Please enjoy the latest episode of the SeforimChatter podcast, in which Nachi Weinstein interviews Dr. Baruch Sterman, CEO and Co-Founder of Ptil Tekhelet.
General Overview of issues and topics related to Tekhelet – a companion to Perek Hatekhelet, the 4th chapter of Masechet Menachot.
Click Here to View the Pamphlet
Ptil Tekhelet is working on an interactive, searchable, display of Rav Herzog’s doctorate. We have translated all sections from their original language into English, and have also translated the entire doctorate into Hebrew.
The site is still under development and we welcome any feedback or comments.
Click below to visit Ptil Tekhelet’s Porphyrology page featuring Rav Herzog’s 1914 doctorate “Hebrew Porphyrology“.
The latest issue of Vehaya Lachem Ltzitzit – an annual pamphlet published by Ptil Tekhelet on Torah topics related to Tekhelet featured articles by Rabbi Prof. Ari Zivotofsky and Prof. Zohar Amar.
Rabbi Prof. Zivotofsky investigates the question of whether ancient technology allowed for the dyeing of BLUE from the Murex trunculus sea-snail. Click Here to download the article >>
Prof. Zohar Amar details experiments in natural dyeing using Murex trunculus snails and shows that it is possible to obtain blue from them using only methods and materials available in ancient times. He further shows that “tests” similar to those recorded in Menachot are in fact able to distinguish between naturally dyed Murex blue and plant derived indigo (kala ilan). Click Here to download the article >>
A 3,500-year-old Egyptian textile dating to the period when
Bnei Yisrael were in Egypt. The sky-blue threads in its
fringes were dyed from Murex trunculus snails, indicating
its use at this early stage. Identification based on Poulin et
al., “Identification of Shellfish Blue on an Ancient Egyptian
(Dynasty XVIII) Painted Votive Textile.” © Government of
Canada, Canadian Conservation Institute.
Tel Shikmona, in today’s Southern Haifa, was an extremely important center for murex dye manufacture for close to 500 years, during the period of the First Temple – Bayit Rishon. This is a picture of two of the murex-stained shards from ancient dye vats found there. One can clearly see the purple and blue colors that were dyed in Shikmona.
