Kiryas Sefer Article: Psil Techeiles by Chaim Zelig Slonimski – HaTzefirah | קרית ספר מאמר פתיל תכלת

Kiryas Sefer Article: Psil Techeiles by Chaim Zelig Slonimski

This is the second part of the work Sefunei Temunei Chol, which, with Hashem’s help, he published in the year 5647 [1887], in which he discussed the existence of Techeiles in our times.

In this part he explains that the chilazon has been found based on the identifying signs given in the words of Chazal, and that those signs are found in this particular creature. They point clearly, almost as if with a finger, that this is the chilazon whose blood was used in earlier times in Klal Yisrael to dye Techeiles for the Mishkan and for tzitzis.

He also discusses how highly valued it was in those days, when it disappeared and for what reason it disappeared; the detailed halachos concerning the appearance of Techeiles, the dyeing process and its testing; the special qualities and precious virtues of Techeiles; the halachos of a tallis with Techeiles in its tzitzis, including the windings, the chulyos, and the knots; and the kuntres Shaar HaTeshuvah, which explains some of the points discussed in his first work.

Compiled and prepared by me, the young and insignificant among the thousands of Israel,

Gershon Chanoch, son of my father and teacher, the holy gaon R’ Yaakov,
zt”l, of Izhbitza.

As the readers can see from the title page quoted above in the author’s own words, this sefer is the second part of an article that preceded it in the year 5647. That earlier article also reached us when it appeared, and we saw that it contained only introductory material.

There the author relates that for many years he had taken to heart the matter of the mitzvah of Techeiles, which, due to our many sins, has been withheld from us. It is one of the precious things we have lost through our galus and all the bitter wandering we have endured.

Nevertheless, he writes, it is certainly proper and fitting for anyone whose heart has been touched by yiras Hashem to think seriously about the matter and to search as far as his ability allows. Perhaps Hashem will give him the zechus to be among those who bring merit to the public by restoring the glorious avodah of Techeiles to Klal Yisrael.

He then goes on at length to prove that those who maintain that the chilazon and its blood, from which Techeiles is dyed, were hidden away until the End of Days are simply mistaken. Rather, the mitzvah of Techeiles remains fully in force, and it is upon us to fulfill it in all its details.

For this reason, he “girded his loins to search for the hidden treasures of the sand,” and investigated and researched where the chilazon is found, its identifying signs, and the appearance of Techeiles.

After Hashem helped him clarify the signs by which the chilazon could be recognized, he spoke with many talmidei chachamim and gedolei Yisrael, who agreed with his words. He then began pursuing the matter practically and sent to the regions of the Mediterranean Sea.

A creature was brought to him belonging to the group known as “ink-fish” (Tintenfisch), of which there are approximately nineteen species. It appeared to him that in one particular species all the signs mentioned above, as derived from Chazal, were found.

He therefore wrote that if Hashem would help him travel to the regions of the Mediterranean and obtain the creature while it was still alive, then, im yirtzeh Hashem, he would experiment with it and try, with Hashem’s help, to extract from it the Techeiles dye.

That was the substance of the first booklet.

Since that booklet was only an introduction and opening to the subject, it did not really come under the category of a full review.

The second sefer has now appeared, and in it the author clarifies and develops all of his findings and ideas. In this part he explains how, with Hashem’s help, after much work and effort, he found the chilazon known in ancient times, which is still found today in the Mediterranean Sea under the name:

Sepia

In German it is called Tintenfisch.

For this reason he had to travel great distances and cross the seas until he reached the Mediterranean coast, in the city of Naples, Italy, “where there is an especially great concentration of all kinds of sea creatures, and where there is a collection of sea animals and other marine creatures maintained there. It is like a large stone structure built down into the earth on the shore of the Mediterranean. It consists of rows of buildings and compartments made of clear glass, through which the seawater constantly flows. Inside, all kinds of sea creatures move around freely and can be seen through the glass walls. There every creature can be observed in all its movements, how it eats and moves, and all the details of its behavior.”

[The reviewer adds:] He means the aquarium, which is found in almost every large city.

There he saw the chilazon alive and moving freely, and he describes for us the features of its body and its limbs, and so on. From this he seeks to prove that the chilazon he found is indeed the very same chilazon spoken of by Chazal, whose blood is suitable for Techeiles.

He also discusses at length the appearance of Techeiles, the halachos of the dyeing process, the testing of Techeiles, the special qualities and virtues of Techeiles, and many other related matters.

As for the basic point that the rabbi mentioned above has identified the chilazon as the Sepia known in our times, he has not really brought us anything new, since Jewish writers as well as Christian writers of earlier generations had already preceded him in making this identification.

See Buxtorf, under the entry Chilazon. See also HaMashbir by the scholar Schoenhak, under the entry Chilazon, where he likewise says that the chilazon is what is called in German Tintenfisch. See also the dictionary of the scholar Löwy, who discusses these theories at length, with good reasoning and careful analysis.

See as well the periodical HaMaggid, year 8, issue 1, where one scholar cites material from a Russian periodical concerning the chilazon and its existence in modern times.

The same is true of what the rabbi relates concerning “the nature of the color of this creature, its blood, sinews, bones, and all its limbs, etc.” All of this can already be found in books of natural history, together with illustrations of the form of its body and descriptions of the way it lives.

The use of its dye for fine artwork has also been known for a long time.

And certainly the chilazon is not found only in the aquarium in Naples. It can also be found in the zoological and marine collections of other large cities, so that without making any distant journey, anyone can see it and examine it for himself.

But the main question here is: what has the author actually gained for us through this discovery that he has revealed?

Let us grant that it is as many have already suggested, and as the lexicographers have indicated without going into great length: that the Sepia found in the sea is indeed the chilazon of the ancients, and that its blood was used to produce a Techeiles dye.

But did he himself actually succeed in producing from its blood a Techeiles dye that is the very same Techeiles that was used in the time of the Gemara?

We know that the blood of the Sepia tends toward a blackish color, and to this day it is highly valued by artists. This also fits the Rambam’s description concerning the color of Techeiles, as well as several places in the Bavli and Yerushalmi. When they dyed with the blood of the chilazon in their days, the color was blackish, just as it is today and just as artists still use it.

But that is not the appearance of Techeiles which the rabbi mentioned above says is “blau” — blue.

And if the rabbi will say that the blood of the chilazon is to be prepared by mixing in other substances and outside dyes, so that its appearance will no longer be blackish but rather blue, who can guarantee us that the resulting color matches exactly the color that was used by the ancients?

All the pilpulim and conjectures hanging by a hair cannot prove that.

Chaim Zelig Slonimski