A tten d Y U , n o ch arge - Rambam...
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It’s really almost like winning the lottery: a tuition-free four years at Yeshiva University. 19 local students have won that privilege, according to YU. Five young men from DRS will attend Yeshiva College at no charge, if they so choose, as will three young women who currently attend SKA. Four students from Rambam Mesivta have also scored a four-year-long free ride to Washing- ton Heights. They are pictured above with their teachers and administrators, from left: Rabbi Yotav Eliach, Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman, Jacob Bernstein, Gavi Novick, Jonathan Drory, Shmuel Herzberg and Mr. Ira J. Schildkraut. HAFTR, HANC, Mesivta Yesodei Yeshurun, Mesivta Ateres Yaakov, North Shore Hebrew Academy and Yeshiva of Far Rockaway all have one big winner apiece. A student from West Hempstead who attends MTA is also an all- expenses paid scholarship winner. —Jewish Star Staff Questions or comments? Email [email protected] Sussman also mentioned that high school truancy is down and that he’s excited about the universal pre-k pro- gram. “Students in the future uni- versal pre-k program will go to the elementary and there will be tremendous progress. It’s a vineyard where the vines will grow,” he asserted. Touretz said his proudest moment was the day before Thanksgiving when 149 former students, most of them from last year’s graduating class, came to visit the school. “We didn’t provide lunch, we didn’t provide coffee and dough- nuts,” Touretz said. “We just allowed them to come back. It was really heartwarming that they wanted to come back and tell us how they are and to see their favorite teacher, and occa- sionally, their favorite administra- tor... What we say here is, we’re not Lawrence High School the way it used to be, we’re better.” Questions or comments? Contact Michael Orbach at [email protected] creates the blue dye of tekhelet and the purple of argamon. Many archeological sites along the Mediterranean have evi- dence of the dyeing process including large fields deep with snail shells and dye remnants. Much of the dye in Solomon’s time came from Tyre, and coins from the city have an image of the snail on them. After the destruction of the Second Temple, when many Jews left Israel, Rome made it illegal to wear tekhelet, reserv- ing the color for Caesar and other political dignitaries. The dye became difficult to obtain and by the fourth century CE was almost completely unavail- able. In the 1800’s the Radzyner Rebbe, Rabbi Gershon Henoch Leiner, set out to determine the source of tekhelet on his own; he focused on the cuttlefish, a squid that secretes an ink-like substance. Leiner had difficulty producing the dye and enlisted the aid of a chemist. Ten thou- sand of his followers began wearing the blue threads on their tzitzit. In 1913, Rabbi Isaac Her- zog, Chief Rabbi of Ireland and later Chief Rabbi of Israel, wrote a doctoral thesis on Hebrew Porphyrology (the study of purple). When he test- ed the Radzyner dye he discov- ered that it was a synthetic dye, known as Prussian Blue. He realized that the murex truncu- lus was probably the tekhelet. Much of the Radzyner chas- sidus was wiped out in the Shoah, but Rabbi Herzog passed his records of the dye process on to the surviving cha- sidim in Israel. About 18 years ago, not long after he made aliyah, Greenspan went scuba diving with other colleagues to search for the snail. “It was an adventure,” he said. “We didn’t know we’d be re-instituting the ability to wear tekhelet.” Greenspan found the snail but was unable to harvest it in meaningful quantities, since it is protected under Israeli law. Greenspan’s adventures contin- ued with a call to a French fish market, a visit to Spain and final- ly to Croatia where he found a source of snails. Greenspan also visited the Vatican to see if gar- ments worn by popes in the Mid- dle Ages had tekhelet on them, as suggested by the Rambam — though any remnant of the dye had decayed centuries before he arrived. The Vatican did have a poster describing the dye from the mollusk. The process of creating the dye involves catching the murex trunculus, breaking its shell and removing a white gland. The fluid from the gland is clear and colorless but when exposed to light transforms to yellow, then green, then blue then deep pur- ple. The fluid is air-dried into a powder then added to water; a process that Greenspan demon- strated during his lecture. In ancient times lye was used to make the dye basic; Greenspan uses another chemi- cal. Old urine was used as a reducing agent and in ancient times collecting urine was a major part of the dyeing indus- try. After adding some acid to make the dye less basic, Greenspan submerged a wad of wool in the liquid and let it sit a while. When he removed the wool, the color changed quickly to purplish-blue argamon. Greenspan said that they’d acci- dentally discovered the blue tekhelet color when the dye bath was left in the sun; the dye turned wool blue rather than purple. The current Ashkenazi method for tying tzitzit, Greenspan explained, is in memory of the way it was done when we had tekhelet. The Rambam says that only one half of one string should be blue, the Ryvid holds one of four, and Rabeinu Tam two of four strings. “Rabbi Dr. Moshe Tendler and Rabbi Hershel Schachter wear tekhelet. Rabbi Lichten- stein does not since Rav [Joseph B.] Soloveitchik did not support doing so at the time,” Greenspan said. Greenspan noted that a fake tekhelet from the indigo plant, used in the time of the Mishna, is the same color and is chemically identical to the snail-based dye, though the snail-based dye has two extra bromides from which argamon is derived. Only the animal- based color is halachically per- missible for tzitzit. Greenspan concluded the lecture by explaining that peo- ple’s perception of color and wavelengths is measured in nanometers. Color absorbs cer- tain wavelengths of light and reflects back certain wave- lengths — we perceive the reflected wavelengths as the color of the object, measured in nanometers. The tekhelet molecule absorbs light at 613 nanome- ters, the number of the mitzvot in the Torah. More information is avail- able at www.tekhelet.com. Questions or comments? Email Malka Eisenberg at news- [email protected] GRAD RATES SOAR AT LAWRENCE H.S. Continued from Page One THE MYSTERIOUS BLUE SNAIL Continued from Page One Attend YU, no charge Photo by Malka Eisenberg Dr. Ari Greenspan, founder of P’til Tekhelet, at YI of Woodmere. 9 The Jewish Star December 25, 2009 310657 Sign me up! Receive The Jewish Star newsletter by email. Get a heads-up on the top stories or even read the whole paper online when you're out of town. Just send an email to [email protected] with 'sign me up' in the subject line. Sign me up! Receive The Jewish Star newsletter by email. Get a heads-up on the top stories or even read the whole paper online when you're out of town. Just send an email to [email protected] with 'sign me up' in the subject line. ✓ 311017 NOW BROADCASTING IN OUR 28 TH YEAR! TALKLINE WITH ZEV BRENNER AMERICA’S LEADING JEWISH RADIO & TV PROGRAM “THE JEWISH BROADCAST CONNECTION” 212-7691925 1-866-JEWISH RADIO [email protected] Listen Online Anytime: Talklinecommunications.com RADIO: SATURDAY NIGHTS 12 MIDNIGHT – 2 AM WMCA 570 AM MON- THURS 9 PM – 10 PM WSNR 620 AM SUNDAYS 8AM, 12NOON & 6PM THURSDAYS 8PM JLTV NATIONWIDE (Including) TIME WARNER NY CHANNEL 120 DIRECT TV Channel 366 TIME WARNER’S CA (including L.A.) Ch.177 online: www .jltv .com SUNDAYS 9-10AM 3-4PM FRIDAYS 11AM 12NOON TIME WARNER MANHATTAN CH. 35 Other TALKLINE COMMUNICATIONS SHOWS: MON-THU 7PM - 1AM WSNR 620 AM SAT NIGHTS 10PM - 3AM WMCA 570 AM SUN NIGHTS 12MID - 1 AM WSNR 620 AM SUNDAYS 2PM - 5PM • FRIDAYS 8 am - NOON TIME WARNER MANHATTAN CH.35 TV : SUNDAYS 11PM – MIDNIGHT WRNN. CH. 48 METRO NY STATIONS INCLUDE: CABLEVISION CH. 19 TIME WARNER CH. 91 RCN CH. 16 FIOS DIRECT TV. CH. 62 DISH TV CH. 8116 For more information on all of Talkine’s radio & TV programs contact: FIND A SUMMER CAMP Free Advice & Referrals The Solution To Finding A Great Camp www.CampChemistry.com • 203-588-9397 Our Expert Staff Will Work With You To Find The Sleepaway Camp You Have Been Dreaming Of...
Transcript of A tten d Y U , n o ch arge - Rambam...
It’s really almost like winning the lottery: atuition-free four years at Yeshiva University. 19local students have won that privilege, accordingto YU. Five young men from DRS will attendYeshiva College at no charge, if they so choose, aswill three young women who currently attendSKA.
Four students from Rambam Mesivta havealso scored a four-year-long free ride to Washing-ton Heights. They are pictured above with theirteachers and administrators, from left: RabbiYotav Eliach, Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman, JacobBernstein, Gavi Novick, Jonathan Drory, Shmuel
Herzberg and Mr. Ira J. Schildkraut.HAFTR, HANC, Mesivta Yesodei Yeshurun,
Mesivta Ateres Yaakov, North Shore HebrewAcademy and Yeshiva of Far Rockaway all haveone big winner apiece. A student from WestHempstead who attends MTA is also an all-expenses paid scholarship winner.
—Jewish Star Staff
Questions or comments?Email [email protected]
Sussman also mentionedthat high school truancy isdown and that he’s excitedabout the universal pre-k pro-gram.
“Students in the future uni-versal pre-k program will go tothe elementary and there willbe tremendous progress. It’s avineyard where the vines willgrow,” he asserted.
Touretz said his proudestmoment was the day beforeThanksgiving when 149 formerstudents, most of them from lastyear’s graduating class, came tovisit the school.
“We didn’t provide lunch, wedidn’t provide coffee and dough-nuts,” Touretz said. “We justallowed them to come back. Itwas really heartwarming thatthey wanted to come back and
tell us how they are and to seetheir favorite teacher, and occa-sionally, their favorite administra-tor... What we say here is, we’renot Lawrence High School theway it used to be, we’re better.”
Questions or comments? Contact Michael Orbach at [email protected]
creates the blue dye of tekheletand the purple of argamon.Many archeological sites alongthe Mediterranean have evi-dence of the dyeing processincluding large fields deep withsnail shells and dye remnants.
Much of the dye inSolomon’s time came fromTyre, and coins from the cityhave an image of the snail onthem. After the destruction ofthe Second Temple, when manyJews left Israel, Rome made itillegal to wear tekhelet, reserv-ing the color for Caesar andother political dignitaries. Thedye became difficult to obtainand by the fourth century CEwas almost completely unavail-able.
In the 1800’s the RadzynerRebbe, Rabbi Gershon HenochLeiner, set out to determine thesource of tekhelet on his own;he focused on the cuttlefish, asquid that secretes an ink-likesubstance. Leiner had difficultyproducing the dye and enlistedthe aid of a chemist. Ten thou-sand of his followers beganwearing the blue threads ontheir tzitzit.
In 1913, Rabbi Isaac Her-zog, Chief Rabbi of Ireland andlater Chief Rabbi of Israel,wrote a doctoral thesis onHebrew Porphyrology (thestudy of purple). When he test-ed the Radzyner dye he discov-ered that it was a synthetic dye,known as Prussian Blue. Herealized that the murex truncu-lus was probably the tekhelet.Much of the Radzyner chas-sidus was wiped out in theShoah, but Rabbi Herzogpassed his records of the dyeprocess on to the surviving cha-sidim in Israel.
About 18 years ago, notlong after he made aliyah,Greenspan went scuba divingwith other colleagues to searchfor the snail.
“It was an adventure,” hesaid. “We didn’t know we’d bere-instituting the ability to weartekhelet.”
Greenspan found the snailbut was unable to harvest it inmeaningful quantities, since it isprotected under Israeli law.Greenspan’s adventures contin-ued with a call to a French fishmarket, a visit to Spain and final-ly to Croatia where he found asource of snails. Greenspan alsovisited the Vatican to see if gar-ments worn by popes in the Mid-dle Ages had tekhelet on them,as suggested by the Rambam —though any remnant of the dyehad decayed centuries before hearrived. The Vatican did have aposter describing the dye fromthe mollusk.
The process of creating thedye involves catching the murextrunculus, breaking its shell andremoving a white gland. Thefluid from the gland is clear andcolorless but when exposed tolight transforms to yellow, thengreen, then blue then deep pur-ple. The fluid is air-dried into apowder then added to water; aprocess that Greenspan demon-strated during his lecture.
In ancient times lye wasused to make the dye basic;Greenspan uses another chemi-cal. Old urine was used as areducing agent and in ancienttimes collecting urine was amajor part of the dyeing indus-try. After adding some acid tomake the dye less basic,Greenspan submerged a wad ofwool in the liquid and let it sit awhile. When he removed thewool, the color changed quicklyto purplish-blue argamon.Greenspan said that they’d acci-dentally discovered the bluetekhelet color when the dyebath was left in the sun; thedye turned wool blue ratherthan purple.
The current Ashkenazimethod for tying tzitzit,Greenspan explained, is inmemory of the way it was donewhen we had tekhelet. TheRambam says that only one halfof one string should be blue, theRyvid holds one of four, andRabeinu Tam two of fourstrings.
“Rabbi Dr. Moshe Tendler
and Rabbi Hershel Schachterwear tekhelet. Rabbi Lichten-stein does not since Rav[Joseph B.] Soloveitchik did notsupport doing so at the time,”Greenspan said.
Greenspan noted that afake tekhelet from the indigoplant, used in the time of theMishna, is the same color and ischemically identical to thesnail-based dye, though thesnail-based dye has two extrabromides from which argamonis derived. Only the animal-based color is halachically per-missible for tzitzit.
Greenspan concluded thelecture by explaining that peo-ple’s perception of color andwavelengths is measured innanometers. Color absorbs cer-tain wavelengths of light andreflects back certain wave-lengths — we perceive thereflected wavelengths as thecolor of the object, measured innanometers.
The tekhelet moleculeabsorbs light at 613 nanome-ters, the number of the mitzvotin the Torah.
More information is avail-able at www.tekhelet.com.
Questions or comments? EmailMalka Eisenberg at [email protected]
GRAD RATES SOAR AT LAWRENCE H.S.Continued from Page One
THE MYSTERIOUS BLUE SNAILContinued from Page One
Attend YU, no charge
Photo by Malka EisenbergDr. Ari Greenspan, founder of P’tilTekhelet, at YI of Woodmere.
9The Jewish Star December 25, 2009
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Sign me up!Receive The Jewish Star newsletter by email.Get a heads-up on the top stories or even read the whole paper online when you're out of town.
Just send an email to [email protected] with 'sign me up' in the subject line.
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Just send an email to [email protected] with 'sign me up' in the subject line.
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