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TOPICS in Perek CONTENTS Techeiles Revisited Rabbi Berel Wein PAGES 2-4 Principles Regarding Tying Tzitzis with Techeiles Collected Sources PAGES 5-7 Kala Ilan Rabbi Ari Zivotofsky PAGES 8-9 TOPICS IN Dyeing Techeiles Perek Dr. Baruch Sterman PAGES 10-11 Maareh Sheni in Dyeing Techeiles PAGES 12-13 HaTecheiles Rav Achai’s Dilemna DAF YOMI • MENACHOS PEREK 4 PAGES 12-13 The Coins of Techeiles Dr. Ari Greenspan PAGE 15 Techeiles Revisited “Color is an emotional Rabbi Berel Wein experience. Techeiles ne of the enduring mysteries of Jewish life following the exile of the is the emotional Jews from the Land of Israel was the disappearance of the string of Otecheiles in the tzitzis garment that Jews wore. Techeiles was known reminder of the bond to be of a blue color while the other strings of the tzitzis were white in color. Not only did Jews stop wearing techeiles but they apparently even forgot how between ourselves and it was once manufactured. The Talmud identified techeiles as being produced Hashem and how we from the “blood” of a sea creature called the chilazon. And though the Talmud did specify certain traits and identifying characteristics belonging to the get closer to Hashem chilazon, the description was never specific enough for later generations of Jews to unequivocally determine which sea creature was in fact the chilazon. with Ahavas Hashem, It was known that the chilazon was harvested in abundance along the northern coast of the Land of Israel from Haifa to south of Tyre in Lebanon (Shabbos the love of Hashem, 26a). Though techeiles itself disappeared from Jewish life as part of the damage the love of Torah and of exile, the subject of techeiles continued to be discussed in the great halachic works of all ages. Just as the Jews did not forget Zion and Jerusalem, their Mitzvos,” subconscious memory of past glory and spiritual greatness kept techeiles RABBI ABRAHAM J. TWERSKI alive, in their memory if not in actual practice. There are a number of basic questions a “lost” commandment, the tradition that require study in order for any (mesorah) of which has also been determination of the possibility of lost? These questions, which have observing techeiles in our time. The always existed and been discussed three main questions are: 1) When and in halachic and rabbinic literature, why did techeiles disappear from the began to move from the realm of Jewish world? 2) Which sea creature is purely intellectual and speculative the chilazon and how can blue dye be to the arena of Jewish practice about manufactured from it? and 3) Even if one hundred thirty years ago. Since the chilazon can be positively identi- then, the search for the chilazon fied and techeiles processed from it, is and the debate about renewing the it within our halachic power to revive observance of techeiles has intensified 2 • PEREK HATECHEILES Techeiles Revisited the Moslem conquest of obtained from that squid, which he the country, in c. 638. believed was techeiles. He defended In any event, the range his contentions in a massive three- of dates advanced volume work of Torah scholarship for the disappear- entitled Sfunei Tmunei Chol, Psil ance of techeiles in Techeiles, and Ein Hatecheiles. How- the Jewish world ever, Rabbi Herzog in his 1913 disserta- extends from tion proved that Rabbi Leiner’s squid the late fifthwas not the chilazon. Rather, Rabbi century (Rabbi Herzog advanced the theory that the Yehoshua Kutner chilazon was a snail, Murex trunculus, in Yeshuat Malko, that had been discovered in Mediter- Orach Chaim, 2:1- ranean waters by a French zoologist, 3) to the fifteenth Henri Lacaze Duthiers, in 1857. How- century with the ever, Rabbi Herzog was disappointed fall of Constantino- by the fact that the dye obtained ple to the Moslems in from this snail was purple in color 1453 (mentioned by Rav and not the blue indigo necessary Herzog as a possibil- for techeiles. The problem that Rabbi ity, though he personally rejects Herzog raised was solved by a chance it.) Mar Shalom Gaon (died 859), discovery of Dr. Otto Elsner of the Rav Nachshon Gaon (died in 889) Shenkar Institute in Tel Aviv in the Rav Shmuel ben Chafni Gaon (died early 1980’s. He discovered that the 1034), Rav Yitzchak Alfasi (died 1103), liquid extracted from the gland of until it has now achieved the status Rambam (died 1204), and many the snail, when exposed to the air, of discussion regarding practical other great Geonim of Babylonia and turns purple in color. However, dur- observance. Rishonim of Spain and France ing the dyeing process, when it is ex- There are various dates and reasons bemoan the disappearance of techeiles posed to direct sunlight it turns into attributed to the demise of techeiles in from the Jewish scene. From all of a brilliant indigo blue. The many the Jewish world. In the ancient world this it seems clear that techeiles was thousands of Jews who wear techei- (and later in the world of Rome), the no longer available by the time of the les today in their tzitzis obtain their colors of purple and blue were reserved zenith of the Moslem conquests in the techeiles strings from the dye of this for royalty and the upper classes. Mediterranean basin and the Balkans Murex trunculus snail (except of course The Romans were especially zealous in the seventh century. Rabbi David for the Radzyner Chasidim who fol- about their governmental monop- ben Zimra (Radvaz) of Cairo stated oly on dye production for the royal at the end of the fifteenth century purple and blue. The Talmud records that the chilazon may certainly yet the arrest of two rabbis from Israel exist in the waters of the Mediterra- who were smuggling techeiles into nean but “we are unable to harvest it.” the Jewish community of Babylonia This situation remained in effect un- (Sanhedrin 12a). The Talmud also til the end of the nineteenth century. records that techeiles was brought to As for the remaining two questions Babylonia in the time of Rav Achai regarding techeiles – the identity of c. 500 CE (Menachos 43a). There is the sea creature called chilazon and no specific reference in the Talmud whether a “lost” commandment and that Jews were not able to obtain tradition can be revived after cen- and wear techeiles. Since the final re- turies of absence – there entered on daction of the Babylonian Talmud the scene in 1889 Rabbi Gershon occurred c. 570 CE, Rabbi Isaac Henoch Leiner, the Radzyner Rebbe. Halevi Herzog, the first Chief Rabbi of Rabbi Leiner claimed that the chi- Israel, in his seminal work on techeiles, lazon was a type of squid called the assumes that the techeiles manufac- cuttlefish and he actually produced turing factories in the Land of Israel thousands of sets of tzitzis that in- The Chilazon: were destroyed during the time of cluded a blue string made from a dye Murex trunculus Techeiles Revisited PEREK HATECHEILES • 3 low their Rebbe’s opinion that the chilazon was a squid.) There seems to be little doubt today that the snail, Murex trunculus, is indeed the long- lost elusive chilazon. The question of reviving techeiles use has been hotly debated in rab- binic circles for over a century. Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, the rabbi in Slutzk and Brisk in the middle and late 1800’s, discussed Rabbi Leiner’s techeiles and rejected it. Unfor- tunately, the Beis Halevi’s actual responsa was lost and two versions of his reckoning have come down to us. The Radzyner Rebbe, quoting the Brisker Rav in order to answer his objection, presents Rav Soleveitchik’s Seated from left to right: HaRav Reuven Katz, HaGaon Rav Dov Weidenfeld of Tzivin, contention that since this squid was HaRav Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman, and Chief Rabbi Isaac HaLevi Herzog. well known to the rabbis of all the ages, yet they did not regard it as being the chilazon, this in effect and the even more recent discov- widely throughout the Jewish people. constitutes a negative tradition ery of how to obtain blue indigo dye One thing is certain: techeiles has regarding equating the squid with from its gland, would be sufficient in become a living issue and has left the chilazon. However, if the chilazon terms of the first position attributed the exclusivity of the study hall and was instead found to be a newly to the Brisker Rav, and on that basis entered into the everyday life of tens of discovered sea creature that was some feel that it is obligatory to wear thousands of Jews the world over. unknown to the rabbis through- techeiles in our very time. out the centuries, the lack of rab- binic tradition would not necessarily There is a statement in the Midrash disqualify the techeiles produced [Midrash Tanhuma (Shelach 28); “There is an obligation from this recently discovered sea crea- Bamidbar Rabba (17:5).] that techeiles ture, assuming, of course, that the was “nignaz” – “put-away/hidden.” There upon all who are prospective chilazon and techeiles are those that maintain that this met the criteria set forth in the statement also precludes the use of capable, to search for Talmud. Within the Brisk family, techeiles in our time. But it seems [tekhelet], to merit though, a different line of reason- clear that this was not the inten- ing is attributed to the Beis Halevi. tion of the Midrash, especially since Israel with this They claim that the Brisker Rav re- techeiles was still in use after the quired a positive tradition regarding time of the writing of this Midrash.
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