Indigo

[I, Brian]

This may sound an odd question, but does 'indigo' - as in the colour of the rainbow - have any significance at all in Judaism?

Is the word used for the colour connectively linguistically to any significant theological aspect of Judaism?

Odd question, I know.

[bananabrain]

not necessarily as in the colour indigo - the colour "techelet" has a deep, deep significance. it is often mistranslated as "indigo". see http://www.tekhelet.com/ for details.

b'shalom

bananabrain

[I, Brian]

Superb! I had a funny feeling that an argument could be made of spiritual significance.

[bananabrain]

yes, but what made you ask?

b'shalom

bananabrain

[I, Brian]

Simply a character name in a possible novel - I know that blue and purple in themselves have deep significance - indigo seems like it could be relatively ambiguous enough to be convincing.

Still got to finish my other works first.

[pohaikawahine]

I'm going back over old posts to learn more about the discussion on this forum and ran into this one on the color "indigo". This color is also associated with the color made called "woad" of the Arthurian Tales. Each color in the spectrum of the rainbow has its own frequency and the frequency of "indigo" or "purple" is associated with the frequency needed to open the third eye .... which is why is is often associated with "royalty" since many royalty took and kept sacred wisdom for personal power and genealogy. In Hawaii it is associated with the island of Kauai .... when you line up the seven islands and superimpose a human body on them, this is the location of the third eye .... it is the island known for the most powerful priests or kahuna's .... also in one of our legends when Pele, the volcanoe goddess, goes to find her sister and lover she falls into a deep sleep and goes to the island of Kauai .... etc. I read the web site on the making of "tekhelet" and it is very fascinating. aloha nui, pohaikawahine

[I, Brian]

Purple was actually one of the most difficult and expensive dyes to produce, hence the association with royalty. Constantinople used to keep a strictly controlled market on production for European consumption.

[InLove]

Hi, Peace,

If my memory serves me, wasn't the businesswoman Lydia of the New Testament accounts (Acts, I think, may be where we first meet her) called a "maker of purple?" (I am thinking that her name was "Dorcas" in Greek, but I may be mixing up my stories.) I think that later, she is raised from the dead. Anyway, she became a Christian and contributed much to the spreading of the Gospel.

I have read somewhere that the "royal purple" referred to in regard to this dyemaker would actually be called "crimson". Don't know how true this is, but I have done a bit of dyemaking and painting in my time, and I know that indigo is a stormy sort of blue shade, and if crimson is a deep red, when we mix them, of course we get purple. Just thinking....in many, many depictions of Christ, his outer garment is often one of these shades.

Edited to add: Ummm...I just realized I am on the Judaism board. I considered deleting the post, but since we are discussing historical significance as well as spiritual, I think I will leave it here. Hope no one minds--.

InPeace,
InLove

[florian]

Indigo originally was a plant extract it is now produced artificially and is the dye used in blue jeans .it is quite distinct from the royal purple (purpura)of the ancients which came in a variety of shades This was an extract from the murex sea-snail also known as 'Phoenician purple' 'Scarlet 'etc and was the dye used for Roman Emperors and officials. 'It may seem odd that this is called 'blue' in Jewish sources and 'purple' or 'red' in Greek and Roman texts but there were different ways of preparing this , several species of snail .Also 'colour words' in Greek and Latin have a distinctly different aspect to the ways we have of describing colours in English. They do not seem to just describe a distinct hue but other effects such as 'shiny' 'clear''dusty' and other surface and texture qualities .

The various dyed items of the tabernacle specified in Exodus 25 &26 are described in the KJV as 'blue purple and scarlet' these represent the following Hebrew words

1)'blue' =heb.'keleth' = violet thread violet stuff or fabric

2) 'purple' =heb.'argaman' =foreign word purple, red-purple

3)'scarlet' =heb.'shaniy'= the insect ‘coccus ilicis’, the dried body of the female yielding colouring matter from which is made the dye used for cloth to colour it scarlet or crimson

The blue fringes of the garments of Numbers 15.38 are indentified with the blue threads in the prayer shawl and have been explained as symbolising the Sapphire of the heavens and the divine throne .The Talmud is very specific about the dye and the threads ."Because the blue resembles sapphire, and the Tablets were of sapphire, so to gaze upon the blue threads would be a reminder of that which is inscribed on the Tablets and a reminder to fulfill what is written there."

[florian]

I cant figure out how to edit/correct my post so I meant t'keleth not 'keleth'

[I, Brian]

Thanks for the references, Florian - much appreciated.