Tekhelet resembles the sea | Time capsule

Tekhelet resembles the sea

Blue (tekhelet) has acquired a unique status in Judaism. It carries deep symbolic significance, since it is related to a basic Jewish commandment (mitzvah) and features prominently in the garments of the high priests (Kohanim) and on fabrics used for the tabernacle (mishkan) and the Temple. The commandment of tzitzit requires the people of Israel to add a cord, or thread (ptil) of tekhelet to the tassels of their four cornered garments.  Jews say the phrase “ptil tekhelet” every day in the “Shema Yisrael” prayer.

Both tekhelet and argaman were used in the mishkan and in the Temple, and both colors were made using the glands of murex sea snails. However, these two colors had different roles and a different spiritual status in Judaism. Jewish tradition attributes a spiritual force to tekhelet, as a reminder of God’s Kingdom: “Why is tekhelet different from among all the colors? Because tekhelet resembles the sea, and the sea resembles the sky, and the sky resembles the sapphire stone, and the sapphire stone resembles the Throne of Glory." (Babylonian Talmud, Chulin, 89a, and parallels). In Kabbalah, tekhelet is identified with two of the Sefirot (the ten spiritual channels of creation): Wisdom and Divine Kingship. 

The color of argaman—a deep reddish-purple—is a symbol of wealth, earthly kingdoms and grandeur. Argaman in Jewish sources was associated with wine, congealed blood or amethyst stones. Some of the Talmudic Rabbis avoided wearing purple garments, because to them, the color of red (adom) symbolized Roman rule, emblematic of “the wicked Edom”.

Adi Shelach
Curator of the National Maritime Museum