I
le Institu Jerusale~£eports that a red spect about holiness in our lives. By Sara h
| heifer~rn in IsraellApril 8th, 20C~t, could indeed be We know that Yeshua (Jesus) wore tzitzit on His garments because,
a candid,a~ to be uS~ in the process of purification as our exemplar, He kept the Commandments. We have heard the
described~,i~umbers, iChapter 19. Tl'iis is an important story of the woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years: "And
developmeri~ towards the rebuilding Of the Holy Temple. suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came
The ashes of a flawless red heifer, an extremely rare from behind and touched the hem of His garment. For she said to her-
creature, are required according to Numbers 192-10. self, 'If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.'" (Matt.
Without a perfect red heifer to sacrifice, the Third 9:20,21) "And when they were gone over, they came into the land of
Temple cannot be built. This is the first red heifer born Gennesaret. And when the men of that place had knowledge of Him,
in Israel since the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto Him
all that were diseased; and besought Him that they might only touch Preparing for the Third Temple has been a priority for the Temple
the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly Institute since 1987. Most of the Temple implements have been recre-
whole." (Matthew 14:34-36) In both of these verses, the word "hem" is ated for Temple service in accordance with~
the Greek word kraspedon, which means a fringe or tassel. Torah. Cornerstones are being prepared b Y, d l
the Temple Mount Faithful. What waa~ The tekhelet (blue) dye was lost for nearly 1,300 years. Until recently,
missing until recent times was the re~~ Jewish men could not fulfill the directive of gazing upon the blue cord;
heifer for purification, and the therefore, they would forego the blue in their tzitzit. However, a group
biblically commanded blue for the of researchers based at Kfar Adummim, located between Jerusalem
priestly garments: "You shall f \[ and the Dead Sea, have rediscovered this ancient
make a breastplate of judgment, | process. In 1991, the P'Til Tekhelet (Thread of Blue)
the work of a skillful workman," Association was founded to pursue the research and
like the work of the ephod you ~.~r~ ~ restoration of the special tekhelet blue for use in the tal-
shall make it: of gold, of (tekhelet) i q!lit (prayer shawl) and eventually the Third Temple
blue and purple and scarlet material priesthood. P'Til Tekhelet is comprised of a small
and fine twisted linen you shall make it." !., \[- l P
F group of individuals who devote their time to obtaining ff
the snails, extracting the dye, and dyeing quantities of b~he rediscovery or the
fine quality, pure Merino wool. All their work is done by tekhelet in our time is a
hand. remarkable event, not
clil~erent, p.erhalOS .the n the As with many discoveries, the process came as a rebirth o\]: theJewis~
result of serendipity. In the early 1980's, while people and its State ot
W researching ancient dyeing techniques, Otto Israel. It is a testimony to
Eisner discovered the secret of producing a the absolute, unqualified,_
pure blue color from the Murex trunculus unreserved commitment.or '~
snail. Eisner found that on cloudy days, the the Jewish people, to the .~:.
trunculus dye produced purple, but when a Torah, Gocl and the Lancl "~."
\]~ batch of freshly dyed wool was left in the ,,j Rabbi Berel Wein L~ or,s o , ,D,I
bright sun, it turned a bright, colorfast blue! It JJ
takes 30 of these small snails to produce one (Exodus 28:15)
' set of Tekhelet. The hypobranchial gland is Not only a priestly requirement, all men belonging to the God of Israel
'~.£~-~,~ ~Jl~ removed, and then dried and crushed into a are commanded to wear this blue cord in the tzitzit of their garments:
powder. When added to water, it produces the "Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for
dye which goes through several stages in the themselves tassels (tzitzit) on the comers of their garments through-
process, starting with yellow, which turns green, blue, and finally pur- out their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each cor-
ple, unless it is exposed to bright sunlight. ner a cord of blue. (Hebrew: tekhelet- blue, 'the color of Heaven") It
Jewish men can now fulfill the mitzvah (commandment) of Numbers shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the command-
15:37. They can meditate on the "twist of blue" and recall the eternal ments of the LORD, so as to do them.., and be holy to your God."
Torah. And we can all look forward to the days when "...ten men of all (Num. 15:38- 40)
languages and nations will take hold of one Jew by the comer of his The word tzitzit is connected to the word in Hebrew meaning "to peek"
garment and say, 'Let us go with you because we have heard that (lehatzitz). The commandment of tzitzit is to see them, that we may
God is with you. '" (Zechariah 8:23) be reminded of God and His Word that we may obey and be circum-
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2004 JEWISH VOICE TODAY PAGE 12
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