Does anyone know if HaRav HaGaon Asher Weiss wears Techelet?
Also, why or why not?
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1Is this the same person? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osher_Weiss– aviJan 5, 2012 at 16:24
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Some hints for places to look. mhcny.org/parasha/1037.pdf– aviJan 5, 2012 at 16:29
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@avi yes this is that person– Hacham GabrielJan 5, 2012 at 16:39
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1Here is a list of audio lectures by Rav Weiss about Tzitzis. I must confess I did not listen to them all the way through and what I did hear did not mention Tachelet, but I still thought they might be interesting in this context. Enjoy. Rabbi Asher Weiss on TzitTzit Go to link, go to Bamidbar, Shlach, and there you will find the list of shiurim.– morah hochmanJan 10, 2012 at 19:27
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Although the question was already answered, why do you care to know if he does?– YehoshuaSep 22, 2012 at 19:24
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3 Answers
He does not. (My Brother In Law learned in his Yeshiva).
He does not wear techelet as he is not sure that the murex trunculus is the chilazon of the techelet. He does admit here that the chilazon is a snail.
He also says he doesn’t oppose anyone from wearing techelet as he explains there is no downside to wearing the murex trunculus.
He just thinks he has no obligation to wear it as there is a safek in his mind. He doesn't apply the concept of safek d’oraita l’chumrah even when there is a safek whether you did the mitzvah or not unlike the Shulchan Aruch.
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1More precisely he feels strongly the murex is not the chilazon, not that he's unsure– robevJan 29 at 10:16
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He says we probably won’t know for sure until Mashiach in the video. He apparently doesn’t accept any archeological evidence and he has not seen the direct naming of the murex as the chilazon in the Yerushalmi and some acharonim. Somewhere who spoke to him told me that he feels much softer on the issue than when he wrote the teshuvah but he won’t change his psak although he says there is no downside to wear it. Jan 29 at 11:55
He does not. He feels that archaeology cannot change a halacha and therefore we need not concern ourselves with the shaila. See Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz here who address this: http://www.yutorah.org/sidebar/lecture.cfm/857737/rabbi-aryeh-lebowitz/ten-minute-halacha-why-do-so-many-gedolim-still-not-wear-techeiles-/
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2The recording of his I've heard isn't quite that, it's that the archeology is inconclusive; techeles was a rare thing, so the common murex factories are probably something else, such as argaman. In essence, we are searching under the lamppost.– ShalomJan 25, 2018 at 0:48
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@Shalom I heard a similar idea in the name of Rav Moshe Heinemann here. He added that the murex blue or purple was extremely expensive, so it's not surprising that the gemara suggested indigo as the cheap alternative, not murex.– MichoelRJan 29 at 13:58
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@Shalom Techelet was a expensive commodity, but not a rare thing so that it would not come from an organised production. The Gemara clearly says the chachamim prefered to get their techelet from the city of Luz, but that implies there were other sources. Morderchai was dressed in techelet by the Persian king, so the gentile kings had access to techelet. Additionlly, we know the Roman emperors limited and finally banned any trading of murex related products which included our argaman and techelet. Jul 11 at 4:06
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@GershomMenachem you are welcome to disagree, but please don't shoot the messenger -- I'm quoting an mp3 of his. He says specifically that Mordechai shows that it was very rare and reserved for royalty (at least in large quantities).– ShalomJul 12 at 8:09