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Chilazon in the Talmud
In the Talmud[5], the chilazon is described as
follows[6]:
1. Its body is similar to the sea.
2. Its form is like a fish.
3. It comes up once in 70 years,
4. With its "blood" one dyes tekhelet,
5. Therefore: It is expensive.
Other criteria (with Talmudic references):
* The fishers of the chilazon are from Haifa to the
ladder of Tyre[7]
* The color of the chilazon dye is identical to that
produced from the dye of the kela ilan plant (Indigofera
tinctoria), which served as a counterfeit source of
the dye[8]
* Cracking open the shell of the chilazon on Shabbat
violates the laws of Shabbat[9]
* The shell of the chilazon grows together with it[10]
* It is an invertebrate[11]
Lost knowledge
At some point following the Roman exile of the Jews
from the land of Israel, the actual identity of the
source of the dye was lost and as a result the Jews
have worn only plain white tassles.[12]
The stripes on prayer shawls, often black, but also
blue or purple, are believed to symbolize the lost
tekhelet which is referred to by various sources as
being "black as midnight", "blue as the midday sky",
and even purple.[13] Interestingly, these stripes of
tekhelet inspired the design of the flag of Israel.
Rediscovery
Over the last two centuries, attempts have been made
to identify the ancient source of the dye by comparing
Talmudic sources to physical evidence.[14] Three types
of mollusks have been proposed as the lost "chillazon".
None have been universally accepted, though the Murex,
Murex trunculus, known by the modern name Hexaplex
trunculus is thought to be the most likely source of
the biblical blue dye. Most Jews continue to wear only
white tzitziot, following their poskim (deciders of
Jewish law).
Sepia officinalis
In 1887, Grand Rabbi Gershon Henoch Leiner, the
Radziner Rebbe, researched the subject and concluded
that the Sepia officinalis (common cuttlefish) met
many of the criteria. Within a year, Radziner
chassidim began wearing tzitzit dyed with a colorant
produced from this cephalopod. The Breslov Hasidim
also adopted this custom due to Rebbi Nachman of
Breslov's pronouncement on the great importance of
wearing tekhelet.
Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog (1889-1959) obtained a
sample of this dye and had it chemically analyzed. The
chemists concluded that it was a well-known synthetic
dye "Prussian blue" whose color is produced from iron
filings, with the cuttlefish merely supplying nitrogen
which could have as easily been supplied from a vast
array of organic sources (e.g., ox blood). Rav Herzog
thus rejected the cuttlefish as the chilazon and some
suggest that had the Radziner Rebbe known this fact,
he too would have rejected it based on his explicit
criterion that the blue color must come from the
animal and that all other additives are permitted
solely to aid the color in adhering to the wool.[15]
Janthina
Within his doctoral research on the subject tekhelet,
Rav Herzog placed great hopes on demonstrating that
the Murex trunculus was the genuine "Chillazon".
However, having failed to consistently achieve blue
dye from the M. trunculus, he wrote: “If for the
present all hope is to be abandoned of rediscovering
the hillazon shel tekhelet in some species of the
genera Murex and Purpura we could do worse than
suggest the Janthina as a not improbable
identification”.[16] Although blue dye has indeed been
obtained from the M. trunculus snail, in 2002 Dr. S.W.
Kaplan of Rehovot, Israel proclaimed that he was able
to dye wool with the extract of Janthina. This claim
has to date not been substantiated.
Murex trunculus
Murex trunculus, a sea snail, is popularly advanced as
the source of the coveted dye.[17] Rabbi Yitzhak
HaLevi Herzog (1889-1959) wrote his doctoral thesis in
1913 on the subject and named the Murex snail as the
most likely candidate for the dye's source. Though the
Murex fulfilled many of the Talmudic criteria, Rabbi
Herzog's inability to consistently obtain blue dye
(sometimes the dye was purple) from the snail
precluded him from proclaiming that the dye source had
been found.
In the 1980s, Otto Elsner, a chemist from the Shenkar
College of Fibers in Israel discovered that if a
solution of the dye was exposed to sunlight, blue
instead of purple was consistently produced.
Eventually, in 1993, the Ptil Tekhelet Foundation was
formed for mass production of Murex trunculus,
tekhelet, as well as to continue further research.
References
1. ^ Rashi, Tosafos, Rosh
2. ^ Raavad
3. ^ Rambam
4. ^ False Tekhelet http://www.tekhelet.com/pdf/false.pdf
5. ^ Tractate Menchot 44a
6. ^ The Hillazon Braita http://www.tekhelet.com/pdf/braita.pdf
7. ^ Shabbat 26a
8. ^ Baba Metzia 61b
9. ^ Shabbat 75a
10. ^ Midrash Shir haShirim Rabbah 4:11
11. ^ Yerushalmi Sabbath 1:38a
12. ^ On History, Mesorah and Nignaz http://www.tekhelet.com/pdf/HistoryMesorahNignaz.pdf
13. ^ Simmons, Rabbi Shraga. Tallit stripes
14. ^ The Mystery of Tekhelet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aAJgB4xAIw
15. ^ P'til T'khelet, p.168
16. ^ Herzog, p.71
17. ^ Tekhelet - Biblical Blue Dye for Tzitzit
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