Techeles in our times

 

Techeles in our times

by Chaim Gershon

Parshas Shelach is famous for the story of Meraglim (spies). However, from the halachic standpoint the mitzva of Techeles is the dominant topic of the parasha (although recently mitzvah of challah has been getting more visibility as a segulah).

The Radziner Rebbe, Gershon Henoch Leiner of Radzin, brought Techeles back into halachic prominence in the late 1880's and his followers, primarily in the Chassidic world still use his version of techeles in their talleisim. They do so despite the more recent
"scientific" proofs for Murex trunculus as the most likely candidate for the Chilazon, the sea creature from which this blue dye was derived in the ancient past. Rav Yitzchak Isaac Herzog also criticized Radziner’s Techeles on halachic and chemical grounds. There are now three different blue dyes that are claimed, each by its supporters, to be the Biblical techeles: the Radziner squid and his method of extraction, Jancina snail of R. Herzog and Murex trunculus promoted by the Techeles Institute.

 

Of the three, Jancina has the fewest supporters and its main website http://home.earthlink.net/~mendelsinger/chilazon/   no longer exists but can be still viewed by searching internet archives . One can find some of the supporting documents here  and in other summaries of the topic. All of these positions are partly motivated by the view that the mitzva needs to be done with  Techeles if it is known.

 

In contrast, the Tiferes Yisrael  (introduction to Menachos) says that any indelible (colorfast) ink that is the proper color can be used for Techeles: the source of the raw material is irrelevant.  It need not even be related to indigo which is known to be the main component of Kala Ilan, the vegetable source of the “fake Techeles” people use to pass off as a forgery in the times of the Temple

. A good chapter where more chemical structure aspects are discussed is in the book  “Old Wine New Flasks: Reflections on Science and Jewish Tradition “ partly written by a Nobel Prize winning chemist http://www.amazon.com/Old-Wine-New-Flasks-Reflections/dp/0716728990 .

There are also those who are opposed to any kind of Techeles for reasons that include the prohibition of "bal tosif (since we are not sure of the identity of the true Techeles, we might be inadvertently "adding" a mitzva to the Torah). On the other hand, Brisk was amongst those who said that it is problematic from the standpoint of the "masora" to start using a source for dye that has been around all these years.

 

One of the reasons Techeles is so interesting is because of its Messianic overtones. It is noted that the reappearance of Techeles is associated with the coming of Moshiach. RAV CHAIM VITAL (in Sha'ar ha'Kavanos, Tzitzis, Derush 4) writes that Techeles represents Hashem's presence being clearly felt in the world. This is why Techeles was used only during, and close to, the era when the Beis ha'Mikdash was standing. After the exile, and subsequent hardships, when Hashem's Presence among His people is less evident, Techeles became "hidden" as well. There are two contrasting ways to view this Kabbalah. On one hand, the "return" of Techeles may be an indication that the manifestation of Hashem's Presence in this world, too, will be returning to its former state. (See also "Ha'Techeles," p. 186, note 21, and Likutei Tefilos 1:49).  In addition, the appearance of Techeles facilitates the reestablishment of the Temple sacrifices by allowing the construction of Bigday Kehunah which are needed for the Avodah.  Rabbi Berel Wein discusses such motivations in one of his tapes.

On the other hand, it has been stated that since Techeles disappeared, it can only be brought back when the actual coming of Moshiach and the building of the Temple has occurred.  There is a responsa of the Satmar Rebbe in Divrei Yoel YD Siman 44 which states that there can be no Techeles before Moshiach. The Rebbe Rashab of Chabad was also amongst those who said al pi Kabbalah that Techeles will not be relevant until Moshiach comes in a letter to the Radzhiner’s son where he answers the various proofs of the Radzhiner (Igros Kodesh Rashab Volume 1 p. 351). This is also supported by his ultimate successor the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Likutei Sichos  8, 101) who states that the avodah of the Techeles is not relevant before Moshiach comes.  It had been reported that Rav Shlomo Miller was against Murex trunculus.  So perhaps the search for Techeles and the hundreds of pages written about it, is from this perspective, misguided.

We have here an example of how theology at times drives halachic reasoning.

 

Some additional links of interest.

http://mysticalpaths.blogspot.com/2008/06/blue-strings.html

http://www.revava.org/forum/index.php?topic=2397.msg19059

http://www.askmoses.com/en/article/150,2540/Why-do-certain-people-have-a-blue-dyed-fringe-on-their-tzitzit.html

http://store.kehotonline.com/index.php?parentid=69&deptid=3251

http://www.tekhelet.com/DafYomi/EnglishDaf.pdf

http://begedivri.com/index.html

Comments

[josh waxman]

"There are also those who are opposed to any kind of Techeles for reasons that include the prohibition of "bal tosif (since we are not sure of the identity of the true Techeles, we might be inadvertently "adding" a mitzva to the Torah)."

An interesting contrast to this is the position that NOT wearing Techeles nowadays is a violation of bal tigra:

http://parsha.blogspot.com/2008/06/is-wearing-tzitzis-without-techeles-bal.html

kt,
josh

[osoavakesh]

Does one violate lo tigra if he follows the accepted custom of wearing tzitzis? Tos. Shabbos 4a s.v.kodem says that a person who refrains from taking bread that he put int an oven on Shabbos before it bakes (to save himself), solely because the chochomim tell him not to do so, is not chayav skila.

[Akiva]

Josh,

In contrast, if the t'cheiles is not the right one, doesn't wearing it violate k'ayn kanaf (with the result being that you are wearing a four cornered garment without kosher tzitzis)??

[josh waxman]

oso avakesh:
here, are the chachomim telling him to wear tzitzis without techeles? the accepted minhag developed in the absence of techeles.

akiva:
i haven't learned through this recently, but i don't think there is universal agreement about that. i know that is why we start out with white and have blue in the middle. the shulchan aruch records this (that this tzitzis should be the same color as the beged) as a position some maintain, and says that the medakdekim take on this stringency; but the Rema says that the minhag ashkenazim is to wear white strings even on colored garments, and not to dye the "white". but even without the Rema, and even with it only being a yesh omrim in Shulchan Aruch, maybe this is only talking about the "white" strings, not the ones we ascribe to be techeles.

kt,
josh