Individual Submission Summary
Share...

Direct link:

The History of Blue as a National Jewish Color: A Reexamination

Mon, December 18, 5:00 to 6:30pm, Marriott Marquis Washington, DC, Marquis Salon 3

Abstract

This paper reexamines the history of the color blue as a ‘national color’ of the Jewish people. Zionist narratives and historiography frame the adoption of blue and white as emblematic colors of the Jews to be a 19th-century process. In contrast to this view, I argue that the history of blue as a symbol through which Jews understood themselves was a protracted process with roots in medieval times, rather than a simple direct borrowing of biblical colors into modern nationalism.
Inspired by social historians of color such as Michel Pastoureau, I employ an integrative approach that looks for connections between references to color symbolism in traditional Jewish texts (midrashic, halakhic, kabbalistic, etc.) and historical evidence of the usage of color in society and material culture.
Blue, in its traditional color term 'tekhelet', plays a prominent role in rabbinic Judaism. It is required as a dye for the commandment of the tzitzit as well as for the communal liturgy of the tabernacle and temple. Jews considered the blue dye to have been lost or concealed since the time of the Muslim conquest of Palestine, and believe that it will be rediscovered upon the arrival of the messiah. In medieval times, kabbalistic sources associated the color blue with the tenth gradation of the Godhead, a gradation that is often described as representing the entire Jewish people ('Keneset Israel').
According to both textual and historical evidence, it seems that in addition to a self-representation of Jews, blue also signified the separation and distance between Jews and non-Jews. Furthermore, the development of blue as a symbol of Jewishness came in tandem with the emerging distance that came about between Jews and other colors. In particular, red was identified with Christianity with sometimes negative connotations of Esau (edom-adom), whereas in the case of green, the color of Islam, the gap was widened due to sumptuary laws that prohibited Jews from donning green costumes.
By focusing on the test case of the color blue, this paper affirms that color is a powerful way to perform identity. Notably, color symbolism, taking place in both textual and material domains, conveys meaning to educated and uneducated people alike.

Author