Over Pesach break (Passover break), we decided to take a road trip. The first day we went up to Haifa to see the beautiful
Baha'i gardens and the
shrine of the Bab.
Near there, we went to a beach resort (Hof Dor) where there was a museum for Tel Dor, a mound with all sorts of ruins there found at the bottom of the sea.
However, we went for a special presentation on
Tekhelet, a blue dye they use on tassels on Jewish garments. This dye is mentioned 48 times in the Tanakh (Jewish Bible). The interesting thing is that not just any blue dye can be used. The Tanakh is very clear about specific requirements that the dye must meet. Thus, not all Jews wear this blue thread on their
Tzitzit. In this presentation they discussed how it was recently found that the dye from certain snails off of the beach in Hof Dor meet all the requirements listed in the Tanakh. There is a great push for this practice to resume in Jewish tradition because it is a commandment in the Torah: ""Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, that they shall make themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and they shall put on the corner fringe a blue (tekhelet) thread." So, our tour was educational as well as religiously inclined. They discussed all sorts of stuff including its chemistry, so naturally I was enthralled.
After the discussion they took us snorkeling to find the snails. They quickly ran out of snorkeling equipment, so I just waded through the water and looked for them. I immediately found more than 5... most were empty or had hermit crabs in them.
However, one of them had a snail! He was hiding though, so you can only see its little protective plug on the hole.
Anabelle didn't find many snails, but made a few new friends.
After snorkeling they let us use the purified chemicals to dye some wool, while they read some of the scriptures to us. Anabelle had a blast during this small "chemistry" experiment.
We ended the day at Burger King, enjoying special Pesach hamburgers, complete with unleavened buns...
Over Pesach break (Passover break), we decided to take a road trip. The first day we went up to Haifa to see the beautiful Baha'i gardens and the shrine of the Bab.
Near there, we went to a beach resort (Hof Dor) where there was a museum for Tel Dor, a mound with all sorts of ruins there found at the bottom of the sea. 
However, we went for a special presentation on Tekhelet, a blue dye they use on tassels on Jewish garments. This dye is mentioned 48 times in the Tanakh (Jewish Bible). The interesting thing is that not just any blue dye can be used. The Tanakh is very clear about specific requirements that the dye must meet. Thus, not all Jews wear this blue thread on their Tzitzit. In this presentation they discussed how it was recently found that the dye from certain snails off of the beach in Hof Dor meet all the requirements listed in the Tanakh. There is a great push for this practice to resume in Jewish tradition because it is a commandment in the Torah: ""Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, that they shall make themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and they shall put on the corner fringe a blue (tekhelet) thread." So, our tour was educational as well as religiously inclined. They discussed all sorts of stuff including its chemistry, so naturally I was enthralled. 
After the discussion they took us snorkeling to find the snails. They quickly ran out of snorkeling equipment, so I just waded through the water and looked for them. I immediately found more than 5... most were empty or had hermit crabs in them. 
However, one of them had a snail! He was hiding though, so you can only see its little protective plug on the hole.
Anabelle didn't find many snails, but made a few new friends.
After snorkeling they let us use the purified chemicals to dye some wool, while they read some of the scriptures to us. Anabelle had a blast during this small "chemistry" experiment.
We ended the day at Burger King, enjoying special Pesach hamburgers, complete with unleavened buns...
1 comment:
Fun times!!! Thanks for sharing.
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