Talmud for Menachot 87:8
אמרה לו איני מניחך עד שתאמר לי מה שמך ומה שם עירך ומה שם רבך ומה שם מדרשך שאתה למד בו תורה כתב ונתן בידה
By the Temple',<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'the service' (of the Temple) .');"><sup>5</sup></span> he replied, 'never have I seen a woman as beautiful as you are; but there is one precept which the Lord our God has commanded us, it is called zizith, and with regard to it the expression 'I am the Lord your God' is twice written,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. XV, 41. The expression is repeated in this verse.');"><sup>6</sup></span>
Tractate Tzitzit
Should a man dye [the zizith of] a ṭallith for himself, they are invalid for religious use if he intended to test [the dye].27The dyeing of zizith must be for the specified purpose of the commandment. The reading ‘to test’ [lenassoth] is preferable to the variant ‘to cover himself’ [lekassoth]. If he dyed them [with an ordinary dye], even four or five times, they are invalid, since the blue [of the zizith] must be dyed only with that of ḥillazon.28A species of mollusc. What does the ḥillazon resemble? In its formation it resembles a fish and [the colour of] its body resembles [the blueness of] the sky. Its appearance is a very rare occurrence29lit. ‘it only rises [from the sea] in seventy years’. and consequently it is very costly.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy