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Dr Alice Skelton is a Lecturer of Developmental Psychology at Sussex University whose PhD culminated as a result of her research on Infant Colour Perception (according to her CV posted at https://aeskelton.wixsite.com/my-site/resume). Her Paper characterised ‘colour perception and cognition in the first year of life’.
In a fascinating
piece on the BBC’s website (https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/how-toddlers-learn-colours/zmrg8p3),
she provides a timeline of how babies view colours and punctures the myth that at
birth, they are only able to see the world through a monochrome filter.
She writes,
“If at birth you show
a baby a very bright red and white light, they’ll look for longer at the red light
than the white. So, we know they can tell
those two colours apart.”
·
After a week, “on average, they can see very intense red or green colours,”
·
two months – “bluish colours and be able to tell red and green colours
apart,”
·
three months – “yellowish colours and differentiate between yellow and
blue,”
·
six months the colour an object should be, for example,
“that a strawberry
is red,”
·
after a year, “more washed-out colours, not just the bright ones.”
She is underscoring
something that we already know.
From the moment
we leave the womb and as soon as our eyes start to focus, they are drawn to colour. This fascination stays with us throughout our
lives. Who cannot be awestruck by the sight
of a stunning red and orange sky at dusk or a turquoise blue ocean lapping against
a sandy beach populated by palm trees? The
majesty of a ruby, emerald or sapphire ring?
We all have
our favourite colours.
Some like
green, others pink, blue, yellow, purple and wear outfits that demonstrate their
love of a particular shade of said colour.
If I asked you to name your favourite one, I don’t think it would take you
too long to respond.
Is there a
single colour that defines our nation and if this is the case, which one is it and
why?
You might
answer that it’s white. After all, it adorns
our weekly Shabbat tables and features predominantly in our Synagogues over the
High Holy Days. When we reach the end of
our lives, we are dressed in a white shroud before burial.
For many of
our co-religionists, their colour of choice is black. That’s fine too. But returning to my original question. Are either of these colours representative of
Judaism? Mishpatim suggests an answer that
you may find surprising.
Towards the
end of the Parasha, Gd instructed Moshe, Aharon and his two eldest sons, Nadav and
Avihu, along with seventy elders, to ascend Sinai. There they saw ‘a vision of the Gd of Israel and beneath
his feet was the likeness of sapphire (or Lapis Lazuli according to Rabbi Sacks and others) brickwork/pavement as clear as
the sky itself.’ (Shemot
24.10)
The prophet
Yechezkel, in his first vision, describes the Merkava (Chariot) that we read about
in the Haftarah on the first day of Shavuot, the anniversary of the giving of the
Torah.
He saw the
winged beings and above them was a ‘a film with the appearance of a sapphire
which took the form of a throne, upon which was the form with the appearance of
a man from whom there emanated fire which resembled a rainbow…it was the form of
the Glory of the Lord.’
From these
two descriptions, we note that Gd’s throne and its environs are the colour of sapphire.
Our Rabbis
passed down the mesorah/tradition that both sets of the luchot/tablets were formed
from sapphire. The Tosafot Yom Tov commenting
on Pirkei Avot 5.6 writes that the first set which were given by Gd originated from
heaven (and the Midrash Plia suggests that these were taken from the area of His
throne) and the second (agreeing with Rashi) who writes (commenting on Shemot 34.1)
that when Gd commanded Moshe to hew the second set of tablets which would be “like the first…which you broke”, He showed him a sapphire quarry which
was situated below his tent.
Is this dual
use of blue a mere coincidence?
The Torah is replete with examples of the significance of this colour which is given the name ‘Tekhelet’ and is mentioned 49 times in The Tanach.
Aharon, the
first Kohen Gadol/High Priest wears a turquoise robe which includes woven pomegranates
in the same colour along with the ribbons that fit through slits in his turban to
keep it in place.
Tekhelet features
predominantly in the Mishkan’s/Tabernacles coverings and, of course, we read about
the thread of blue (Ptil Tekhelet) that to this day is included in the strings of
our Tzitzit (although I don’t ascribe to the modern tradition of wearing such a
pair). The Menorah, Altar and service vessels
were covered with blue cloths (topped with animal skins).
We read about
the mitzvah of wearing Tzitzit twice a day as part of the Shema prayer. It is known as one of the Edot – the category
of mitzvot whose purpose is to act as ‘testimony’ to Gd, in the same way that Shabbat
testifies that Gd created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. The Ptil-Tekhelet is meant to remind us of the
sky. When we look at our Tzitiziyot, they
remind us of Gd in heaven, especially if they include a blue-coloured string.
The skill
in being able to locate the origin of the dye that produced the Tekhelet colour
was lost over 1000 years ago and there is a view that the reason why we use blue
stripes on a tallit is to replicate the original blue string in a pair of Tzitzit.
Skipping to
our present era, the origins of the Israeli flag date back to 1891 when a Lithuanian-born
Rabbi by the name of Jacob Baruch Askowith, living in Boston, Massachusetts, designed
a flag with his son which he called ‘The Flag of Judah’. This was for a local Jewish organisation known
as the Bnei’ Tzion Education Society. It
was displayed in their hall at a meeting on 20th July.
This unbroken
connection between our people and the colour blue has taken us on a journey from
Sinai to the present era. It is our
colour.
A few days
ago, one of my students told me about a software program that allows the user to
explore space and learn about the universe.
You can ‘travel’ to planets and galaxies both in our solar system and beyond. The graphics are extraordinary.
Whilst playing
around with it, I was suddenly struck by the colour of our own planet. It is as though Gd designed it to mirror His own
Kingdom. As we read in Bereshit – Gd created
us in His image and by extension, the earth that we inhabit shares the same colour
as the throne he ‘sits’ upon.
Could it be
that Gd deliberately did this to remind us of His domain, so that by looking at
the sky in our world, we can have an idea of His realm? These are questions that are impossible to answer
(or maybe we find out when we pass away).
One colour,
on a thin string in numerous iterations connects our present, with our past and
no doubt, our future. From Mount Sinai in
2448 to the flags flying both in Israel and around the world in 5784.
I have one
last question to pose. Since forever, I have
had a favourite colour.
Can you guess
what it is?
Shavuah Tov.
