TRUE BLUE: The Story of the Loss and Rediscovery of the Mitzvah of Tekhelet – An Online Course
Source: WebYeshiva
Join WebYeshiva in partnership with Ptil Tekhelet for an incredible experience for individual students, whole classes, or family-learning. Weave together Torah, archaeology, chemistry, biology, halakhah, and history with this free, online, interactive program. This four-part series will explore the many aspects of the beautiful mitzvah of Tekhelet. Participate live in our interactive classroom, or join in via the archived recordings. This unique program includes an option for an at-home dyeing experiment.
Registration for "True Blue: The Story of Tekhelet" is open here.
The live meetings will take place over 4 Sundays, at 11am EST, beginning March 20, 2016. (Recordings of the sessions will be available for those who can't join the synchronous classes.)
Tekhelet is one of the colors mentioned in the Torah, traditionally associated with a shade of blue. It is mentioned frequently alongside gold, silver and silk as a precious commodity. There is a Biblical commandment to tie a thread of Tekhelet around the tzitzit (fringes) of cornered garments. In addition, Tekhelet is required in the garments of the High Priest, as well as for the coverings of the holy vessels.
The Talmud describes Tekhelet as coming from a sea-creature called a chilazon. In a homiletic passage, the chilazon is characterized as “similar to the sea, being similar to [but not] a fish, and coming up from the sea once in seventy years [rarely].” Chilazon in modern Hebrew means “snail”. Rabbinic, historical, archaeological and chemical evidence point to Murex trunculus snails as the source of Tekhelet.