Study Menachot folio 43A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
that was 40 days old. He would soak the tekhelet wool in this solution from night until morning. If its color would fade [ipparad ḥazutei], the tekhelet wool was determined to be unfit, as it was not dyed with tekhelet derived from a ḥilazon. If its color would not fade, the tekhelet wool was d
And Rav Adda said before Rava in the name of Rav Avira: One brings hard [arkesa] leavened barley dough and bakes the tekhelet wool in it. If the color of the tekhelet wool changes for the better, meaning that the process intensifies the color of the tekhelet wool, then it is fit. If the color of
The Talmud explains the baraita: What does it mean when it says: There is no reliable method of testing tekhelet wool? It means that there is no way to test whether it was dyed for the sake of the mitzva or for the purpose of testing the dye.
The Talmud relates that Mar, a Sage from Mashkhei, brought tekhelet wool in the years when Rav Aḥai was a preeminent Sage. They tested it in the manner described by Rav Yitzḥak, son of Rav Yehuda, and its color faded. They then tested it in the manner described by Rav Adda and the color changed fo
The rabbis thought that the tekhelet wool should be deemed unfit because it did not pass the first test. Rav Aḥai said to them: But how could it be that this wool is not tekhelet, as it failed one of the tests, and is also not indigo, as it passed the other? This is impossible, because it must be