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I used to wear all-white tzitzis, as is the more "universal" custom.

Some time ago, I was convinced to start wearing a blue thread in them, to fulfill the commandment in the Torah to insert a psil techeiles.

Later, I concluded that we do not have a mesorah for techeiles and therefore the companies which manufacture techeiles nowadays do not have the "real deal" dye from the chilazon.

I switched back to using all-white strings.

Did I act properly? Is one allowed to revert to using all-white strings when he decided to put a blue thread in it as the Torah commands? One possible problem I see is that we never go down in holiness, but rather only up (maalah b'kedushah v'lo matah).

In my case I believed initially the blue dye was the real deal, but later concluded that it was not. This case does not deal with someone who believed, and continues to believe, the blue dye we have today is indeed from the chilazon, but yet wears all-white strings anyway for whatever reason. I believe such a question would have to be asked separately.

Notice: I'd like to avoid confrontation about rather the techeiles we have today (be it from the murex trunculus or the cuttlefish) being the real deal. That is not what this question is about; and trust me - I've read into the whole thing. I'm familiar with the arguments.

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    techielies is not a minhag ,you are either trying to fulfill a Torah obligation or not,if you beileve its the real thing or a safek then why would you switch back,and if you were concived that its not true techieleis at all then whats even the q?
    – sam
    Mar 21, 2017 at 2:41
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    Remember to include motivation in the post itself.
    – mevaqesh
    Mar 21, 2017 at 3:28
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    Not your motivation for wanting to revert back. Your motivation for asking — meaning: why is this at all a question that anyone would be interested in? (Answer: because [you say] t'cheles in tzitzis may count as a minhag nowadays and perhaps halachos could get more complicated when one changes his minhag and then reverts.) That's what you should edit in to the question.
    – msh210 ♦
    Mar 21, 2017 at 7:28
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    "It could be argued that techeiles is more of a minhag today." I don't see how that could be argued. @sam is totally right.
    – Double AA ♦
    Mar 21, 2017 at 11:59
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    I don't understand the question. You're assuming the currently available blues are wrong. Ok. So what could possibly be gained by wearing it? How is wearing a nonsense string a higher level of holiness? Maybe you'd have a question if you changed from thinking it was Vadai right to Safek right. But as currently posed there's nothing here.
    – Double AA ♦
    Apr 22, 2018 at 4:35

2 Answers 2

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A very similiar situation arises in the area of Chalav Stam and Chalav Yisroel. In Igros Moshe Yoreh Deah 1:47 Reb Moshe says it depends if the person was being makpid knowing that it was a chumra, in which case he would need to be matir neder. If he was doing it because he felt the Halacha was that it is assur and now he finds out it is not assur then he does not need to be matir neder. Your situation seems quite similiar. If you were wearing it as a chumra then hataras nedarim would be in order, if you did it because you thought the halacha was that it was required and now you became convinced that the halacha is different, then you do not need the hataras nedarim.

Here is the teshuva of Reb Moshe

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  • I'm not sure this logic applies here to an asei. If you realize later the milk was heter because the gezera doesn't apply, your until-now chumra is still a chumra that makes sense (one can always choose to be strict to avoid permitted things for some given chashash) and hence your chumra would persist until broken by hatarat nedarim. But if you realize later the dye was not tekhelet then your until-now chumra is just nonsense and doesn't persist since it never existed.
    – Double AA ♦
    Aug 2, 2021 at 16:19
  • That's why I included the part that if it's because you realize that the halacha is different, then you don't need hataras nedarim
    – Chatzkel
    Aug 2, 2021 at 16:31
  • But you said "If you were wearing it as a chumra then hataras nedarim would be in order"
    – Double AA ♦
    Aug 3, 2021 at 13:11
  • I added that in out of deference to the other answer that said that you need to be matir neder, although it can't be a chumra, theoretically it could be a minhag tov that would also need hataras nedarim
    – Chatzkel
    Aug 3, 2021 at 13:22
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Yes. Be mattir neder first just in case, the same as any other custom that a person takes on and then wants to abandon.

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    Thanks for your answer! Do you have a source?
    – andrewmh20
    Mar 26, 2017 at 21:12
  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.
    – msh210 ♦
    Apr 21, 2018 at 19:19

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