JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

tury, the Salonika dye industry declined, along with weaving,
mainly as a result of competition from Venice and Ancona.
Jews of *Brest-Litovsk are often mentioned as experts in manufacture
in Poland and Lithuania. Responsa literature contains
numerous accounts of the craft of dyeing, the tools employed,
and the various methods used in the preparation of dyes.
There are descriptions of a dyeing shop where the work was
carried out (Responsa of Abraham, the son of Maimonides,
no. 117); of a dye-pit (ibid., no. 101); and of barrels in which
wool was dyed (Responsa of Samuel b. Moses di Medina, ḥM
462). Documents also mention dyers who were expert in a
given color: Samāk, the expert in preparing dyes from the sumac
shrub; quirmizini, the expert in crimson, etc.
Modern Times
In the Near East, the Jews continued to practice this profession
during the 19th century. The surname Zebag (dyer), still
widespread among Oriental Jews, is evidence of the fact. In
Damascus in the middle of the 19th century, 70 of the 5,000
Jews were dyers. Jews also played an important part in the
development of dye ingredients in the Americas. Planting of
indigo was introduced in Georgia during the 17th century and
Moses *Lindo from London invested large sums in the cultivation
of indigo in South Carolina in 1756. The development
of modern chemistry and the *chemical industry, in which
Jewish scientists and entrepreneurs played a considerable role,
brought to a close the traditional methods in the manufacture
of dyes and dyeing.
Bibliography: Demsky, in: IEJ, 16 (1966); G. Caro, Sozialund
Wirtschaftsgeschichte der Juden, 2 vols. (1908–20), index, s.v.
Farben; R. Strauss, Die Juden im Koenigreich Sizilien … (1910), 66ff.;
A.S. Hershberg, Ḥayyei ha-Tarbut be-Yisrael bi-Tekufat ha-Mishnah
ve-ha-Talmud, 1 (1924), 207–316; I.S. Emmanuel, Histoire de l’industrie
des tissus des Israelites de Salonique (1935), 16ff.; J. Starr, in: Byzantinisch-neugriechische
Jahrbuecher, 12 (1936), 42–49; Ashtor, Toledot,
1 (1944), 176ff.; R.S. Lopez, in: Speculum, 20 (1945), 23f. (Eng.); Roth,
Italy, index; J.R. Marcus, Early American Jewry, 2 vols. (1951–53), index,
s.v. Dyeing Industry, Indigo; S. Avitsur, in: Sefunot, 6 (1962), 58ff.;
Hirschberg, Afrikah, 1 (1965), 200ff.; M. Wischnitzer, History of Jewish
Crafts and Guilds (1965), 127ff., 203f., and index; S.D. Goitein, Mediterranean
Society, 1 (1967), index.
DYE PLANTS. The dye materials that were used in ancient
times were many and varied and were obtained from various
mineral, plant, and animal sources. The last gave fast
and beautiful colors, but these were so costly that only the
wealthy could afford them. Of these the most famous were
the “blue and purple and scarlet” mentioned frequently in
the Bible in connection with the construction of the Sanctuary
and the Temple (see *Crimson, *Tekhelet). In mishnaic
times cheaper dyes were obtained from such common plants
as the carob and the sumac (og; Tosef. Shev. 5:7). Green walnut
and pomegranate shells were used to produce a brownblack
dye (Shev. 7:3).
In the Bible three plants are mentioned from which dye
was obtained: karkom (*saffron), kofer (*henna), and pu’ah
dyhernfurth
(madder). The saffron provided an orange dye, the henna a
reddish orange one, and the madder a red-colored dye. Tola
(crimson) and puvah (or puah) are mentioned in the Bible
as proper names (Gen. 46:13; I Chron. 7:1; Judg. 10:1). These
names, which were borne by the sons of Issachar, suggest
that this tribe was skilled in the production of these dyes
or in using them for dyeing cloth. Madder is obtained from
the plant Rubia tinctorum which was grown in large quantities
before the discovery of synthetic dyes. It is indigenous to
Edom, and many species grow wild in Israel. The plant was
cultivated in the mishnaic period and there is a discussion
on the methods to be employed in uprooting it in a sabbatical
year (Shev. 5:4).
Other dyestuffs are mentioned in rabbinic literature. Isalis,
koẓah, and rikhpah are mentioned together (Shev. 7:1). Isalis
is obtained from a plant, Isalis tinctoria, from whose leaves
a blue dye was extracted. It grew in abundance until the end of
the 19th century; some 2,000 kg. (about 4,400 lbs.) of leaves per
dunam were harvested, from which four kg. (about 8¾ lbs.)
of dyestuff was produced. Koẓah is the Carthamus tinctorius
whose top leaves provide a dye of a reddish orange shade.
The seeds of this plant served both as a food and as a source
of dye. In the Mishnah it has the additional name ḥari’a (Kil.
2:8; Uk. 5:3). In the Talmud it is also called morika, kurtemei
(i.e., carthamus), and dardara. The latter means a thistle,
hence its mishnaic name koẓah as it is a thorny plant of the
family Compositae. Rikhpah is dyer’s reseda, the Reseda luteola
that grows wild in the arid areas of Ereẓ Israel. Its leaves and
flower provide a yellow dye. Leshishit (turnsole, Chrozophora
tinctoria) grows wild among the summer crops in many parts
of the country. The various parts of the plant produce a blue
dye which is used for dyeing textiles and is used in Europe
for coloring food to this day. This plant is mentioned in the
Tosefta (Shev. 5:6). Kalilan (indigo, indigotin) was imported
from India during Roman times, and a dye of bluish shade
was obtained from it. It was not easy to distinguish it from the
true blue (see *Tekhelet) permitted for the ritual fringes, and
the rabbis therefore warned against the use of ritual fringes
dyed with it.
Bibliography: Loew, Flora, 1 (1924), 394ff., 493ff., 595ff.;
4 (1934), 117f.; B. Ẓizik, Oẓar ha-Ẓemaḥim (1944), 329–34; J. Feliks,
Olam ha-Ẓome’aḥ ha-Mikra’i (1957), 301–2; idem, Kilei Zera’im ve-
Harkavah (1967), 225ff., 259ff.
[Jehuda Feliks]
DYHERNFURTH (Pol. Brzeg Dolny), town in Lower Silesia;
from 1945 in Poland, near Wroclaw (Breslau). Its Jewish
community dates from 1688, when Shabbetai *Bass, founder of
modern Hebrew bibliography, leased printing privileges from
the local magnate who, in turn, held them from the emperor.
The first work he printed in Dyhernfurth was *Samuel b. Uri
Shraga Phoebus’ Beit Shemu’el, a commentary on Shulḥan
Arukh Even ha-Ezer (1689). A community was formed by 13
families, all employed in Bass’s printing works. Both Bass and
his son Joseph had to contend with the hostility of the Jesuits,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 77