From a prayer to God that He continue to assist the State of Israel, its leaders and soldiers, to remove every threat from upon Israel and to strike Israel’s enemies, we will engage with the commandments of techelet in tzitzit that are in this week’s Torah portion. Techelet alludes to the attribute of judgment, one of whose manifestations is executing judgment upon the wicked, as explained below.
The Commandment of Techelet
The commandment of tzitzit is that the threads of the tzitzit should be white and techelet, as it is said: “And they shall make for themselves tzitzit (from white threads) on the corners of their garments for their generations, and they shall put on the tzitzit of the corner a thread of techelet” (Numbers 15:38). However, be-di’avad (ex post facto), “the techelet does not invalidate the white, and the white does not invalidate the techelet” (Menachot 38a). Therefore, if one tied four white threads only, or four techelet threads only, he has fulfilled the commandment from the Torah.
The color white expresses the kindness and the supreme divine conduct, while the color techelet expresses the judgment that is revealed in the world. Techelet has the connotation of destruction, and as our Sages said: “Why is it called techelet? Because the Egyptians were destroyed (nitkhalu) through their firstborn, as it is said: ‘And it was at midnight and God struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt’ (Exodus 12:29). Another explanation: because the Egyptians were destroyed (khalu) in the sea” (Sifrei Parashat Shelach 115).
Therefore, in the portion of tzitzit, the Exodus from Egypt is mentioned, for in the Exodus from Egypt, God’s governance in the world was revealed, that He watches over His world, and punishes the sinners. And so, our Sages said that techelet resembles the sea (Menachot 43b), and in the sea, the Egyptians drowned, and were punished.
Still more is hinted in the word techelet - purpose/end (takhlit), and as they said in the Zohar: “Techelet - the purpose of everything” (Part 3, 175b), and therefore, techelet corresponds to the sefirah of Malkhut (Kingship), for all the hues of the ten sefirot are included in it. And thereby God’s governance in the world is revealed, in punishing the sinners, and giving reward to the righteous.
Number of Techelet Threads
The tzitzit is made from four threads that are doubled to eight. Some poskim (Jewish law arbiters) say that from the four threads, two should be white and two techelet (Rashi, Tosafot, Rid, Rosh, Nimukei Yosef). And some say three white and one techelet (Raavad and Riaz). Others say that the function of the techelet is to wrap around the windings, and for this purpose, half a thread is needed, meaning one of eight (Rambam, HaManhig).
Our Sages said that one must begin to wind the windings with a thread of white color, like the color of the garment, and afterward incorporate windings in blue, and end the windings with white, because white is more holy and “we ascend in holiness and do not descend” (Menachot 39a).
Nullification of Techelet and the Search for It
The techelet was produced on the northern shores of the Land of Israel from certain snails (chilaznot) that live in the sea. When the settlement in the Land became impoverished, it became difficult to obtain techelet. In the days of the Talmud, they still fulfilled the commandment of techelet, however in the days of the Geonim they could no longer obtain the color techelet, and would tie the tzitzit with white threads only.
Apparently, several factors led to the nullification of techelet from Israel. First, there were periods when the Gentile kingdom proclaimed decrees against the production of techelet. Second, following Byzantine rule and the Arab conquest, the Jewish settlement in the Land became increasingly impoverished until there were no longer Jews who engaged in the production of techelet. And they could not produce it through non-Jews, because the dyeing with techelet needs to be done “for its own sake” (lishmah). Third, following the wars and conquests, the Middle East sank into poverty, and there were no longer many buyers among the peoples seeking the expensive techelet dye. Thus, the snails and the method by which they produced techelet from them were forgotten for more than a thousand years.
Spiritual Explanation for the Nullification of Techelet
It is perhaps possible to say that when Israel dwelt in their Land, the Temple stood in its place, and the Divine Presence rested upon Israel, God’s governance was revealed in the world, to do good to the righteous and to punish the wicked, and this was expressed in the techelet thread in the tzitzit. However, after the Temple was destroyed and Israel was exiled from their Land, God’s governance is not revealed in this world, and the techelet was nullified.
However, in the eternal world, the value of faith and commandments remains in its place, and God in His great mercy and kindness watches in secret over His people, to advance them toward their redemption, and corresponding to this, Israel fulfills the commandment of tzitzit with white threads only. And as Israel returns to their Land, and the Divine Presence returns to dwell among them, they will return to incorporate techelet threads in the tzitzit.
Beginning of the Searches for Techelet
About 180 years ago, rabbis and scientists began to search for techelet. In the year 5647 (1887), the Rabbi of Radzyn, Rabbi Gershon Henoch Leiner, began to spread his position that techelet was produced from the cuttlefish, and in the year 5648 (1888) he began to dye techelet threads from it, and his Hasidim began to wear them. However, there are many difficulties with his identification. First, the cuttlefish is very different from the description that our Sages described of the chilazon. Second, its color tends toward black and not blue, and only with the help of chemical components that were added to the cuttlefish blood does it become blue. Third, naturally, or through washing, its color fades, unlike techelet whose color was permanent.
Rabbi Herzog held that techelet was produced from the Janthina snail, but his suggestion is also difficult, because the color of Janthina is not well absorbed in wool. In addition to this, no archaeological or historical signs were found for producing techelet from it.
Identification of Trunculus as the Source of Techelet
In the recent decades, evidence has begun to accumulate that the color techelet was produced from a snail that lives inside a shell and is called trunculus (Hexaplex trunculus, or ‘argamon keheh kotzim’ in Hebrew), which was used in the past to produce the color purple (reddish-purple), and by exposing it to sunlight in the process of preparing the dye, it turns blue.
First, its characteristics generally match the description of our Sages about the snail from which they produced techelet: “Its body resembles the sea, and its creation resembles a fish, and it rises once in seventy years, and with its blood they dye techelet, therefore its blood is precious” (Menachot 44a).
- “Its body resembles the sea” - because tiny creatures accumulate on its shell that give it a grayish-blue appearance.
-“Its creation resembles a fish” - that it lives in the sea.
-“It rises once in seventy years” - that it is difficult to obtain and once every few years a special phenomenon occurs where many specimens of it float on the surface of the sea.
-“With its blood they dye techelet” - from a fluid that exists in its body they produce techelet.
-Our Sages further said that they take the blood from it while it is still alive (Shabbat 75a), and indeed, if time passes from its death, they will not be able to extract dye from it.
Second, many archaeological remains of dye production from trunculus were found in large quantities, and it turns out that it was the royal dye that was used in ancient times to produce purple and blue dyes, and the same one that the Torah commanded to put in tzitzit (see Techumin 9, in the article by Dr. Ziderman, and many articles in the journal ‘V’haya Lakhem L’Tzitzit’).
The Difficulties with the Identification
On the other hand, some hold that trunculus is not the snail from which they produced techelet. First, its color is purple and not blue, and only through exposure to sunlight with the addition of a certain chemical substance does it become blue. Second, it does not match the precise description of our Sages. Its body does not resemble the sea, but rather, its color is transparent-gray like a snail. It is not a fish but a shell. It does not rise once in seventy years, but can always be found. They do not dye with its blood, but with a fluid that is extracted from a gland in its body.
It is further difficult: if techelet was produced from trunculus, why was techelet forgotten, for this snail was known and familiar throughout the period of forgetting, and many specimens of it are found on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and it even served for dyeing in the Byzantine Empire for hundreds of years after the disappearance of techelet from Israel.
Also, the traveler Benjamin of Tudela related that there were Jews in important communities in Greece and Turkey who made their living from making luxury garments from purple, “and among them great scholars in Mishnah and Talmud” (‘Travels of Benjamin of Tudela’).
Some have responded (see, ‘V’haya Lakhem L’Tzitzit’ 1) that perhaps they produced the purple in another way, and not from this snail which was forgotten. However, it is difficult to accept this explanation, for according to the findings in our possession, they continued in all generations to produce dyes from trunculus. It is possible to say that perhaps they forgot how to produce techelet from it, but it is still difficult how Jewish dyers who were experts forgot such a thing. And perhaps there were generations when due to decrees or poverty they stopped producing techelet, and that by the time they returned to engage in dyeing, they forgot the tradition.
From all these difficulties, some poskim hold that the identification is cast in great doubt, and it is very possible that in the future it will become clear that they produced techelet in another way. The fact is that even in the time of the Rabbi of Radzyn, his supporters had confidence that they produced techelet from the cuttlefish, and today it is quite clear that they did not. Therefore, the identification of techelet as produced from trunculus is cast in great doubt (see Rabbi Aviner, Iturei Kohanim 140; Minchat Asher 2, 2-4).
The Doubt Regarding the Color
Our Sages said that the color of techelet resembles the sea, which resembles the sky (Menachot 43b). And in the Jerusalem Talmud (Berakhot 1:2) they said that it resembles the sea, which resembles grass, which resembles the sky.
In practice, the rabbis and researchers were in doubt about what the color of techelet is in the Torah. Many hold that it is dark blue, for our Sages said that they could fabricate techelet with ‘kala ilan’ (Bava Metzia 61b), and the Arukh wrote that it is called indigo from which they produced dark blue color, and it resembles the sky at evening time (the Rabbi of Radzyn, and many others). And some say that it is light blue, like the sky at noon which we call techelet (Rabbi Abraham son of the Rambam on Exodus 25:4; Tiferet Yisrael). And some say that it is purple (Mekor Chaim 18:3; Dr. Ziderman Techumin 9, and Prof. Koren Techumin 44). And some say that it is turquoise (Rabbi Shlomo Sirilio on Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 1:2; Prof. Felix in ‘Chai Ve’Tzomeach B’Torah’ pp. 94-95). See a summary of the opinions in the book ‘HaTechelet‘ (pp. 299-304, by my friend Rabbi Menachem Burstein).
After all, the prevalent opinion is that the techelet in the Torah is the blue color, and as it appears they produced it in different shades, because they held that all shades of blue are kosher. Similarly, the color that comes from trunculus becomes dark blue through exposure to sunlight, however it is possible to produce from it a wide range of colors, such as purple, violet, turquoise and types of blue.
With God’s help, in the next issue, I will deal with the halakhic conclusions that arise from the different opinions.
This article appears in the ‘Besheva’ newspaper and was translated from Hebrew.
avishai