Hot answers tagged color
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אין צביעה באוכלין -- There is no [prohibition of] dyeing with respect to food.
Some relevant info from here:
Is one permitted to add food coloring to food on Shabbos?
One of the 39 prohibited labors on Shabbos is צובע or Coloring because in the process of the building of the Mishkan we find that they would dye wool that was used for making the ...
8
Keset HaSofer 21:14 rules that you can't put ground ivory into the tefillin paint as it is not from a kosher animal (an elephant). Accordingly, it would seem that one would need to make sure to use paint that has a certification ensuring that all ingredients are from kosher species.
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R' Hirsch (e.g. in the long comment at the end of Ex. 25:1-8) takes the four types of thread used in Mishkan construction to represent four basic aspects of life that we humans need to strive to perfect within ourselves and unify in the service of God:
Linen, from the flax plant = Vegetative - consumption and reproduction
Wool died red with worm blood = ...
7
I am going to deal with the bleeding first.
Shulhan Arukh O"H 320:20
There is an opinion who holds that
when eating berries and other dyeing
fruits one must take care not to touch
one’s clothes or a cloth with
fruit-colored hands, but if one colors
bread with the coloring liquid it is
not a problem because there is no
prohibition to color ...
7
Although Shulchan Aruch YD 182:6 forbids a man to do so, placing it in the category of "women's dress", he continues to forbid looking in a mirror as well.
A parenthetical notation (Rema?)is made following the mirror halacha sending you to YD 156 were the Rema quotes those who say that this law is dependant on whether men customarily look in a mirror or if ...
7
From Rabbi Hershel Schachter's YUTorah lecture on the topic:
The stripes are reminiscent of the techeilet (blue string) that everyone used to wear; depending on the concentration of the dye, you could a color anywhere from light blue to near-black; hence some people have blue stripes, some have black.
I believe there are also kabbalistic meanings behind ...
7
The Kaf Hachaim (9:15) brings many sources and reasons why the Talit itself should be completely white (although he says black stripes at the bottom do not invalidate this, since we look at the majority of the Talit).
A couple of the reasons he brings:
Shulchan Aruch says that the Tzitzit should be the same color as the garment, since the strings are ...
7
It says in the Rambam and Rashi that the strings of a Tallis have to be the same color as the Tallis itself.
Tosfos writes that there is no obligation to do so, and the color of the strings does not have to be the same as that of the Tallis. The Halacha is like this opinion. Moreover, the custom in the Ashkenazi world is to make the strings white even when ...
7
Even if the threads are fairly fine (and we don't know if they were), two colors plied together still looks like two colors, not the combined color. Thread is not like paint. Now even if at the usual viewing distance most people would see it as the combined color, it would not look that way close up, like to the kohein wearing the garment or tending to the ...
7
Zohar (Bereishis 18b and in other places) states that the rainbow has three colors, חוור סומק וירוק - white (or pale), red and green.
In Bereishis it associates these three colors with Gavriel, Michael and Raphael. Elsewhere (Bamidbar 215a) it associates them with the three Avos. In one of the maamarim (chassidic discourses) of R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi, he ...
7
The Mishna was referring to specific sects at the time.
If we had solid reason to believe today that a person's dress indicated serious rifts with mainstream Jewish theology, we'd think twice about having them lead prayers (and, as was done then, apply poetic license in how to recite the texts). I don't really see that as an issue now.
7
Pesachim 54A says the rainbow was created on the sixth day:
Ten things were created on the eve of the Sabbath at twilight. These are they: the well, the manna, the rainbow, the writing and the writing instrument[s], the Tables, the sepulchre of Moses, the cave in which Moses and Elijah stood, the opening of the ass's mouth, and the opening of the earth's ...
6
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein allowed the photo grey lenses, though others disagree.
For more on the theory behind this, see this excellent article from the Star-K's Rabbi Mordechai Frankel (based on the ruling of Rabbi Moshe Heinemann). It discusses the related question of diapers that change color when wet.
6
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan quotes Kabbalistic sources that he was using meditation "to direct spiritual energy and actually to change the genetic structure of the sheep ... manipulating some of the highest spiritual forces that exist." Okay, as I'm neither a Kabbalist nor a bioengineer, I'll take his word for it ...
The simplest way to read the whole story (as I ...
6
In a midrash: Why did he repeat? Esav found Yaakov preparing lentils for his father in a dish, and told him "feed me" [=hal'iteni na min haadom]. He said, "wait, I'll prepare you another dish. I prepared this one for my father and don't want to cancel my mitzva. But if you're willing to sell your birthright, I'll give you my father's dish, which I'm ...
6
There are traditional sources (e.g. the Talmud discusses shoelaces) that yes, red is flashier and perhaps more attractive. That doesn't mean it's prohibited.
If you look up "red clothing" in the index to the Igrot Moshe, you'll find the following discussion by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein:
A style of clothing can be prohibited if it's just plain inappropriate. ...
6
Here's a quote from Halacha for Today (Question 260):
Q: Could you tell me if it is permissible for a man to dye his hair?
A: A man may not dye his hair if doing so for beauty or to hide white hair etc. as this is a biblical transgression of "Lo Tilbash" not to wear (or otherwise imitate) the ways of the opposite gender. This includes dying hair, ...
6
One of the answers the Mizrachi to Rashi on Bereshit 30:39 brings is that the sticks were just used to cover up the miracle. The angel appeared to Yaakov and showed him that all the animals would be born with the pattern that would benefit Yaakov. Yaakov then used to sticks to hide the miracle.
(The Mizrachi is addressing another issue, which is how could ...
6
It is a halacha l'Moshe miSinai that the r'tzu'os must be black (M'nachos 35a), and this is a requirement for valid t'fillin. The straps must be re-blackened if the paint becomes scratched or abraded (Mishna B'rura 33:19). Abrasions are especially common (if not readily noticeable) in the vicinity of the knot of the shel yad, and special attention should be ...
5
The Shaalos U'Teshuvos Minchas Shlomo (Chelek 2 Siman 82 Ois 7) discusses whether a man may have plastic surgery when it is being done due to discomfort rather than for beautification. For example if his nose is very unusual. The Minchas Shlomo writes that it is allowed. In addition he writes that for this reason it is permitted to dye or pluck white hairs ...
5
Always keep one of those handy tefillin paint pens in your outer tefillin bag. Check them once a month for need of paint on erev Shabbos and repaint accordingly.
The only way to prevent retzu'os from ever needing to be repainted or replaced is to not wear your tefillin. Even then, due to lack of contact with your natural skin lipids they would become hard ...
5
According to the Cartoon guide to Genetics, when the goats saw the reeds, they were predisposed to mate with other goats that had similar characteristics, causing an increase in the population of that type of animal. It also brings up the idea of this being an example of recessive genes.
5
Me'am Loez on this parsha actually talks about it.
Edit: After chasing down the source (יפ"ת דתכ"ב), I found the (hopefully) original in Medrash Rabbah.
This photo is from Me'am Loez.
Quick translation:
There was a story with a black man who was married to a black woman, and they had a white son. He came to Rabbeinu Hakadosh and said, "this is ...
5
The short answer is yes there is room for leniency, but as always (and especially in something like this), a competent halachic authority should be consulted.
As I heard it from a rabbi who was offering a review shiur on the subject: The original practice was for a woman to wear libunim, freshly-laundered clothes. The idea was that often garments had all ...
5
Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 53:18) makes it clear that this is only because of the concern that he is an apikores.
The Mishnah Brurah there writes that if he immediately gives an explanation for why he did it, he can be the shliach tzibur.
Also, the Tiferes Yisrael (ch. 4 note 52) writes that it is only for that prayer that he doesn't get to be the shliach ...
4
This is discussed in Mesechet Makkot (20b approximately) - I believe in Rashi or Tosafot if not the Gemara's text itself - in the context of destroying your beard/hair. From a cursory glance, it's considered to be a violation of that commandment and if you were to do so, you would be liable to receive lashes, provided a correct warning and corroborated ...
4
They are slow to answer their email and sometimes hard to reach by phone. Ptil Tekhelet makes batches periodically and every batch comes out a slightly different shade of techeles. I don't think your scrap of fabric is such solid proof. Dyeing results vary, and just as the shade of techeles you get nowadays from Ptil Tehkelet varies from one batch to the ...
4
He says (Hil. Tzitzis 2:8) that in that case you can make the "white" strings any color except black, because that's too similar in color to techeles. (Kesef Mishneh there adds that according to this, using the actual color of techeles - whether the real stuff, or indigo - would also be no good.)
4
To answer your first question, apparently the stripes (like in a barcode) contain information if one knows how to read them, like place of origin and manufacturer. See page 2 of this interview, which mentions this fact in passing.
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If you ever look at sfarim that are commonly opened to specific sections (like a siddur), you'll notice that there are black lines around those pages that are more commonly used (you could, for example, land almost exactly on the last page of Shacharis). When the pages are colored, you don't see those lines.
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