In Rimonei Techeiles, R’ Moshe Ephraim Indik focuses on one specific question: assuming a person is wearing Techeiles, how many of the four tzitzis strings should be Techeiles? He does not attempt to establish whether the modern Techeiles identification is correct; his discussion begins with those who are already wearing it and asks what should…
read more
The kuntres argues that the clearest halachic statement of the Gra on the number of Techeiles strings is his Biur HaGra to Shulchan Aruch. There he explains the sugya at length and concludes that Techeiles and white are equal: out of the four original strings, two are Techeiles and two are white, producing four blue…
read more
Download: Techeiles Talks Audio Shiurim This series was tailored as a response to Mordechai Hershfeld’s anti Techeiles shiurim series, which directly caused people to have doubts, and as a result, actively not putting on Techeiles. Prior distribution locations: Judaica Plaza Z. Berman Books Ohr Chaim/Scheiners Reach out to bluefringes613@gmail.com if you’d like a USB version…
read more
Download PDF
read more
Download here.
read more In 2021, Prof. Zvi Koren wrote a piece in Tradition Magazine suggesting, based on his many years of maintaining the same position, that the ancients were incapable of dyeing blue with the murex trunculus, and at most were able to produce a “bluish” color with natural ingredients, citing sodium dithionite as synthetic and what Ptil…
read more
From JSTOR: The color blue is thought to protect against the evil eye in Mediterranean cultures. This article unfolds the yet-unstudied role played by kabbalistic theology, symbolism, and myth in the construction of the color blue as a protective color for Jews. It traces particularly the development of a medieval kabbalistic myth of a dazzling…
read more
From The Open University of Israel: ‘חלזונים’ ו’אנטי-חלזונים’: מבט חדש על פולמוס התכלת בסוף המאה התשע-עשרה המאמר בא לבחון את ההיבטים ההיסטוריים-חברתיים של פולמוס התכלת. מתברר שפולמוס זה אמנם החל כשיח הלכתי, אך יצא מן המסגרות של שיח אליטיסטי והגיע אל ‘הרחוב היהודי’, ואף הוביל לסכסוכים יום-יומיים בקהילות באזור לובלין. סכסוכים אלה, שלא נדונו עד…
read more
From The Open University of Israel: The Bible requires Jews to tie a tekhelet (blue) cord as part of their tzitzit (fringes on traditional prayer shawl and everyday undergarment). Rabbinic sources of antiquity insisted that the tekhelet dye must have been produced from a marine mollusk termed hillazon. For various reasons, the custom of having…
read more