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Blue is the warmest color? Not for the JewsReflections from a conference devoted to the Biblical tekhelet.By Judy Maltz | Dec. 31, 2013 | 5:00 PM
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A nearly 2,000-year old textile that appears to contain a mysterious blue color described in the Bible, one of the fewremnants of the ancient color ever discovered. Photo by Israel Antiquities Authority
Blue may be the warmest color, to paraphrase the title of the new cinematicsensation on lesbian love by Tunisian-French director Abdellatif Kechiche.
For Jews, though, blue is the most elusive and even contentious color.
Need proof? Spend a day at a conference devoted to this primary color. Tobe fair, it wasn’t all shades of blue, but specifically the Biblical blue colorknown as tekhelet that was the topic of conversation at this particulargathering. And even calling it blue, rather than purple, may have alreadyoffended some of the hardliners.
But if there was one thing that the hundreds of participants attending thisweek’s nine-hour conference could agree on, it was that there is noagreement on anything: not on the source of tekhelet, not on the modern-
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day relevance of the Torah commandment requiring its presence onspecific garments, and certainly not on the description of the color.
It was quite an eclectic group that gathered in Jerusalem to mark thecentennial anniversary of the publication of thedoctoral dissertation of Rabbi Yitzhak Halevi Herzog,the former chief rabbi of Israel, on this very subject.There were rabbis there and Talmudic scholars,American yeshiva students, archeologists, chemists,marine biologists, Near East studies experts and justplain old tekhelet enthusiasts – a group of mainlyobservant folks unabashedly obsessed with the topic.
“The bottom line is that tekhelet is the most importantcolor in history,” explained Ari Greenspan, a niceJewish dentist from New Jersey who moved to Israelyears ago and is proud to count himself among them.“It was one of the most important commodities in theancient world for the Jews.”
Greenspan is the co-founder of Ptil Tekhelet, an Israel-based non-profitthat produces its own line of tzitziot [tassels attached to the four-corneredgarments traditionally worn by men] dyed with the Biblical blue color,which co-sponsored the conference. Its stated mission is to accommodatethose who wish to once again fulfill the commandment that appears in thefollowing verse in the Book of Numbers: “And they shall place upon thetzitzit of each corner a thread of tekhelet ... ”
After the Second Temple was destroyed and the Jews were forced intoexile, the secret of producing this precious color was gradually lost. Andeven though the Talmud states that it was derived from the inner parts ofthe marine animal known as the hilazon, no one can say for sure today whatthat creature was, though the overriding consensus seems to be that it isthe Murex snail.
So was this snail the source of a color that resembles light blue, sky blue,indigo, or possibly even green, as the great Torah commentator Rashi onceargued? “It depends on who you ask and what period in history you askthem,” as the Bar-Ilan University archeology professor, Zohar Amar,diplomatically put it when the question came up at a panel.
Asked whether tekhelet veered more toward a shade of light blue or darkerpurple, Hebrew University Assyriologist Wayne Horowitz gracefullyaverted confrontation as well. “I don’t know, sorry, and thanks,” he said,closing the discussion.
But Greenspan and his cohorts at Ptil Tekhelet were clearly in the light bluecamp. “The Rambam says it was light blue, the Radzyner rebbe [RabbiGershon Leiner, who in the 1850s began wearing tekhelet] said it was.There’s no doubt that’s what the rabbis meant when they used the term.What the Romans meant − that’s up for debate.”
How does he account for the relatively recent tekhelet craze? “It’s that onemitzvah that’s disappeared that we have the opportunity to do again,” saysGreenspan. “You can’t build the Temple today, you can’t bring sacrifices,but this is a mitzvah that every Jew could do, and for some technical reasonit disappeared.”
Dr. Isaac Herzog, a professor of law at Ono Academic College, tied hisgrandfather’s profound interest in the topic to his passion for the Land ofIsrael. “It’s clear to me that it had to do with his great yearning for aspiritual renaissance in this place,” he told the conference participants.
The opening address was delivered by his cousin, the newly elected LaborParty leader who happens to be the other namesake of the former chief
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rabbi. As one of the conference organizers noted: “If we could get the headof the Labor Party to address a gathering here at the Menachem BeginHeritage Center, then surely the coming of the Messiah is approaching.”
In which case, it may not be long before the People of Israel finally knowwhat is the true blue.
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