) They had people go to Israel and acquire it there and bring it back (note that there was a well travelled trade route "derech pelishitim" between Israel and Egypt).

3) It was a miracle.

[papacowboy]

@mnavon Ahh- it makes sense that they left Egypt with it already and did not need to make it, as that in the terumah offering they brought the techelet, argaman, etc. they already had. This is a question I have pondered a good bit, and the answer was there all along! Thank you, Sir!

[mnavon]

"Not adding" is certainly a commandment, however not applicable here. The written Torah did not specify any source for the color, so the question becomes: which source or sources are permissible. For questions like these, the oral tradition is indispensable.

[Birdboy029]

@mnavon Thanks for responding! :)

The commandment of not adding to God's law comes to mind, when I hear of certain traditions.

[mnavon]

You are correct that no explicit source is given in the Torah, however, this is true for a great many "implementation" details. There details were passed down orally. The Talmud (and books from that period) encapsulates those traditions – and from there we learn, explicitly, that the source of the dye was exclusively a snail; indeed, the Talmud notes that the plant source was strictly forbidden.

[Birdboy029]

I have a question. I'm a gentile who doesn't know about what's written in the talmud and other books. But in the thousand years or so before the talmud was written, couldn't the ancient hebrews have used the plants as well? One single source wasn't commanded by God in the Torah, or was it?

[TsitsitNewGeneration]

Tzitzit is here