The color blue is a unique color within the spectrum of Judaism. In the Torah, the Israelites were commanded to put fringes, tzitzit, on the four corners of their garments and to weave within these fringes a “twisted thread of blue (tekhelet)”. The reason why blue is used on the fringe (tzitzit) is to help remind us to do the commandments. Many items in the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary in the wilderness, such as the menorah, many of the vessels, and the Ark of the Covenant, were covered with blue cloth when transported from place to place and worn even on the High Priest’s clothing.
Mystical Biblical Blue
In ancient tradition the Holiest shade of blue was revealed on the Day of Atonement [Yom Kippur] when the Al-mighty blessed the waters, the sky and the universe. And most mystically, it was in the vision of the Al-mighty that Moses and the elders saw. “Under His feet was the likeness of sapphire [deep blue] brickwork, and it was like the essence of the heaven in purity” [Ex 24:10]. “Under His feet was the likeness of sapphire brickwork.” “You will hearken” when you see the blue fringe. “You will sanctify” when you use this color on the High Priest’s garment and other holy places, and “you will be ensnared” if you focus on this color in meditation and visions. The gematria of the word “blue” [in Hebrew, 'techelet'] [see Ex. 24:6] is the same as the gematria of the word “you would hearken [in Hebrew, 'shematem]” [Gen 42:22]. It is also the gematria of “and sanctify them [[in Hebrew, 'vekidashtam']” Ex 19:20] and “you shall be ensnared [in Hebrew, 'tinakesh']” [Deut 12:30].
In visions and the most mystical dealings we always seek the revelation of God, which is formless, and singular. Staring at this colour aids in mediation, bringing us a glimpse of the “pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity”, which is a likeness of the Throne of God. (The Hebrew word for glory.) In the case of blue, we find that although it is found in so many holy places, when it comes to dreams and visions we are strictly warned, “All colors in visions are a good omen except for the color blue. It is the low color, and much ardent prayer must be exercised to avoid it.”
Even in most holy visions, blue is the lower color or sick color in visions. How can blue be holy and also be called low and sick? The human eye cannot see the actual light, but when we bend the light through a prism we see the spectrum of its colors. There is one light and seven colors. Blue is the lowest color on the spectrum. Blue reminds us of the ocean and of the sky. These are two elements that we cannot live without. But they are also two elements that we cannot live in.
In ancient days, the blue thread was made from a dye extracted from a Mediterranean snail called the chilazon. “Blue is the color of the sea, and fish live in the sea, and fish never close their eyes. So this color must provide protection from the ‘evil eye.’ (This also is why fish are a common motif in jewelry and artwork.) Thus reason why some people paint blue on gravestones and their homes is because they see this to be “protection from the evil eye.” Blue is also commonly found painted on the gravestones of righteous people in the mystical city of Tzefat. Also some homes there are painted blue.
Maimonides claimed that this blue was the colour of “the clear noonday sky”; Rashi, the colour of the evening sky. According to several rabbinic sages, blue is the colour of God’s Glory.
Further references: [Numbers 15:38. Exodus 24:10; Ezekiel 1:26 Numbers 4:6-12]
January 2011: An international research team states it has found the world’s oldest winery in and Armenian cave, in a paper published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Archaeological Science. “It’s the oldest proven case of documented and dedicated wine production, stretching back the horizons of this important development by thousands of years,” stated Gregory Areshian, co-director of the excavation and assistant director of the University of California Los Angeles’s Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.
Areshian stated that clay pots and vats discovered at a sprawling cave system in southern Armenia near the border with Iran shows signs of an organized effort to press and distill grapes during the Copper Age, about 6,000 years ago. The roof of the cave had collapsed long ago, sealing in the rudimentary winery and preserving the remnants under an airtight layer of rock and other debris, leading to the remarkable find. Areshian stated that recent excavation at the cave has shown that it was once an important cemetery site, and that the production of wine indicated a complex belief system in which the drink was probably incorporated into funeral ceremonies.
The team, led by Hans Barnard from UCLA, found a simple wine press, vats with residue, remnants of grape vines and seeds, and a small cup that might have been used to sample the goods. The press and wide shallow vat are similar to foot-stomping type equipment used by people throughout the region even up into the 19th century. The wine might have tasted similar to modern vintages as well. Botanists examining the find say it was the species Vitis vinifera, the same one used to produce the vast majority of wine today.
Areshian states the wine would be comparable to a modern unfiltered red wine, and may have had a similar taste to a merlot. He says that he would like to make a recreation of the whole press and assembly to make wine using local heritage grape varietals, just to sample it and see what challenges the Bronze-age vintners may have faced.
Before this find, Areshian stated, the oldest known winery was in Israel, and dated to 1650 BC. “This find shows that there was a high degree of agriculture and horticultural skill even back in 4,000 BC,” states Areshian. “Producing this wine would have been high technology of the time incorporating detailed knowledge of watering cycles, pruning the vines, how to deal with pests and the fermentation process itself, which is more complex than brewing beer.”
The find is an important link in the development of wine culture throughout the region, states Dr. Patrick McGovern, a senior research scientist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum. It fits with the first evidence of grape domestication a thousand years earlier, and the later widespread wine distribution and consumption across the Caucasus and Mediterranean.
“99% of the wine we drink today stems from that earliest grapevine domestication event that now seems clearly to have taken place in that region,” stated McGovern, author of Uncorking the Past, a history of ancient wine-making. Not much is known about the people who distilled and drank the wine. But the studies authors say it’s clear that it was probably meant for ceremonial purposes, and not for getting drunk on. McGovern stated, growing grains and fruits for producing and drinking alcohol is an important spark that led to trade and development of agriculture in many different cultures.
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Following years of devastation under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and the ensuing American invasion of Iraq, World Monuments Fund conservationist Jeff Allen told The New York Times this that archeologists are beginning to work on ancient Babylonian sites and possibly restore some of them.
Archaeologists are hoping to save the ruins of the Biblical era Tower of Babel, located in Iraq, and learn how it was built before it crumbled under the weight of confusion.
The Bible relates that their effort turned to confusion and that the tower became a self-destructive effort, both physically and morally. No one has broached the idea of reproducing the Tower of Babel, which the Creator destroyed because of the generation’s attempt to compete with Him, “make a name for ourselves,” and build a tower to the skies while everyone in the world began to speak one language.
As a first step, experts are working on a plan to prevent further deterioration of the mud-brick ruins, which were damaged by Hussein’s personal building projects.
A mound of mud-brick buildings is all that remains of the ancient city in Babylon where the Tower was being built, whose foundations appear to be a square of earthen embankments, measuring 300 feet on each side.
“All this is unexcavated. There is great potential at this site. You could excavate the street plan of the entire city,” stated Allen.
King Nebuchadnezzar II, who reigned nearly 2,600 years ago, tried to rebuild the Tower of Babel to a height of almost 300 feet.
It is not clear whether the original building was actually a “tower,” an English translation of the Hebrew term, or was a “ziggurat,” a stepped pyramid that was common at the time. Building materials consisted of mud and brick because stone was not readily available.
Nebuchadnezzar described how “gold, silver and precious stones from the mountain and from the sea were liberally set into the foundations” and how to rebuild it he called on “various peoples of the Empire, from north and south, from mountains and the coasts.”
The rebuilt tower also began to crumble, but a Greek historian, visiting the site 2,570 years ago, wrote, “It has a solid central tower, one furlong square, with a second erected on top of it and then a third, and so on up to eight. All eight towers can be climbed by a spiral way running around the outside, and about halfway up there are seats for those who make the journey to rest on.”
