In my quest to give a more profound, layered meaning to my work, I have been diving increasingly into the history of natural dyes. This has resulted already in specific dye-related trips to Oaxaca-Mexico and the South of France (see also this blog about the 18th-century French dye internship that took place), The Netherlands, and more.
Here around my home in Israel, there are many different dyestuffs that grow here, that are discussed in the Jewish books that are the guidelines for our day-to-day life. They inspire me to add those layers of time (where do I fit in this tradition, and how do I conserve it for the future?) and place (where we live and work) to my creative process.
Before we get to the dye stuffs, first a bit of general background: The Jewish tradition relies on written and oral history. These books are written in Aramaic (Aramaic is an ancient language that has been around for over 3,000 years.) and Hebrew.
These are the major categories and books within Judaism:
Torah (the five books of the Old Testament): The five books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Torah contains the creation narrative, the Israelites' history, and the laws and commandments given by G'd to Moses on Mount Sinai.
Nevi'im (Prophets): Nevi'im includes the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets. These books contain the historical accounts of the Israelite monarchy, along with prophecies and messages.
Ketuvim (Writings): Ketuvim consists of a diverse collection of books, including Psalms (Tehilim in Hebrew), Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra , and Chronicles. These writings contain poetry, wisdom literature, historical accounts, and other literary works.
Talmud: The Talmud is a compilation of rabbinic discussions, commentaries, legal rulings, and teachings. It consists of two main components: the Mishnah (a concise code of Jewish law) and the Gemara (commentaries and discussions on the Mishnah). There are two versions of the Talmud: the Babylonian Talmud, which is more widely studied and authoritative, and the Jerusalem Talmud.
Midrash: Midrash refers to a genre of rabbinic literature that includes interpretations, explanations, and expansions on biblical narratives and legal texts. Midrashic works provide insights into the ethical, moral, and theological teachings of Judaism.
There are numerous other religious texts, commentaries, and legal codes that hold importance in Jewish tradition, such as the Mishneh Torah, Shulchan Aruch, Zohar, etc. but for the dyes, we are focussing on the findings in the Torah and the Talmud.
Physical evidence.
Many textile samples have been found, dyed with the dye stuffs that I will discuss in this article. For example in the Qumran caves, textiles were found that were dyed with woad, indigo, murex and madder.
Associations of color
In the Jewish tradition, color has a lot of associations: the color red represents fire, blood, and sin. Red is also the color of the screen hanging over the Torah Ark which serves as a partition between the Ark and the prayer hall. White represents water and purity, and yet a white skin coloration marks a person as impure, making him into a "metzorah" (leper). Blue is the color of air, the sky and spirituality, reminding us of Gd's Throne of Glory. The robes of the High Priests had to be made out of blue wool.
The color white is associated with the Angel Michael, red with Gabriel, and blue with the Angel Uriel. And white is associated with Abraham, red with Isaac, and blue with Jacob.
(Iggeret D'kala page 300, Yitav Panim 1 page 193, Megalleh Amukot, Ofan 8, 57, and 86)
The dyestuff and the process
These are the plants, insects, and snails that are known in the Jewish books, and therefore must have been used in creating colors similar to these.
Fabric is a French wool broadcloth replica of 18th-century wool, which is the earliest I can find. If you have better ideas I'd love to know. I realize that 'back in the day', they would have dyed in the fleece and not on woven fabric.
Vat dyes, oak, sumac and henna were dyed on unmordanted wool, the rest was mordanted at 24% Alum with 6% of cream of tartar. Pomegranate was post-mordanted with 0.5% ferrous sulfate.
Vat dyes were prepared with soda ash and hydrosulfite.
Indigo (Indigofera tinctoria). ניל
Indigo is funny because it is mentioned more as a plant not to use, which means it was being used as a dye for sure.
The Gemara (Baba Metzia 61) teaches that tekhelet is identical in color to the forgery dye “kala ilan”, and kala ilan is known as “indigo”. We also know from Rambam's letters (famous Sefaradic Rabbi and physician from the middle ages) that his brother traded in indigo and that he judged in several matters of indigo trade.
Woad (Isatis tinctoria): איסטיס
The type of woad that grows naturally in the arid region of Israel is Isatis lucitanica, aka Aleppo woad.
The Mishnah (Megillah 4:7) states how Kohanim are forbidden from blessing the congregation if their hands are stained with “istis”, ie. the Isatis tinctoria dye. This makes it clear that Kohanim in the ancient Holy Temple did use woad as a blue dye, but we are not sure why.
Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon, also marks Isatis as an example of an illegal substitute for murex Tekhelet: "And all that is not dyed with that type of dye is invalid for Tzitzit even though it has the appearance of the sky, for example, that they dyed it with Isatis or other dark dyes - behold it is invalid.' (Hilchot Tztitzit 2:1).
As a later source, the Bartenura (Rabbi Ovadiah of Bartenura, c.1445-1515) states that 'istis' is a dye “whose color resembles tekhelet, and they call it in Arabic by the name Neel and in a different foreign language by the name 'Indico' . And it is usual to cut it and it grows back again, and what grows back the second time is called 'Sefiach' ".
Murex (Hepaplex trunculus) תכלת
The murex snail is called a chilazon (חילזון). The color made from the murex snail is called tekhelet (תכלת), as well as argaman (ארגמן) it is perhaps one of the most special (and debated) colors of the old testament. Many say the tekhelet is the color blue of the skies and the seas, and argaman is a more reddish purple.
The tekhelet color is mentioned 49 times in the Hebrew Bible and further discussed in the Talmud. The Talmud tells of tekhelet being brought from Israel to Babylon in the days of Rabbi Ahai (506 CE) and the Phoenicians had a flourishing dye industry all along the coast of Israel until the Arab conquest around the year 600 CE.
The mollusks would most probably be caught using baskets with bait as Pliny the Elder describes; "Baskets were cast into the sea, and in them cockles are put as bait. In this way, victims to their own greediness, they (the snails) are drawn to the surface hanging by their tongue.” Then an anaerobic dye bath was created in dye pots or pits, using an alkaline that was either some form of soda ash, or lime, and the murex's own bacteria.
Read more in this blog.
Madder (Rubia tinctorum) פואה
The madder species commonly found growing wild in Israel is Rubia tenuifolia.
The word pu'ah in Hebrew comes from the Aramaic פוחא (poecha), and that is related to the Arabic: فوة fuwwah.
Puah (פּוּאָה), or its variants pua or phuvah, occurs 4 times in Torah, as a first name (for a redhead, or someone who dyes red?)
"After Abimelech, Tola son of Puah son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, who lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim, rose to deliver Israel." (Judges 10:1)
Madder is mentioned in the Talmud (, tractate Sabbath 61b) where the madder plant is termed "puah" in Aramaic and translated into old French by rabbi Rashi.
We know Pu'ah was used as a dye from the Talmud where it says: "The prohibited quantities are for isatis (woad), kotzah (safflower) and pu'ah (madder), enough to dye a small garment."
Kermes (Coccus ilicis) Kermes - תולעת שני (Tola'at Shani)
Similar to Tekhelet blue, 'shani' refers to a scarlet worm, and also the crimson or scarlet dye produced from the Kermes insect, which lives on a very specific oak species that grows in the Israeli hills. The season for kermes is only during the hot summer months, and it is a dye that is very hard to come by, as the insects need to be collected one by one. It is not a commercial dye stuff by a long stretch!
Scarlet red and kermes appear in various places, including Exodus 25 where we find a very specific recipe for dying leather red:
For dyeing the rams' skins red they rub on a solution of Kermes, dry, oil, and polish with a smooth stone. "
In this blog you can read more about dyeing with lermes, which would have been exclusively for wool, and leather.
Henna (Lawsonia inermis) כפר
Henna isreferred to as Kofer in Aramaic. It appears in the Babylonian Talmud, in Ktubot 111a, and is mentioned multiple times in the Song of Songs.
Song of Songs 1:14 “My beloved is unto me as a cluster of henna in the vineyards of En-Gedi,”
Henna is still used today as a colorant for temporary tattoos in the henna ceremony, a treasured pre-wedding custom of many Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish communities to bless the future bride and groom. A good gollop of henna paste (just henna powder with some water and a it of lemon juice) is put in the palms of the hands of the guests, sometimes together with a coin for extra good luck, it leaves an orange stain that stays on the skin for a good two weeks.
Henna dyes wool without a mordant, and gives a beautiful orangy brown.
Sumac (Rhus coriaria) אוג
Sumac is mentioned in the Mishna, in Sheviit 7:1. It grows abundantly in Israel in the North and around Jerusalem.
The name sumac is of Semitic origin, the root SMQ means 'red', which refers to the ripe red, sour berries of the sumac tree. The hebrew word for 'blushing' comes from the same root.
The leaves and branches of the sumac were widely used in tanneries to prepare hides. Tanning was considered an unpure craft that was looked upon with some disdain. To be honest, it was, and still is, a very smelly affair.
In the Mishnah (Baba Basrah 2.9) it is written; One must distance animal carcasses, and graves, and a tannery [haburseki], a place where hides are processed, fifty cubits from the city. The Rambam writes (Yad, Melakhim 1:6); whoever has worked at this trade for even one day is unfit for the high offices.
Oak Gall (Quercus infectoria) עפץ
There are three different species of oak, that commonly grow in the land of Israel.
The wood would have been used to burn and to build, the acorns for food (you can make an excellent coffee from the roasted acorns) and the leaves and galls as a source for tannins used both medicinally and for creating ink to write scrolls. (See also this blog on ink making with oak galls)
The Talmud lists the oak among the ten species of cedars and specifies 'oaks with acorns.' Other mentions among many: "And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up, against all the oaks of Bashan" (Isaiah 2: 13).
Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) כורכום
It is one the oldest domesticated plants. Cultivated in present-day Syria more than 5000 years ago from a cross between 2 or 3 wild species from the genus Carthamus.
In the Talmud koẓah, kurtama, and morika are used as synonyms for safflower. Besides mentioning safflower as a dye plant, the Talmud also gives quite a detailed account of its medicinal effect as a solution for..ehm...men's issue in the bedroom. (Tractate Gittin 70a)
Genesis 3:18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field'.
Hosea 10:8 The high places of wickedness[a] will be destroyed— it is the sin of Israel. Thorns and thistles will grow up and cover their altars.
On wool, safflower will only give a soft yellow (because you need to heat it to dye) but on silk and cotton, you can create a beautiful pink!
Weld (Reseda sp.) רכפה.
Different species of weld grow in the region of Israel. Reseda alba, Reseda alopecuros, Reseda decursiva, Reseda eremophila, and Reseda orientalis. All of the reseda species dye some shade of yellow and contain luteolin.
In the Mishnah, it says:
“And the species of dye, poa (madder) and richpa (weld) “.
Weld was used by the Romans as a dye, and fragments of yellow dyed wool have been found in Israel from the time it was under Roman ruling.
Pomegranate (Punica granatum) רימון
Pomegranates are first mentioned in The Bible when they are brought back by the spies to evidence the fruitfulness of the Land of Cnaan (Numbers 13:23).
Pomegranate rinds contain many tannins, and many shades can be achieved on cloth, hides, and even for ink making. We find a reference to the use of pomegranate skins for dyeing and in making in Mishnah (Shabbat 9:5).
The Rambam notes that pomegranate husks can be used to stop bleeding from open wounds, and that pomegranate juice is an antidote to diarrhea, to ease nausea, and for headaches following drunkenness.
What dye would you love to dye with from this list? Is there anything you have growing near your house?
Let me know in the comments!
Special thanks to Professor Zvi Koren and Baruch Sterman for their invaluable input, as always.
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