{"id":36211,"date":"2014-06-11T10:33:35","date_gmt":"2014-06-11T10:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=36211"},"modified":"2014-06-11T10:35:06","modified_gmt":"2014-06-11T10:35:06","slug":"tekhelet-shelach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/tekhelet-shelach\/","title":{"rendered":"The Meaning and Symbolism of Tekhelet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This week&#8217;s parsha\u2014Shelach\u2014contains the third paragraph of Kriyat Shema, which discusses the commandment to attach tzitzit to four-cornered garments.  The pasuk states:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;And they shall place upon the tsitsit of each corner a thread of tekhelet\u2026 And you shall see it and remember all of the commandments of Hashem and you shall do them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Until recent years, fulfilling the mitzvah of tzizit with tekhelet was all but impossible. P\u2019til Tekhelet \u2013 The Association for the Promotion and Distribution of Tekhelet \u2013 is a non-profit organization based in Israel. P\u2019til Tekhelet provides educational programming and resources pertaining to Tekhelet, and produces Tekhelet for tzitzit. The association is comprised of a small group of individuals whose work is done <em>lishma<\/em> &#8211; for the express purpose of making tsitsit as the halakha requires.<\/p>\n<p>Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Executive Vice Presient emeritus of the Orthodox Union, recently spoke at a conference marking 100 years of tekhelet research.  In this video, Rabbi Weinreb discusses Tekhelet and its meaning with respect to the psychological aversion to depravity on the one side, and excellence on the other.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TAwiTjRdEuA\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In this segment, Rav Meir Soloveichik discusses the idea first suggested by Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik regarding the symbolism of Tekhelet and white in the tzitzit. He examines this in the context of the establishment of the State of Israel and the return of the Jewish people to its sovereign homeland:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pBUqH0G7OjY\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Explore <a href=\"http:\/\/tekhelet.com\/conference\/\">more on tekhelet<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week&#8217;s parsha\u2014Shelach\u2014contains the third paragraph of Kriyat Shema, which discusses the commandment to attach tzitzit to four-cornered garments. The pasuk states: &#8220;And they shall place upon the tsitsit of each corner a thread of tekhelet\u2026 And you shall see it and remember all of the commandments of Hashem and you shall do them.\u201d Until<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":730,"featured_media":36214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-torah"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Meaning and Symbolism of Tekhelet - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/tekhelet-shelach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Meaning and Symbolism of Tekhelet - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week&#8217;s parsha\u2014Shelach\u2014contains the third paragraph of Kriyat Shema, which discusses the commandment to attach tzitzit to four-cornered garments. The pasuk states: &#8220;And they shall place upon the tsitsit of each corner a thread of tekhelet\u2026 And you shall see it and remember all of the commandments of Hashem and you shall do them.\u201d Until\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/tekhelet-shelach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-11T10:33:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-06-11T10:35:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/tek_feat.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"320\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"184\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"OU Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"OU Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/tekhelet-shelach\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/tekhelet-shelach\/\",\"name\":\"The Meaning and Symbolism of Tekhelet - OU Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/tekhelet-shelach\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/tekhelet-shelach\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/tek_feat.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-11T10:33:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-06-11T10:35:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/9c39ad0f9b2550fe954412311bba3b65\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/tekhelet-shelach\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/tekhelet-shelach\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/tek_feat.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/tek_feat.jpg\",\"width\":320,\"height\":184},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/\",\"name\":\"OU Life\",\"description\":\"Everyday Jewish Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/9c39ad0f9b2550fe954412311bba3b65\",\"name\":\"OU Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/41f3b263e2651da41869efe41b7331cd4ac5453e1719e202d7f0c46360626601?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/41f3b263e2651da41869efe41b7331cd4ac5453e1719e202d7f0c46360626601?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"OU Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/oustaff-me\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Meaning and Symbolism of Tekhelet - OU Life","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/tekhelet-shelach\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Meaning and Symbolism of Tekhelet - OU Life","og_description":"This week&#8217;s parsha\u2014Shelach\u2014contains the third paragraph of Kriyat Shema, which discusses the commandment to attach tzitzit to four-cornered garments. The pasuk states: &#8220;And they shall place upon the tsitsit of each corner a thread of tekhelet\u2026 And you shall see it and remember all of the commandments of Hashem and you shall do them.\u201d Until","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/tekhelet-shelach\/","og_site_name":"OU Life","article_published_time":"2014-06-11T10:33:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-06-11T10:35:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":320,"height":184,"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/tek_feat.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"OU Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"OU Staff","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/tekhelet-shelach\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/tekhelet-shelach\/","name":"The Meaning and Symbolism of Tekhelet - OU Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/tekhelet-shelach\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/tekhelet-shelach\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/tek_feat.jpg","datePublished":"2014-06-11T10:33:35+00:00","dateModified":"2014-06-11T10:35:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/9c39ad0f9b2550fe954412311bba3b65"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/tekhelet-shelach\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/tekhelet-shelach\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/tek_feat.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/tek_feat.jpg","width":320,"height":184},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/","name":"OU Life","description":"Everyday Jewish Living","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/9c39ad0f9b2550fe954412311bba3b65","name":"OU Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/41f3b263e2651da41869efe41b7331cd4ac5453e1719e202d7f0c46360626601?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/41f3b263e2651da41869efe41b7331cd4ac5453e1719e202d7f0c46360626601?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"OU Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/oustaff-me\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/730"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}