[Avodah] Techeiles nowadays vs a few decades ago

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Jul 21, 2023 at 08:43:51AM -0400, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
> It seems that in today's world, it is accepted that tzitzis can be of any
> color, so there is no downside to wearing the newfangled techelet tzitzis,
> even if one questions whether this is really the genuine stuff.

To be up front: I was an early adopter. My father learned Tues nights
with RHS for many years, starting with the end of RYBS's shiur in Moriah.
RHS bought his first set within days of Amutat Ptil Tekhelet going into
production, and my father soon followed. Paying me for tying his sets
by providing me.

Yes, I think that safeiq deOraisa lehachmir is sufficient argument to
wear tekheiles. As long as you and your poseiq feel that the evidence in
favor of dye-banded murex, cuttlefish, or whatever, rises to the level of
"safeiq".

Furthermore, while the mishnah (Menachos 4:1) says that "tekheiles einah
me'aqeves es halavan" and vice-versa, the Chinukh (#386) says this doesn't
work when tekheiles is available.

(I am guessing the Chinukh would limit lavan einah me'aqeves es hatekheiles
to cases where the tzitzis were made already but the white broke. Since
I cannot think of another case. One can get tekheiles strings, but not
any normal ones?)

Second, the Baal haMaor (Rif Shabbos 11b) reads the gemara as concluding
like Rebbe (Menachos 32b) against that mishnah, requiring both. And Briskers
don't wear tzitzis outside an eruv (and they don't hold of community eiruvin)
in case of the BhM's shitah.

And third, it would be a bitul asei, even if your tzitzis are still kosher.

> My problem is that I have clear memories from the 1970s and 80s to the
> contrary. Back then, if one would ask why no one wore the techeles of the
> Radziner Rebbe or of Rav Herzog, the answer was that any color other than
> genuine techeles would make one's tzitzis passul; therefore one cannot wear
> techeles unless he is *sure* that it is really techeles, which is
> impossible until Moshiach restores the mesorah.

I think this is a misunderstnding.

There is a machloqes where the Rambam says that the "lavan" strings
ought to be the color of the beged, whereas Tosafos say they ought to be
literally white. This is why most qehillos have the minhag of making white
begatim -- it avoids the machloqes. Notably, except for Teiman -- kedarkam
beqodesh, they simply follow the Rambam. And a shamla is typically black,
and I recall esrog sellers with colored arba kanfos and matching strings.

Notice, though, I said "the 'lavan' strings OUGHT to be", not "must be".
Hiddur territory.

Rava bar Chama doesn't understand why strings dyed with qaleh ilan
(indigo) would be pasul -- can't they count as lavan? And from there
the CI (OC 3:25) concludes that indeed, any color is kosher. And
for the strings that should have been tekheiles -- it's not even a
preference issue!

Still there is a gezeira against wearing qaleh ilan specifically. So the
last question would be whether wearing the wrong blue dye thinking it's
tekheiles wouldn't run foul of that issur.

The wording in the gemara (BM 61b) is against someone who "hangs
qaleh ilan on his garment and says it's tekheiles", warning you
that Hashem Knows. It seems the condemnation is specifically about on
misrepresentation. The buyer who thinks they got tekheiles and won't know
otherwise for months or years when their fake starts fading. Or maybe the
person who fools themselves into thinking the cheap stuff is good enough,
or will fool his neighbors, so why bother doing it right? Someone who
is up front about what their wearing, and isn't consciously fooling
themselves or others wouldn't fit the gemara's depiction.

And there is always the Tif'eres Yisra'el's take on the Rambam. This is
all theoretical, since the one acharon who I know of taking the Rambam
this way continues by saying that we hold like Rashi anyway.

But if you look at the Rambam's description of wearing tzitzis with
tekheiles, the first halakhah simply says you wear a colorfast blue
string. The second halakhah asks about the logistics, and that's where
we first read about a chilazon. So, the TY concludes that according
to the Rambam, any sufficiently colorfast dye of the right hue would
be tekheiles. Just that logistically, they only knew how to make one
out of a chilazon. So, add the right modern binding agents to indigo,
don't lie about it, and them maybe even qaleh ilah could be turned into
kosher tekheiles according to the Rambam.

And so murex tekheiles too.

But really, I think more the deceit thing. Judging from BM, the gezeira
was to prevent people misrepresenting their product. And not against using
blue dye for any other reason, such as trying to fulfil a safeiq deOraisa.

-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Zion will be redeemed through justice,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   and her returnees, through righteousness.
Author: Widen Your Tent
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF