Q&A: Tekhelet
Tekhelet
Question
Hello Rabbi,
The Torah commanded us regarding “the fringe, a thread of tekhelet.” To a contemporary reader, he would presumably understand that this means the thread should be dyed that particular color, regardless of what chemical compound the dye is made from. That also fits the rabbinic exposition that says: “Tekhelet resembles the sea, the sea resembles the sky, and the sky resembles the Throne of Glory.” If we want the tzitzit to resemble something in their color, why should it matter what the dye is made of?
On the other hand, the Sages understood that the intent was a color produced from a particular snail, and they ruled that the Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to exact punishment from one who hangs “kala ilan” on his tzitzit. There is logic to that, especially since researchers claim that linguistically the abstract concept of “color” is relatively new; in the Hebrew Bible there is almost no description of the world in terms of colors (black, red, blue), at most there is a comparison to something whose color is known.
What seems more reasonable to you: the interpretation that the command refers to the specific chemical compound, or only to the color as such?
Answer
This is an old question, and I don’t have an answer to it. On the face of it, the Torah commands a particular color, and its source should not matter. But for some reason it became established in Jewish law that its source matters too. I don’t know why. It may depend on the question of what kala ilan is (whether it is exactly the same color from a different source, with only a difference in shade).