Al Ha VeDa על הא ודא

Wednesday, August 04, 2004

Posted 7:26 AM by Simon

Are you bluish? You don't look bluish!

Aviad will be bar mitzvah next February and we have been working together on learning his Torah portion, Parshat Teruma (Exodus 25,1 – 27,19). One of the first questions to come up was, what exactly is the "blue" (תכלת) mentioned in chapter 25 verse 4, which is also used for making Tzitzit — except that it isn't, and hasn't been for over 1,000 years, because nobody knows the correct dye to use.

Or
so
I
thought.

With a little googling we discovered the website of P'til Tekhelet, and today we went on a tour of the factory. I understand from the articles on the website that the identification of the murex with tekhelet is still controversial, but I'm convinced. From now on, I will be wearing my blue thread with pride and joy. I'm not a huge Zionist, but it is a huge privilege to be living in a Jewish country at a time and place where something like this that was thought lost for ever has been rediscovered.