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Tahash or Tachash, (Hebrew: תחש) is the specific kind of 'or (Hebrew: עור "leather, skin or animal hide" ), plural 'orot tahashim (Hebrew: וערות תחשים "and skins tachashim"), referred to in the Bible, used as the outer covering of the Tabernacle and to wrap sacred objects used within the Tabernacle for transport; also the name of a relative of Abraham, (Hebrew: תחש) "Thahash", son of Nahor by his concubine Reumah (Genesis 22:24). Tahash is traditionally interpreted to be an animal, with 'orot tahashim being tahash skins or leather. Sages, scholars and linguists have debated the Biblical meaning of תחש and תחשים for centuries.

See a brief current summary of the various meanings of the word "tahash" today.

Literal translation

Hebrew is read from right to left ←

• ← תחשים m-'-s-h-t, –is THSM tehasim:—tahashim, tachashim
• ← תחש s-h-t, –is THS tehas:—tahash, tachash.

Tachash is translated, extremely literally, as:

תאה — tah —prefix form -ת —"circumscribed", "set apart/marked/distinct", "very/markedly/distinctively"—plus

חש — khoosh, hish — "swift/quick" / "dark/black/hide(away)"—literally: —ת - הש / ת - חש— :

תחש — tah-hash, takh-ash — "very swift" / "richly, distinctively black", "truly reserved", "deep dark retreating".

Tachash skins are "skins of astonishment (quick)" and "skins of reserved dark retreat (hiding)".

Etymology shows that in over 45 centuries a semantic change has occurred in the meaning of Hebrew tehas. Its pronunciation has changed, from Biblical to Israeli (Biblical Hebrew phonology). Its spelling has changed, from Phoenician to Masoretic תחש. The English form of the word has also changed, from tachash to tahash.

Animal

Traditionally, the word Tachash has been translated to be an animal, the species of which is a matter of some debate.

The Authorized King James Version (1611) translates 'orot tachashim as "badgers' skins".

The New American Bible (USCCB) (1971) translates 'orot tachashim literally as "tahash skins" (Exodus 25:5):

"5 rams' skins dyed red, and tahash skins; acacia wood;"

Compare Biblical translations of תחשים in Exodus 25:5 "tahash" (NAB) "badgers" (KJV)

Compare Biblical translations of תחש in Ezekiel 16:10 "fine leather" (NAB) "badger" (KJV)

Compare Biblical translations of תחש son of Nahor in Genesis 22:24 "Tahash" (NAB) "Thahash" (KJV)

Processes & color

Another hypothesis is that the Hebrew term עורות תחשים, lit. "skins of tachashim", refers to very fine dyed leather (of sheep or goats). Witnesses before the 1st century BCE understood skins of tahashim to be fine leather work dyed blue, indigo, purple, violet. Such documented interpretations and translations of Biblical Hebrew תחש, tahas, t-ch-sh, from classical antiquity together with increased knowledge of the ancient tongues have strongly influenced recent Bible translators.

In keeping with this scholarship several versions translate the term as "fine leather".

Navigating the Bible II (World ORT) (2006), translates 'orot tahasim as "blue-processed skins."

Recent scholarship (2000–2006) suggests that the term denotes neither a substance nor a color, but a technique of sewing blue faience beads onto leather, making "beaded skins" the meaning of 'oroth T'Hash'm.

—small blue-green beads.

Biblical Translations

3rd century BCE to 2010 CE

• The Scrollscraper Tikkun (2006–2010) transliterates tahas (t'hasim) as tchash (ve'orot tchashim).
• The Judaica Press Complete Tanach (Chabad.org) (2006–2010) transliterates tahas (t'hasim) as tachash (tachashim).
• The Navigating the Bible II World ORT translation (2006–2008) translates tahas (t'hasim) as blue-processed (skins).
• The Living Torah by Aryeh Kaplan (bible.ort.org) (2006) translates tahas (t'hasim) as blue-processed (skins).
• The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40: Volume 2A (2006) translates tahas (t'hasim) as beaded (beaded skins).
• The English Standard Version (ESV) (2001-2009 revision of 1971 RSV) translates tachash as goat (goatskins).
• The American King James Version (AKJV) (1999 version of 1769 KJV) translates tachash as badger (badger's skins).
• The World English Bible (WEB) (1997-2000 version of 1901 ASV) translates tachash as sea cow (sea cow hides).
• The God's Word Translation (GW) (1995) translates tachash as fine leather.
• The New American Bible (NAB) (1991–2005) renders tachash as tahash.
• The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) (1989–2005) translates tachash as fine leather.
• The New King James Version (NKJV) (1989) translates tachash as badger (badger's skins).
• The Revised English Bible (REB) (1989) translates tachash as dugong (dugong-hides).
• The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) (1985) translates tachash as fine leather.
• The New Jewish Publication Society translation (JPS Tanakh) (1985) translates tachash as dolphin, or sea cow.
• The New International Version (NIV) (1978) translates tachash as sea cow (sea cow hides).
• The New American Standard Bible (NASB) (1971–1995) translates tachash as porpoise (porpoise skins).
• The New World Translation (NWT) (1961) translates tachash as seal (sealskins).
• The Revised Standard Version (RSV) (1952–2000) translates tachash as goat (goatskins).
• The Bible in Basic English (BBE) (1949–1965) translates tachash as leather.
• The Jewish Publication Society of America Version (JPS) (1917) translates tachash as badger (badgers' skins).
• The American Standard Version (ASV) (1901) translates tachash as seal (sealskins).
• Young's Literal Translation (1862–1898) translates tachash as badger (badgers' skins).
• The Authorized King James Version (AV, KJV) (1611–1769) translates tachash as badger (badgers' skins).
• The Douay-Rheims Bible (Douai, D-R, DV) (1610–1750) translates tachash as violet (violet skins).
• Abraham Maimon HaNagid (13th century) translates tachash as black leather (dark blue skins, skins rendered dark and waterproof).
• Rashi's commentary (12th century) translates tachash as taisse (badger) from Greek τρόχος (runner).
• The Arukh compiled by Nathan ben Jehiel (11th-12th century) translates tachash as blue-processed (blue-processed skins).
• Jonah ibn Janah (11th century) translates tachash as black leather (dark blue skins).
• Saadia Gaon (10th century) translates tachash as black leather (dark blue skins).
• The Latin Vulgate (L.V.) (405) translates tachash as ianthinas, violet (violet skins).
• The Mishnah (Mish.): Tanna Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi (170-220) translates tachash as altinon (Greek, aledinon), purple (skins dyed purple).
• The Targum Jonathan (110-170) translates tachash as khn כהניא (glory), i.e. the color of heaven.
• The Targum Onkelos (Tar. Onq.) (110) translates tachash as ssgwn ססגונא (sas-gona, sas-gavna), i.e. joy (of all) colors, glowing (of) colors, radiant(-like worm-)colors, (most) blessed (of) colors, richest (of) colors, royal color (?)---(glory-colored skins?).
• The Antiquities of the Jews (93-4 CE) interprets the curtains of tachash skins as curtains made of skins the color of the sky.
• The Septuagint (LXX) (3rd to 1st century BCE) translates tachash as huakinthina, hyacinth (indigo-blue) (hyacinth skins).

Animals

In many traditions, Tahash refers to an animal. The various proposed animals include: badger, dugong, sea cow, seal, narwhal, porpoise, dolphin, addax, antelope, giraffe, okapi, the extinct Elasmotherium, and others.

Unclean (non-kosher) animals

The Hebrew words tahash תחש and tahashim תחשים in the Bible (for example, the Book of Numbers, chapter 4) are translated by the King James Version (KJV) as "badger". The New American Standard Bible (NASB) translates the word as porpoise. Other translations include dugong, sea cow, seal, and dolphin. Although these animals are not kosher (not clean) it has been suggested that the Tabernacle may have been purposefully constructed using skin from a non-kosher (unclean) animal. These suggestions date from the time of the formation of the Talmud beginning around the 4th century CE and continue through the centuries to the present. —see Importance of textual and cultural and religious context.

Sea mammals

The scholarly opinion which prevailed for most of the 19th and 20th centuries (1820–1980), even if it was not the universal consensus, held that Hebrew t-h-sh / t-kh-sh / t-ch-sh, English tahash, "correctly" or "most probably" denoted dugong or sea cow or manatee or mediterranean monk seal or porpoise or dolphin. The older 19th century scientific names (taxonomy) for the Dugong took account of this view: E. Rupell designated them Halicore Tabernaculi in 1843. This opinion is now declining, as witness the more recent translations of the Hebrew Scriptures (Tanakh).

The Arabic البدر / دلفبن dukhas or tukhas or tucash is linguistically near to Hebrew תחש takhash or tachash or tahash, and is applied by the Arabs to the dugong and the dolphin, which is also called delphin, and also to the porpoise. Prompted by the similarity to Arabic tukhash, conjectural opinion has favored identification of tahash with the sea cow, a species now extinct. Fossils indicate that Stellar's Sea Cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) was formerly abundant and widespread throughout the North Pacific, all along the North Pacific Coast, reaching west and south to Japan and east and south to California. There is no evidence that the now extinct sea cow ever ranged over the Red Sea area. The term sea cow more generally refers to dugongs and manatees, to any of the sirenian sea mammals that appear on the shores of East Africa and around the Sinai peninsula. The Arabic البدر tukhesh denotes the sea mammal Dugong hemprichi, (the same animal formerly designated Halicore Tabernaculi) which appears at intervals on the shores of the Sinai and is hunted by the Bedouin, who make tent curtains and shoes from its skin.

Another opinion suggests that tahash should be identified with the the narwhal. However the narwhal is generally only found in the arctic, and suggestions that it has previously been found in the Mediterranean are not supported by any available evidence.

Clean (kosher) animals

Among the kosher animals proposed as translations of tahash are the addax, the antelope, the sheep, the goat, and the giraffe.

The giraffe has generally been excluded as the meaning of tahash, in part because of a question of whether or not it possessed all the marks of a kosher animal, and because its range was primarily Sub-Saharan Africa, from Chad in Central Africa to South Africa. The distance that would have to be traversed in migration away from its natural range and habitat can be seen in this image of the Sahara Desert, the Red Sea, and the desert of the Sinai peninsula. Nevertheless, there is some evidence that camelopardalis, the giraffe, was also present in the Levant at the time of Moses, and documented evidence that it has all the marks of a kosher animal.

Process

Several translations propose that "orot t'chash'm" refers to very fine dyed sheepskin or goat leather. This is in preference to assuming the skin or hide of a cryptid such as the Elasmotherium. Translating "orot t'chash'm" as "violet skins" or "blue-processed skins" is a parallel construction with "rams' skins dyed red." The resultant color of the process according to the Greek and Latin translations was hyacinth. According to this interpretation, the text of Exodus 26:14 means "a covering of rams' skins dyed red, and above that a covering of hyacinth skins"—a covering of skins dyed red and an outer covering of skins dyed indigo or royal blue.

Royal Blue
#002366

Indigo
#4B0082

Wilhelm Gesenius (pub. Leipzig, 1905) cites J. H. Bondi (Aegyptiaca, i.ff) who adduces the Egyptian root t-ch-s, making the expression " 'or tahash / 'or tachash" mean "soft-dressed skin" (fine leather work). The final stage of tanning called "crusting" includes dying with color. A vat full of indigo dye is a very dark color called "midnight blue" which is almost black. Tekhelet blue has been referred to as being "black as midnight", "blue as the midday sky", and as purple.

According to the Sages (Baba Metzia 61b) techelet blue is identical in color to kela ilan (indigofera tinctoria) indigo dye.

According to Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 3:6:4 (Ant. 3.132), the outer covering of skins over the tabernacle "seemed not at all to differ from the color of the sky".

Etymology

This article traces the changes in meaning of the word "tahash" by means of a timeline of history. Its purpose is to show what its meaning has been in the past and what its meaning is today, and not to determine its "true" meaning. The assertion that the "true" meaning of a word is to be sought in its etymology is a variant of the etymological fallacy. The several meanings that it has today are listed in the Summary at the end of this article.

Etymology is the study of the history of words and how their form and meaning have changed over time (see especially Semantic change.) For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in those languages, and texts about the languages, to gather knowledge about how words were used at earlier stages, and where and when and how they entered the languages in question (e.g. tachash and tukhash).

Akkadian

t-h-s appears cognate with Akkadian dusu / tuhsia "goat/sheep leather ."

t-h-s-m appears connected to an Assyrian word meaning "sheepskin" and an Egyptian word meaning "to stretch or treat leather."

Egyptian

Modern scholarship sees Hebrew tahash as derived best from the old Egyptian word tj-h-s, "to treat leather." Wilhelm Gesenius (1848–50) cites Egyptologist J. H. Bondi (Aegyptiaca, iff) who adduces the Egyptian root t-ch-s, making the Hebrew term 'or tahash— — mean "soft-dressed skin".

Ancient witnesses attest the translation of 'orot tahashim as "blue-processed skins": Rabbi Yehudah, Yerushalmi, Shabbath 2:3; Arukh s.v. Teynun; Koheleth Rabbah 1:9; Josephus 3:6:1 (3.102), 3:6:4 (3.132); Septuagint (LXX); Aquila (huakinthinos)—"black leather" according to Saadia Gaon, Jonah ibn Janah, Maimonides (Rambam), and Avraham Maimon haNagid: leather specially worked so as to become dark and waterproof. Josephus says in the third book of his work Antiquities of the Jews, chapter 3:

...great was the surprise of those who viewed these curtains at a distance, for they seemed not at all to differ from the color of the sky...

These ancient sources translate 'orot tahashim (derived from Egyptian tj-h-s) as blue-processed skins, dark and waterproof, which were used to make curtains of skins as covering and protection over the Mishkan. Modern Bible translators have also rendered 'orot tahashim as colored skins or leather.

The Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition Catholic Bible translates the outer skins of the tabernacle as "violet skins".

The World ORT Navigating the Bible II (2006–2008 bible.ort.org) and The Living Torah by Aryeh Kaplan (Moznaim, 1981 . ISBN 0-94011-35-1. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)) translate the outer skins of the Mishkan as "blue-processed skins".

see above —Bible Translations

Semitic

Some scholars, such as S. M. Perlmann, have suggested that the tahash is a kosher animal with fur, such as the okapi, a kind of African "antelope", taking תחש tachash from חש "hish" (fleet, swift):

חש –a primitive root; to hurry; figuratively to be eager with excitement or enjoyment; (make) haste (hasten), ready; also readiness; to be necessary, to need; necessity; to restrain, refrain, remove (oneself), to (willingly) be removed; by implication, to refuse, spare, preserve, to observe (from a distance, carefully); assuage, darken, forebear, hinder, hold back, keep (back); punish, reserve, spare, withhold; to be dark (as withholding light); to darken, be black, be (or make) dark, cause darkness, be dim, hide; the dark, darkness, misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness, night, obscurity; obscure, mean (hidden, unnoticed).

The Hebrew t-h-s "תחש" is how Nahor, brother of Abram, called the name of his son: "Thahash" KJV (Genesis 22:24). His name, תחש, is translated as "Tahas" by the DV (1610), and as "Tahash" by Young's Literal Translation (1898), the ASV (1901), Hebrew-English parallel MT and JPS 1917 (Mechon-Mamre), Amplified Bible (1965), NASB (1971), NRSV (1989), NAB (1991), NIV (1995), CEV (1995), NLT (1996), Judaica Press Complete Tanach (Chabad.org) (1999), ESV (2001), The Message (2002), Holman Christian Standard Bible (2004).

Greek 3rd century to 1st century BCE

According to the Talmud and the Letter of Aristeas seventy-two interpreters are chosen to translate the Torah (the Pentateuch) from Hebrew into Greek. This is the Septuagint (LXX). The Seventy understand tahash as the color hyacinth: the same as indigo, or sapphire, or navy, or a deep, clear sky blue (after sunset, evening).

The Septuagint translators render 'orot T'cHashim as hyacinth skins. (see Tagelmust.)

This period also sees the beginnings of midrash and aggadah.

Josephus 1st century CE

The Jewish Historian Josephus in his work The Antiquities of the Jews, Book 3:6:1 (Ant.3.102-103) says:

Hereupon the Israelites rejoiced at what they had seen and heard of their conductor, and were not wanting in diligence according to their ability; for they brought silver, and gold, and brass (bronze, copper,) and of the best sorts of wood, and such as would not at all decay by putrefaction; camels' hair also, and sheepskins, some of them dyed of a blue color, and some of a scarlet; some brought the flower for the purple color, and others for white, with wool dyed by the flowers aforementioned; and fine linen and precious stones, which those that use costly ornaments set in ouches of gold; they brought also a great quantity of spices; for of these materials did Moses build the tabernacle...

A few paragraphs further on Antiquities 3:6:4 (Ant.3.132-133) says:

There were also other curtains made of skins above these, which afforded covering and protection to those that were woven, both in hot weather and when it rained; and great was the surprise of those who viewed these curtains at a distance, for they seemed not at all to differ from the color of the sky; but those that were made of hair and of skins, reached down in the same manner as did the veil at the gates, and kept off the heat of the sun, and what injury the rains might do, and after this manner was the tabernacle reared.

The skins of tahashim that formed the outer covering of the Tabernacle are here interpreted by Josephus as skins dyed of a blue color, "for they seemed not at all to differ from the color of the sky."

Aramaic 2nd century CE

Onkelos (c. 35-120 CE), a famous convert to Judaism, is credited with undertaking the translation of the Tanakh into Aramaic c. 110 CE. This is the authoritative Targum Onkelos, frequently referred to as the Targum. The Targum renders tahash as ססגונא– ssgwn, sasgawna, sas-gona, ssgvn, sas-gavna

"...that is why we translate it sasgawna, that it rejoices in many colors..." (Sabbath 28a)

Targum Jonathan understands tahash as כהניא– khn, the color of "glory" (the color of the sky, the sapphire-stone, the seat of glory):

: "...I put shoes of glory on your feet..." (Ezekiel 16:10) (richest blue, indigo, violet)

Compare Aramaic Targums on Numbers 4:6ff at CAL TARGUM TEXTS.

Aquila of Sinope, a 2nd century CE native of Pontus in Anatolia, and a disciple of Rabbi Akiba, produces an exceedingly literal translation of the Tanakh into Greek around 130. There is some (inconclusive) evidence that he retains the Greek ὑακἱνθινος (deep "blue") as the literal translation of the Hebrew תחשים.

• . Midnight blue

• .

Classic naturalists: Hebrew word "tahash" is not used

About the same time, according to tradition, or perhaps later, the Physiologus, written in Greek, in Alexandria, by an anonymous compiler and author is now finished.

It is a compendium or epitome of animals, plants and stones known to the ancient world, some of them mythological and fantastic, but generally believed to be real, with interpretive meanings associated with them (analogy): it summarizes ancient knowledge and wisdom about animals in the writings of classical authors such as Aristotle's Historia Animalium and various works by Herodotus, Pliny the Elder, Solinus, Aelian and other naturalists.

This didactic text will soon become deeply influential with sages, scholars and teachers of youth. The Panther, sometimes described as a composite creature with a horned head, long neck and a horse's body, sometimes also having divided hooves (monocerus), is the only creature described by the Physiologus as multi-colored: "He is entirely variegated (in color) and is beautiful like Joseph's coat." (Genesis 37:3)

There is no entry in Physiologus using the term Tahash or Tachash. The descriptions of the monocerus and the unicorn closely resemble the classic description of the Talmudic and Rabbinical tahash of the 6th-12th centuries.

Judah haNasi 3rd century

The Tanna Judah haNasi (170-220 CE) compiles the Mishnah c. 200 CE. He renders his opinion that tahash skins are skins dyed altinon (Greek, άλήδινον "aledinon"), seemingly purple. This could indicate skins tekhelet dyed. This parallels and supports the literal Greek version of Aquila which renders the Hebrew tahashim תחשים as the Greek hyacinth blue ὑακίνθος (indigo).

About 235 CE Origen of Alexandria incorporates the literal Greek version of Aquila of Sinope in his monumental work Hexapla.

Both Aquila of Sinope and Judah haNasi translate עורותתחשים as skins of color (purple, violet, indigo, blue). Huakinthos (hyacinth blue) is retained in the Hexapla as the literal Greek translation of tahas (tachash).

Jerome 4th century

The Vulgate is an early 5th century Latin version of the Bible. It was mainly the result of the work of Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in AD 382 to make a revision of the Old Latin translations (Vetus Latina). The Vulgate is usually credited to have been the first translation of the Old Testament into Latin directly from the Hebrew Tanakh, rather than the Greek Septuagint.

The Vulgate translation of tahash is ianthinas, violet. (see Exodus 25:5 Biblia Sacra Vulgata)

Bible versions and translations of תחש representative of this point in history:

• Scrollscraper Tikkun (tchashim)
• The Judaica Press Complete Tanach (tchashim)
• Navigating the Bible II (blue-processed skins)
• The Living Torah by Aryeh Kaplan (blue-processed skins)
• The Anchor Bible (beaded skins)
• The New American Bible (tahash skins)
• The Douay-Rheims Bible (violet skins)
• The Latin Vulgate (pelles ianthinas—violet skins)
• The Hexapla of Origen with Aquila (hyacinth skins)
• The Targum Jonathan (glory-colored skins)
• The Septuagint (hyacinth skins)
• The Samaritan Pentateuch

Physiologus 5th century

About the year 400 the Physiologus is first translated into Latin. There is no mention of the Hebrew word Tahash or Tachash in any of the initial Latin translations and editions of the Physiologus. The descriptions of the unicorn and the monoceros closely resemble the Talmudic and Rabbinical 6th-12th centuries descriptions of the legendary tahash.

The author introduces his stories from natural history with the phrase, "the physiologus says," meaning, "the naturalist says," that is, "the natural philosophers, the experts and authorities for natural history say." From this phrase comes the name that is given to the work, which the anonymous author himself/herself did not title: Physiologus (lit. "The Naturalist").

The influence of the Physiologus over ideas of the "meaning" of animals is profoundly pervasive and far-reaching among scholars and teachers of all peoples (see common knowledge, consensus theory of truth and appeal to authority.) So influential is the perceived authority of this book that it is later again translated into Latin, in several recensions, and into Ethiopic and Syriac, then into many European and Middle-Eastern languages. Manuscripts are often, but not always, given illustrations, often lavish. (Many illuminated manuscript copies such as the later 9th century Bern Physiologus survive.) It retains its influence over ideas of the moral and symbolic meaning of animals in Europe for over a thousand years.

Talmud 6th century

Aggadah and allegory

During the period of the development of the Palestinian Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud (200-500 CE), various sages set forth their opinions; and one of the several important elements present in Talmudic discussion is Aggadah.

Aggadah is a compendium of rabbinic homilies in the Talmud and Midrash that incorporates folklore, parable, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations and practical advice in various spheres, from business to medicine. Some midrashic discussions are highly metaphorical, and many Jewish authors stress that they are not intended to be taken literally; they sometimes serve as a key to particularly esoteric discussions (Allegorical interpretation and Medieval etymology).

Many of the debates are hypothetically reconstructed by the Talmud's redactors, often imputing a view to an earlier authority as to how he may have answered a question: "This is what Rabbi אאאאא could have argued....". Nevertheless, some of these debates were actually conducted by the Amoraim.

Horned animal skins

A comparison of the discussions of the Sages on the possible meanings of tachash, in the Talmud and in Rabbinical writings, with those primary texts of the Torah,

Shemot-Exodus-35 verse 23,

Shemot-Exodus-25 verses 3-5,

Shemot-Exodus-12 verses 35-36,

demonstrates, on the simplest and most literal level (Peshat), that valuable finished tahash skins were actually donated by the people from the spoils of Egypt already in their possession. Nevertheless, in addition to a simple literal reading of the text, "Every animal possesses unique attributes and characteristics from which we are to learn different lessons."

Because the word תחשם is associated in the text with the word for skins, "skins of tachashim" are understood by many to be animal skins; the exact kind of animal is unknown, its identity admittedly only conjecture. Both clean, kasher, and unclean, treif, animals are proposed and discussed. —see below, Importance of textual and cultural and religious context.

Based on indications put forth by R. Meir c. 132 CE, many suggested identifications for the tahash are proposed, such as the fleet-footed antelope (taking תחש tahash from חש hish, "fleet"), or the giraffe, which has many of the signs given by R. Meir: multicolored skin, a horn-like protrusion on its forehead, and some of the signs of a clean animal.

"Rabbi Nehemiah said: It was a miraculous beast that was hidden away after it was used in the Tabernacle."

"Said R. Elai in the name of R. Simeon b. Lakish, ...R. Judah said, The ox which Adam the first sacrificed had one horn.... But makrin implies two?—Said R. Nahman b Isaac: Mi-keren is written." Shabbath 28b

The student of languages is here immediately alerted to the fact that a description of an animal with an interesting or remarkable kind of horn can be translated—using extreme formal equivalence—into another language or dialect as a literally translated and faithful description of an animal with a "single horn", an animal with "one horn".

Over a period of two to five centuries the meaning of a word even in its own language can change so much that its current meaning is radically different from its original or ancient meaning (semantic change). In this context it is useful to compare translations of Exodus 34:29-35 for variant meanings and interpretations of keren, especially

DV "horned" and

NAB "radiant", and the

Hebrew/English-parallel MT and JPS 1917 (Mechon Mamre) version's "sent forth beams".

Tekhelet blue skins

The Hebrew קרן qeren literally means "horn", but it also means "radiant / vivid / penetrating". R. Judah haNasi (see above) suggests that skins of THSM (Hebrew תחשם) are skins dyed altinon (Greek άγήδινον aledinon), seemingly purple, i.e. skins dyed a royal tekhelet.

Some restrict the identification of the color Tekhelet (blue) to a dye obtained only from that mollusk from which royal purple dye is made (Tyrian purple.) This is the royal purple dye that among the pagan nations is reserved for emperors and rulers and senators and kings. In the Torah it is written:

"If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Exodus 19:5-6a (RSV)

Therefore the use of that particular royal purple dye which is so esteemed among the nations as a mark of royal dignity appears to some to be implied here. Others argue that Tekhelet is a more general term, anciently and originally meaning any blue or purple dye, and they allow the use of the indigo-purple dye obtained from the plant source indigofera tinctoria. (see Karaite Judaism and Etymological fallacy.) The Torah does not explicitly identify the source of tekhelet blue dye. Preparation and use of dye obtained from the mollusk that is the source of Tyrian purple can appear to be a violation of the Torah. The mollusk that is the source of tekhelet—usually designated hillazon/chilazon, although the identity of the actual mollusk that was the ancient source of tekhelet dye is disputed and uncertain even today—the mollusk that is the source of tekhelet does not have "fins and scales," and it is a carnivore: these are two factors that according to the prescriptions in the Torah identify it as unclean .

However, the processed dye itself is not regarded as unclean, only the creature from which it is obtained. Because these creatures are not taken as food one cannot say that their flesh is eaten, and because the dye is preferably removed while the creatures are still alive (Shabbat 75a) one cannot say that their carcasses are touched.

Hence, the Talmud identifies the royal purple dye obtained from the chilazon as clean, the only licit dye for ritual use, but designates the common dye obtained from the indigo plant as unacceptible, counterfeit, illicit, unclean. (In fact, according to Tosefta, any blue or purple dye obtained from any source other than the water mollusk chilazon is unacceptible, counterfeit, illicit unclean.)

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The indigo-purple blue dye obtained from the indigofera tinctoria plant for the common people is identical in color to the indigo-purple blue dye obtained from the mollusk for the aristocracy, and it is far less expensive to produce. But only the blue-purple tekhelet dye obtained from the water mollusk chilazon / hillazon is directly and exclusively associated with rulers and with royalty.

A vat full of indigo dye is a very dark color called dark midnight blue, very nearly black. Most human beings with otherwise good eyesight cannot distinguish the various tones of indigo from blue or violet. Tekhelet is translated variously as blue or violet in the Bible. See Exodus 25:4. The ancients (Aristotle among them) acknowledged six colors, three of them we call "primary" (RYB), three of them "secondary" (OGV). The six colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet, with their various shades and tones. Since according to the Sages (Baba Metzia 61b) the color of the indigo dye of the kela ilan indigofera tinctoria plant is identical in color to the indigo dye of the hillazon, the color indigo is the blue of Judaism, but the exact tone of the true tekhelet blue is lost to history.

The lost color tekhelet is referred to by various sources (Shabbat 26a) as being "black as midnight", "blue as the midday sky", and even purple. On tallitot (prayer shawls) the lost tekhelet is symbolized by black, blue or purple. The deepest, richest indigo appears black: according to ancient tradition, a sign of the greatest possible dignity and respect. Professional dyers since ancient times have always been able to produce a true color of all colors from a skillful blending of the six colors (subtractive color mixing), resulting in a rich black blue-black dye which closely resembles the deepest, richest, darkest, near-black indigo-blue.

See history of natural indigo.

These stripes are Dark Tyrian Purple (Dark Imperial Purple).

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Etymologiae 7th century

Following the Physiologus, Saint Isidore of Seville compiles and edits his extensive encyclopaedic work Etymologiae ("Etymologies") (AD 635). Book XII: de animalibus is devoted to Beasts and birds. The Hebrew term tahash is not included, but the one-horned, desert-dwelling, fiercely untameable rhinoceros and the legendary Panther are included.

The number of creatures catalogued in the Physiologus is expanded: more than 120 categories of creatures are mentioned and discussed, including the unicorn. All animals known to the ancient world and to the peoples of North Africa, the Middle East and Europe at this time are included in this encyclopedic work.

See the index to The Medieval Bestiary: Animals in the Middle Ages.

Saadia Gaon 10th century

Saadia Gaon (born c. 892, d. 942) is the first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Arabic. He suggests that tahash skins, which he interprets as "black leather (dark blue skins)", are skins taken from the zemer (listed among the kosher animals in Deuteronomy 14:5) which he definitively translates into Arabic as zirafa, "giraffe", the ancient camelopard.

According to Saadia Gaon, tahash skins are black-finished hides taken from the zemer, which he translates as giraffe.

Ibn Janah 11th century

Jonah ibn Janah, Abu al-Walid Merwan ibn Janah, c. 990-c.1050, was a Hebrew grammarian and lexicographer of the Middle Ages, who found his true calling in the investigation of the Hebrew language and in rabbinical literature and scriptural exegesis. Considered the greatest Hebrew philologist of the Middle Ages, Ibn Janah's chief work is the "Kitabal-Tankih" (Book of Minute Research) devoted to the study of the Bible and its language, and was the first complete exposition of Hebrew vocabulary and grammar.

As did Saadia Gaon before him, Ibn Janah also translates tahash skins as "black leather (dark blue skins)"

Arukh 11th-12th centuries

Nathan ben Jehiel, 1035-1106, most noted for his compilation the Arukh, featuring extensive etymologies, interprets tahash skins as "blue-processed skins": Aruk s.v. Teynun.

Rashi's Commentary 12th century

Rashi (Feb. 22, 1040 - July 13, 1105) is a medieval French rabbi highly esteemed for his scholarship and the clarity of his teaching. His most famous contributions are his voluminous Commentaries on the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and the Talmud. He translates difficult Hebrew or Aramaic words into the spoken French language of his day, giving today's modern scholars a window into the vocabulary and pronunciation of Old French.

In his commentary on Exodus 25:5 "skins of tachashim" (see also Talmud: Shabbat 28a,b), Rashi says

Tachash was a kind of wild beast. It existed only at that time. It was multi-colored and therefore it is translated in the Targum as sasgona: delights and prides itself in its colors. (Terumah) Shemot-Exodus-25:5.

In accordance with the tradition of the sages, "tachash" came into existence to be used to build the Mishkan and ceased to exist afterward (or was hidden).

Rabbi Yehudah said: It was a huge kosher animal in the desert, and it had one horn in its forehead, and its hide had six colors from which they made the curtains of the Mishkan.

Rabbi Nehemiah said: It was a miraculous beast that was hidden away after it was used in the Tabernacle. Why was it necessary to create such a beast? It is written that the skins of the Tachash that were used for the curtains were also 30 cubits long. What animal hides are 30 cubits long? Rather it was a momentary miracle that was hidden away soon after it happened.

Rashi's commentary on Yechezkel/Ezekiel 16:10 states first the reading that tachash is of the "taisse" family (from Greek τρόχος, "runner"), saying (English translation): "and I shod you with badger": and then gives an alternative reading of the same text, saying: " And I put shoes of glory on your feet."

It is unlikely, given what is known today about the Old French language, that Rashi intended the meaning that we understand today as "badger". The tiny badger cannot be the huge kosher animal in the desert with one horn and a hide of six colors. According to the Talmud: Shabbath 28b:

"The tahash of Moses' day was a separate species, and the Sages could not decide whether it belonged to the genus of wild beasts or to the genus of domestic animals; and it had one horn in its forehead, and it came to Moses' hand just for the occasion, and he made the Tabernacle, and then it was hidden" (somewhere else, secretly, swiftly, in its lair, den, its retreat).

The simple fact that Rashi states the tradition that the tahash (Exodus 25:5) existed for only a short time, and only at the time of Moses, shows that he cannot be referring to the badger or to badgers' skins, but to an animal that is "dark, hidden, swift —in the wild": —taisse, from τρόχος "runner".

Avraham ben HaRambam 13th century

Avraham son of Rambam, Abraham ben Moses ben Maimon, 1186-1237, the son of Maimonides (Rambam), appointed court physician in Egypt at the age of eighteen, became Ha-Nagid (the leader) of the Jewish community in Egypt after the death of his father in 1204, when he was 69: he was already recognized as the greatest scholar in his community. Like his father, his works include a commentary on the Torah—only his commentaries on Genesis and Exodus are still extant—as well as commentaries on parts of his father Maimonides' Mishneh Torah and commentaries on various tractates of the Talmud. He wrote a work on Halakha (Jewish Law), combining philosophy and ethics (written also in Arabic), as well as several medical works; his "Discourse on the Sayings of the Rabbis" which discusses aggadah is frequently quoted.

Abraham Maimon Ha-Nagid (Avraham ben HaRambam) like Saadia and Ibn Janah before him, interprets tahash skins as "black leather (dark blue skins)", leather worked in such a manner as to come out dark and waterproof.

Douay-Rheims Bible 16th and 17th centuries

In the second half of the 16th century (years 1550-1600 CE) Catholic scholars (The English College) exiled from England begin work on a new English translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate of Jerome which had been translated from the Hebrew Tanakh/Bible. Comparing the Hebrew Tanakh tahas and the Greek Septuagint huakinthina with various Jewish and Christian commentaries and the standard Latin Vulgate ianthinas together with what is known to them at the time of the ancient languages, they render tahas as the color violet in all the passages of the Biblical text where it appears; for example:

"Thou shalt make also another cover to the roof, of rams' skins dyed red; and over that again another cover of violet coloured skins." Exodus 26:14 (DV)

"And I clothed thee with embroidery, and shod thee with violet coloured shoes: and I girded thee about with fine linen, and clothed thee with fine garments." Ezechiel 16:10 (DV)

The New Testament was published by The English College at Rheims, France, AD 1582, the Old Testament by The English College at Douay, France, beginning AD 1609 (the first volume) and completed AD 1610 (the second volume).

Authorized King James Version 17th century

In 1604 the English translation known today as the Authorized Version (AV) or the King James Version (KJV) is first commissioned. The translators see a similarity between the Latin taxus (Meles taxus, a badger,) the German dachs (badger,) and the Hebrew tahas—also, Rashi on Ezekiel 16:10 gives the reading that the shoes or sandals are taisse—and accordingly they translate the Masoretic Text of the word תחשים as "badger": "badgers' skins".

According to Jewish Hebrew scholars this translation of TaHaShM has no basis in fact. And the Vetus Latina and Vulgate Latin translations of the Hebrew text never render tahas as taxus (or as any form of Meles taxus, either singular or plural.) Meles taxus is the 17th century Latin taxonomic designation for "badger", but the Latin word for "badger" does not appear in any of the Latin versions of the Bible anywhere in the text as the Latin translation of Hebrew tahas.

The Authorized Version is completed in 1611 by the Church of England, and then later revised, twice, in two authorized editions issued by Cambridge University, the first in 1629 and the second in 1638. The word "badger" is retained as the KJV translation of tahash.

Bible versions and translations of תחש representative of this period in history:

• The New King James Version (badger's skins)
• The American King James Version (badger's skins)
• The Jewish Publication Society of America Version (JPS) 1917 (badger's skins)
• Young's Literal Translation (badgers' skins)
• The Authorized King James Version (badgers' skins)

18th century

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible 1708-1710, first published in 1706, offers a critique of the King James Version's translation "badgers' skins" in the commentary on Exodus 26:7-14:

"...badgers' skins, so we translate it, but it should rather seem to have been some strong sort of leather (but very fine), for we read of the best sort of shoes being made of it, Eze. 16:10."

The Latin taxus (a badger) is soon given official scientific sanction. The first edition of the Systema Naturae (Carolus Linnaeus) is published in 1735. Its fundamental philosophy, its form and structure, reflects the influence of the Etymologiae. This is the beginning of the modern system of taxonomy using Latin as the standardized form of scientific nomenclature. Using an academic vocabulary already current at this time, the European badger is officially classified as Meles taxus.

The Douay-Rheims Bible of 1610 is now extensively revised by Bishop Richard Challoner: the New Testament, in three editions 1749, 1750, and 1752 (this last edition of the New Testament having important changes from the 1749 edition in both text and notes, the variations numbering over two thousand); and an edition of the Old Testament (minus the Vulgate apocrypha), in 1750. The 1750 edition of the complete Douay-Rheims Bible is in fact a new version, taking as its base the KJV rigorously checked and extensively adjusted for improved readability and consistency with the Clementine edition of the Vulgate: —"violet coloured skins" is retained as the translation of Latin "pelles ianthinas" (hyacinth skins) as the translation from Hebrew 'orot tahasim.

The tenth edition of Systema Naturae, 1758, is today regarded as the beginning of modern zoological nomenclature. The thirteenth and final definitive edition of the Systema Naturae is published in 1767. The classification of the European badger by the Latin Meles taxus, similar in sound to German dachs (a badger), and similar in sound to תחש t-h-s, is taken as scientific support validating the King James Bible translation of עורות תחשים as "badgers' skins".

The Authorized King James Version is twice again corrected and updated with revisions at Cambridge, first in 1762, and finally in 1769 (some 24,000 places in the text) in the now standardized form of the text of the King James Version most familiar to modern readers today: —"badgers' skins" is retained as the translation of 'orot tahasim.

The Arabic tukhesh (dugong) is first classified by Muller in 1776 as Trichechus dugon, a member of the manatee genus previously defined by Linnaeus.

The tachash, as described in the 12th-15th centuries, an enormous, multi-colored, one-horned, animal of the desert, not found since the completion of the tabernacle by Moses, is now regarded as a legendary creature of Jewish folklore, along with Metatron, the merkabah, the chayot, the ophan, the hashmal, the seraph, the malakh, the cherub, the Agrat Bat Mahlat, the ashmedai, the Watcher, the lilith, the dybbuk, the Magura-Schendel, the rachab, the basilisk, the dragon, the behemoth, the leviathan, the Bar Juchne called Ziz, the unicorn (re'em), the keresh and the tigris of Dvei Ilai, the Nephilim, the golem, and Og. This traditional understanding of the identity of the tachash becomes an enduring part of Jewish cultural identity.

Trichechus dugon (dugong) is classified Trechechus dugung by Erxleben 1777.

While the Arabs at this time apply the descriptive tukhas – البدر / دلفبن – to dugongs and sea cows, to dolphins and porpoises, from which they harvest skins for leather for their tents and curtains and sandals, the Jews apply the word tukhas – תחש – to derrieres, i.e. buttocks. (see Language change—see Yiddish language—see linguistic term "false friend.") To "leather" or "tan" someone's tukhas is to administer a prudent corrective physical punishment for disobedient naughtiness.

Trechechus dugung (dugong) is classified Dugong indicus by Lecepede 1799.

19th century

Dugong indicus (dugong) is classified Dugong dugong by Illiger 1811.

The comparative method of the academic field of philology within the discipline of historical linguistics, developed over many years, now culminates in the 19th century.

Dugong dugong (dugong) is classified Halicore lottum and Halicore hemprichii by Ehrenberg 1832.

Scientists, linquists and Bible translators have the following facts at this time:

• The Masoretic Text of Ezekiel 16:10 lists "...sandals of tahash..." ( תחש )
• The Bedouin make leather sandals from the skins of very large sea-mammals they call tucash ( ذروف البدر / دلفبن ).
• Linguists using the comparative method of historical linguistics see tucash and tahash as cognates.
• The Masoretic Text of Exodus 26:14 states that the outer covering of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, is to be made of "skins of tachashim."
• The Sages of the Talmud say that tachash denotes a very large animal.
• Sirenia (dugongs and manatees) have recently (about 1840) been biologically classed as belonging to the order Ungulata (which includes cattle/bison, goats, sheep, giraffe, elk, deer, antelope and gazelle.)

E. Rupell (Rupell and Leuckart, 1828, 1831) classifies the large sea-mammals the Bedouin call tucash (dugong) as "Halicore tabernaculi" (1843).

Easton's Bible Dictionary (1823–1894) "Badger" says,

"Our translators seem to have been misled by the similarity in sound of the Hebrew tahas and the Latin taxus, 'a badger'. The revisers have correctly substituted 'seal skins.' The Arabs of the Sinaitic peninsula apply the name tucash to the seals and dugongs which are common in the Red Sea, and the skins of which are largely used as leather and for sandals."

Dugongs are larger than seals. The adult female dugong is larger than the male: they have been known to attain a length of 4 meters and a weight of over 1,000 kilograms (over 13 feet in length and a weight of over 2,200 lbs.)

The Arabic البدر / دلفبن t'kh's, t'h's is transliterated alternately and interchangeably "tucash," "tukhesh," "tukhas." Many scholars, from the mid-19th century through the mid-20th century, continue to see a linguistic closeness between the words tachash and tukhas in both sound and meaning, and accordingly render their expert opinion that the outer covering of the Tabernacle of the LORD was made of tukhas hides.

Halicore tabernaculi (dugong) is classified Halicore australis by Owen in 1847.

Wilhelm Gesenius (pub. Boston, 1850) under the word "tachash" states that the Arabs of Sinai wear sandals of dugong skin. This is taken to explain the meaning of the phrase in the Book of Ezekiel (16:10), "I gave you sandals of tahash skin." Later (pub. Leipzig, 1905) he cites J. H. Bondi (Aegyptiaca, i.ff) who adduces the Egyptian root t-ch-s and makes the expression 'or tahash mean "soft-dressed skin."

Halicore australis (dugong) is classified Halicore cetacea by Heuglin in 1877.

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890) under "BADGERS' " gives fourteen biblical references of the word, associated with only one lexical number reference (popularly called Strong's number) directing the reader to the Hebrew Lexicon in that work, entry 8476, which gives the Hebrew characters (Tav-CHeyth-SHiyn), the older English word tachash, its phonetic pronunciation takh'-ash, and tells the reader that the word is probably of foreign derivation, and that it denotes "a (clean) animal with fur, probably a species of antelope:—badger." (The badger is not a species of antelope.) According to the Torah the badger is unclean:

"And whatsoever goeth upon his paws, among all manner of beasts that go on all four, those are unclean unto you: whoso toucheth their carcase shall be unclean until the even." Leviticus 11:27 (KJV)

Anthonie Cornelis Oudemans publishes his 1892 study The Great Sea Serpent. This marks the very beginning of a scholarly discipline that will later be called "cryptozoology", the study of hidden animals.

Halicore cetacea (dugong) is recombined and classified Halicore dugung by Trouessart in 1898.

20th century

1906 sees the publication of the influential (Protestant) Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (commonly called the BDB), based on the Hebrew-German lexicon of William Gesenius as translated by Edward Robinson: A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, with an appendix containing the Biblical Aramaic, written by Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver and Charles Augustus Briggs, based on the lexicon of William Gesenius as translated by Edward Robinson. On page 1065 of the BDB is the entry for תחש tahas

"a kind of leather or skin, and perhaps the animal yielding it (probably the dugong, cf. the Arabic t_kh_sh for dolphin; Assyrian tahjsu), for which Dl conj. the meaning sheep(skin); Bondi cp. Egyptian ths, leather...—leather used for (woman's) sandals Ez. 16:10; elsewhere for cover of tabernacle...."

S. M. Perlmann(Zoologist, set 4, XII, 256, 1908) suggests that the okapi, "a species of antelope," is the animal indicated by tachash. The okapi is most closely related to the giraffe. (The okapi and the giraffe belong to the family giraffidae, the antelope belongs to the family bovidae: the okapi is not a species of antelope.)

The only English Catholic Bible in common use (1915) is the Douay-Rheims Version (DV), which says in Exodus 26:14:

"Thou shalt make also another cover to the roof, of rams' skins dyed red; and over that again another cover of violet coloured skins."

The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1907–1914, under "Tabernacle" states simply and directly:

"...Two outer coverings (no dimensions are given), one of dyed rams' skin and one of dugongs' skin, protected the whole structure."

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE), 1915, under the entry "BADGER" states:

"baj'er: tachash: ...Septuagint dermata huakinthina. The Septuagint rendering would mean purple or blue skins, which however is not favored by Talmudic writers or by modern grammarians, who incline to believe that tachash is the name of an animal. The rendering 'badger,' is favored by the Talmudic writers and by the possible etymological connection of the word with the Latin taxus and the German dachs."

The badger is unclean according to Leviticus 11:27-28: "all that go on their paws, among the animals that go on all fours, are unclean to you; whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening". And Leviticus 20:25 says: "you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean."

According to Jewish Hebrew scholars the translation of וערות תחשים as "badgers' skins" has no basis in fact. Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible: Exodus 25:5 "badgers' skins" says, "it is much questionable whether the same creature is meant we call the badger, since that for the Israelites was an unclean creature."

The Targum Yonatan and renowned Hebrew grammarians and translators such as, Judah haNasi (2nd c.), Jerome (4th c.), Saadia Gaon (10th c.), Ibn Janah (11th c.), Nathan ben Jehiel (12th c.), and Avraham Maimon haNagid (13th c.), render עורות תחשים as skins of blue (violet, indigo) and as black (blue-black) leather. The Septuagint has hyacinth skins, and Josephus likened them to the color of the sky. (21st century Jewish translations render the term as blue-processed skins.)

The Soncino Babylonian Talmud, 1938, 1948, 1952, 1962, Shabbath 28b says:

"R. Meir used to maintain, The tahash of Moses' day was a separate species, and the Sages could not decide whether it belonged to the genus of wild beasts or to the genus of domestic animals; and it bad one horn in its forehead, and it came to Moses' hand just for the occasion, and he made the Tabernacle, and then it was hidden. Now, since he says that it had one horn in its forehead, it follows that it was clean."

The New Smith's Bible Dictionary: Badger (Exodus 25:5) says that the word translated into English as "badger" is actually

(Hebrew: Tachash) The antelope, Tachaitze of Eastern Africa, bluish slaty-gray in color. Sculptured in Egypt.

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible, an English translation published in the mid-20th century, poses the first serious challenge to the popularity of the King James Version, aiming to be a readable and literally accurate modern English translation. The translation panel appointed by the International Council of Religious Education (ICRE) uses the traditional Hebrew Masoretic Text for the Old Testament used by the King James translators, rendering 'oroth T'Hashim as goatskins.

Bible versions and translations representative of this opinion at this point in history:

• The English Standard Version (goatskins)
• The Revised Standard Version (goatskins)

  

Halicore Dugung (dugong) is recombined and classified Dugong dugon by Scheffer and Rice in 1963.

Researchers in the discipline of Cryptozoology include in their investigations the (probably) extinct Elasmotherium. The descriptions and illustrations of this cryptid resemble the descriptions of the legendary tahash.

Bible versions and translations of תחש representative of this period in history:

• The World English Bible (sea cow hides)
• The Revised English Bible (dugong-hides)
• The New Jewish Publication Society translation: JPS Tanakh (dolphin, or sea cow)
• The New International Version (sea cow hides)
• The New American Standard Version (porpoise skin)
• The New World Translation (sealskins)
• The American Standard Version (sealskins)

Mid-20th century to beginning 21st century — tachash to tahash

The Anchor Bible Series, a scholarly and commercial co-venture begun in 1956, initiates "a new era of cooperation among scholars in biblical research," which continues over several decades, producing a body of work consisting of a Commentary Series, Bible Dictionary, and Reference Library. According to their research the precise meaning of tehasim is uncertain: during the 20th century Hebrew תחש tahas is often treated as the same as the Arabic term دلفبن tuhas (cf. duhas) for "dolphin," "but this interpretation is not certain."

Tehasim has been connected to an Assyrian word meaning "sheepskin" and an Egyptian word meaning "to stretch or treat leather": tahas seems to be cognate with Akkadian dusu - tuhsia - "goat/sheep leather " out of which the tabernacle cover (Exodus 26:14; Numbers 4:6) and luxury boots and sandals were made (Ezekiel 16:10.) According to this scholarship, "tanned and (blue-)dyed skins" seems to be a more probable meaning for 'orot tehasim than "dugong hides." The editors and translators of the Jewish World ORT translation, Navigating the Bible II, render 'orot tahasim as "blue-processed skins":

Exodus 25:5: "...reddened rams' skins, blue-processed skins, acacia wood,..."

Stephanie Dalley (2000, Journal of Semitic Studies 45:1-19, Faience and Beadwork, Hebrew tahas, Akkadian duhsu) marshalls philological and archaeological evidence as proof that dusu/duhsu/tahas is neither a substance (leather, dye) nor a color, but a technique of sewing blue faience beads onto leather to attain various chromatic effects. William H. C. Propp (2006) cites this research, translating tahas/tahasim as "beaded" ("beaded skins"), in his translation of Exodus in The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40.

The form of the English word for Hebrew tahas is also changed. The Anchor Bible Dictionary's entry and treatment is for TAHASH, not "tachash" (it has no entry for TACHASH.)

The editors of the Encyclopaedia Judaica article TAHASH state that "because the Arabic tukhesh means the sea-mammal Dugong hemprichii, some endeavor to identify it with the tahash." In conclusion, they say, "...the identity of the tahash remains obscure. The AV and JPS translation of 'badger' has no basis in fact."

Importance of textual and cultural and religious context

Given the prohibitions in the Torah (Pentateuch) forbidding the Israelites to touch anything they are to regard as unclean abominations (Leviticus 11 and 20), a great number of commentaries and scholarly articles over the centuries, beginning with the Talmud, have been written discussing the question of why scholars and translators and interpreters familiar with the Biblical text, and familiar with the importance of textual and cultural and religious context, should propose the skin of an unclean, non-kosher "detestable" (NAB) animal "abomination" (KJV, RSV) as the outer covering of the Tabernacle, rather than the skin of a clean, kosher animal, such as the sheep, goat or antelope instead.

" the main text: 'R. Eleazar propounded: can the skin of an unclean animal be defiled with the defilement of tents?' What is his problem?—Said R. Adda b. Ahabah: His question relates to the tahash which was in the days of Moses,—was it unclean or clean? R. Joseph observed, What question is this to him? We learnt it! For the sacred work none but the skin of a clean animal was declared fit.

"R. Abba objected: R. Judah said: There are two coverings, one of dyed rams' skins, and one of tahash skins. R. Nehemiah said: There was one covering and it was like a squirrel. But the squirrel is unclean!—This is its meaning: like a squirrel, which has many colors, yet not the squirrel, for that is unclean, whilst here a clean . Said R. Joseph: That being so, that is why we translate it sasgawna that it rejoices in many colors. ...

"What is our conclusion with respect to the tahash which existed in Moses' days?—Said R. Elai in the name of R. Simeon b. Lakish, R. Meir used to maintain, The tahash of Moses' day was a separate species, and the Sages could not decide whether it belonged to the genus of wild beasts or to the genus of domestic animals; and it bad one horn in its forehead, and it came to Moses' hand just for the occasion, and he made the Tabernacle, and then it was hidden. Now, since he says that it had one horn in its forehead, it follows that it was clean. For R. Judah said, The ox which Adam the first sacrificed had one horn in its forehead, for it is said, and it shall please the Lord better than an ox, or a bullock that hath a horn and hoofs. But makrin implies two?—Said R. Nahman b. Isaac: Mi-keren is written. Then let us solve thence that it was a genus of domestic animal?—Since there is the keresh, which is a species of beast, and it has only one horn, one can say that it is a kind of wild beast."

Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Shabbath, Chapter II, Folio 28a and b

Summary: the current meanings of "tahash"

Legendary animal of Jewish tradition

Students of the Talmud, and of Jewish culture in general, today are fully persuaded by tradition that tekheleth is a blue dye produced by snails and not the color blue, and that Aramaic sasgawon, the Masoretic tahas, is a legendary multi-colored one-horned animal of the desert specially created by Heaven for the adornment of the Mishkan and not a specially prepared and finished leather. This is the modern traditional meaning of tahash. —image of Thomson's Gazelle evocative of "multi-colored" horned tachash.

—See "The Thirteen Middos - Shiur 1", by Rabbi Meir Triebitz.

Badger according to the King James Version

Christians holding the Authorized King James Version of the Bible in highest esteem as the infallible Word of God, today are fully persuaded by tradition that the outer covering of the Tabernacle of the Lord was made of badgers' skins, according to Exodus 25–26, Exodus 35–36, Exodus 39, Numbers 4, and Ezekiel 16:10. This is the modern literal King James meaning of tahash. —image of European badger Meles meles (formerly Meles taxus 16th-17th c.).

Allegorical sign of the community of God: Qahal

According to the spiritual allegorical meaning read into the sacred scriptures by those who are fully persuaded that there is a deeper, richer meaning in the word than appears on the surface, the tahash is the sign of the קהל qahal, the congregation, multitude, assembly of the people whom God has called out from among the nations of the earth to Himself, to submit to Him alone, with all their talents and gifts, and bear witness to His Name. The tachash lifting its horn to the sky is an image like the sight of the Torah being lifted up in the sight of the people. Debates about the "literal" meaning that the word tahash might have had in the past are far less important than the "spiritual meaning" it has for us today. This is the modern allegorical meaning of tahash. —image of Yemeni Jew at morning prayer.

Scholarly interpretations and Bible translations

See Biblical Translations, above:

19th and 20th century Biblical commentaries, dictionaries, encyclopedias, reference works, and study guides and materials for Bible students, propose the meanings "dugong hides, sealskins, sheepskins, fine leathers," or more generally, "a kind of leather, skin, or animal hide," as the meaning of "Heb. tahas, tachash"—sometimes adding that the original meaning is "obscure or uncertain".

—image of dugong.

The meaning favored by students or readers is influenced by their personal perceptions of the reputation of the researchers or scholars of these works expressing opinions viewed by them as most authoritative and/or trustworthy, depending on their perceptions of the religious or secular (non-religious) standing of the authors and researchers, and/or the various reputations of the published works themselves. The current 19th-21st century several meanings of Tahash skins are: "hyacinth" (blue) skins, "indigo" skins, "richly dyed" skins, "joy colors(joyous color)" skins, "purple" skins, "violet" skins, "taisse (lair, den, retreat, hider)" skins, "badger" skins, "seal" skins, "sea cow" hides, "leather", "sheep" skins or "goat" skins, "porpoise" hides, "dugong/manatee" hides, "fine-leather", "soft leather", "antelope" (addax) skins, "tachash" skins, "blue-processed" skins, "(Egyptian faience) beaded" skins.

—image of small blue-green beads

Each of these translations represents a previously modern Biblical meaning of tahash current at the time of its publication, each having proponents and defenders and critics, informed and uninformed, which researchers must understand when presenting the results of their most current studies of the ancient sources.

—See Scripture Text.com multilingual (BibleBrowser) and Online Parallel Bible (bible.cc), in particular Barnes' Notes on the Bible: "Badgers' skins: Rather, leather, probably of a sky-blue color".

Skilled indigo work: translations of the ancient witnesses

Today, because of an increase in knowledge of the languages, the opinions of the ancient witnesses prior to 100 CE / AD 100 have influenced recent translators to render the Hebrew word תחש tahas, t'ch'sh, as English tahash. Other translators and editors choose to render it as the ancient translators variously suggested: fine leather, and blue-processed skins: i.e. soft-dressed indigo-dyed antelope hide, skins of skilled indigo work (beaded), or sheepskins dyed blue. This is the modern linguistic meaning derived from the results of careful archaeological and linguistic studies of the ancient sources. —image of violet pigment tones.

Historical linguistics and Grammatical-Historical Exegesis

Historians and students of history who look to historical documentation of ancient texts for understanding of the past, to discern the "original intent" of the Biblical authors' words by using the most current insights and data available from anthropological, linguistical and etymological studies, today are persuaded that the tahash of the Tanakh was most likely "a species of antelope" of the Levant (citing as support for their opinion material from sources such as those cited and presented in the "Etymology" section of this article, including the centuries-old traditional opinion of the Sages of the Talmud and Rashi's commentary that תחש / תחשים denotes an animal and not the color of the skins covering the Mishkan — see above: Sacred word play: Paranomasia and Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 28a,b: the documented conclusion of the Sages that it was a clean animal.) —image of a species of domestic antelope (addax) native to the Levant.

This is the modern Grammatical-Historical exegesis of the "original Biblical meaning" of tahash.

—See "Soncino Babylonian Talmud", also "Catholic Biblical Exegesis", and "Grammatical-Historical Exegesis of the Bible" by Bruce Terry, and "What Is Exegesis?"

See also

• translation
• talmud
• Ark of the Covenant
• Wolf Leslau (works of)

Notes

1. Hebrew תחש, IPA /t-χ-ʃ/ "T-H-S", ths, TeHaS, tehas, TaHaS, tahas, תחש Tahas, Thachash, Thahash, Tachash, Tahash. (Hebrew letters)—ת "Tav"—ח "Heth"—ש "Shiyn" (approximate articulation "tawv"-"khayth"-"sheen") תחש "T-H-S" or "T-CH-SH": pronounced takhash, takh'-ash, with hard "ch" as in "CHanukkah / Hanukkah," German ch = Greek X (nearly "kh") as in "XP" ("chi-rho", i.e. "khee-hro"), or the Scottish word "loch": from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D., © 1890, by James Strong, Madison, N.J.: Fully Updated and Unabridged: A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Hebrew Bible, © 1890, by James Strong, Madison, N.J.: Hebrew Articulation (page 4), ©1986 by Abingdon Press ISBN 0-529-06679-3. —The editors of Young's Literal Translation (1898), the Soncino Babylonian Talmud (1961), the New American Bible (NAB) (1971), and the Encyclopaedia Judaica 2nd ed. (2007) have rendered the eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet ח Heth as "h": hence, Tahash. —According to the more ancient Biblical Hebrew BH articulation, tahash is properly /t-ħ-s/ or /t-h-s/ (see Hebrew phonology). The ת (Taw) is phonetically somewhere between English "d" and "t" ( dahash / tahash ). The changes in meaning and in pronunciation, ancient and modern, will be discussed in the article.
2. עור "skin", וער "and skin"—The Hebrew word for skin or hide –'or– is ער or עור, without Vav ו at the beginning of the word, unless used in the conjunction ער plus ו, "And skin" or "And hide":—וער. The Vav before the Ayin ע Resh ר Vav ו Taw ת, i.e. , in the following sites is a grammatical conjunction meaning "and": Hebrew - no vowels; Masoretic spelling, Hebrew - plene spelling, Hebrew with Cantillation Marks, Hebrew with Vowels, Hebrew-English - paraellel MT and JPS 1917, Judaica Press Complete Tanach, Judaica Press Complete Tanach with Rashi, Navigating the Bible II and Scrollscraper Tikkun. Coupled with Biblical Hebrew (BH) written in Ktiv haser (meaning consonants are not always in use) 'וער' transliterated 've'or means "and leather/skin" (with conjunction)—the spelling 'עור' simply means "skin" without conjunction (see Numbers 4). Strong's number 5783 and 5785: (5783) עור 'uwr oor a primitive root; to bare (be bare): to be made naked: (5785) עור 'owr, ore (from 5783 עור 'uwr oor) skin (as naked); by implication hide, leather, skin. —The letter 'Ayin ע is generally neglected (passed over silently in reading) by Occidentals, owing to the difficulty they experience in pronouncing it accurately. James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D. Strongs's Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Hebrew Bible: Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary of The Old Testament. 1890, Madison, N.J. p. 4. ISBN 0-529-06679-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
3. Compare the Jewish translation "Tachash"—Shemot-Exodus 25, 26, 35, 36, 39; and Bamidbar-Numbers 4; and the Christian translation "Tahash"—Exodus 25, 26, 35, 36, 39; and Numbers 4
4. The word " תחש " ( ancient Phoenician spelling: ) literally means set apart/marked(-ly)/distinct(-ly) – תה / תאה – pronounced "taw, taw-ah" — plus — Lo!, behold! – ה / הא – pronounced "hay" – and – swift/quick, dark/black/hide(away) – חש / חוש – pronounced "koosh". — For monosyllabic root תא ) ת ) as a prefix to a biliteral root חש or הש see Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar §30: Stems and Roots; Biliteral, Triliteral, and Quadriliteral: "...a combination of two roots (is) a simple method of forming expressions to correspond to more complex ideas."
5. See links provided at: Semitic primary root hesh.
6. DV, BBE, RSV, NJB, NRSV, GW, NavBib-II—see section "Biblical Translations".
7. see dialectology, comparative method, historical linguistics, comparative linguistics and pseudoscientific language comparison; also etymological fallacy and false etymology.
8. ssgwn, sasgawna, sas-gona—these transliterated forms of ססגונא are according to the interpretation of the letter waw / vav ו as a mater lectionis—sas-gavna is the transliterated form according to the interpretation of the letter ו as a consonant.
9. The Greek-speaking author/compiler of the Physiologus does not include "tahash" as the name of any one of the animals known to the ancient world. This suggests that the Hebrew word "tahash" did not denote any animal known to them or that they did not use any Hebrew word for one. This is not "proof" that the tahash itself was not included among the animals in the Physiologus. For example: The Hebrew word דשן dishon means "antelope". Use of the English word "antelope" by naturalists today as a common general name for the swift kosher creature of the Middle East does not mean that the Biblical dishon did not exist. It only means that the English word is used by them, not the Hebrew. For the same reason, the Greek-speaking author of the Physiologus is not expected to use the Hebrew word "tahash".
10. According to the Sages (Baba Metzia 61b) the color of the indigo dye from the indigofera tinctoria is identical in color to tekhelet—the color of kela ilan indigo blue dye is tekhelet blue: "...it is I who will exact vengeance from him who... vegetable dye and maintains that it is blue." (Bava Mezia 61b)
11. Because "Tahash" is not included in the 5th century Physiologus, this suggests that the Hebrew word "tahash" at that time was not understood or known as the name of an animal by any of the Greek- and Latin-speaking natural historians of that period, or before, or it would have been used by them. This is significant for understanding the development and history of the meaning of the word through the ages.
12. See also Panther: Illustration.
13. Simon Thassi also called Simon Maccabeus (140 BCE) high priest and ethnarch of the Jews was "clothed in purple" and wore gold. "And the Jews and their priests decided that Simon should be their leader and high priest for ever...and that he should be clothed in purple and wear gold." 1 Maccabees 14:41-43 (RSV)
14. Similarly, by way of example, even when they look the same the metals bright nickel and yellow brass are not the same as pure silver and 24 Karat gold.
15. Indigo was not defined as a spectral color until Sir Isaac Newton (17th century) arbitrarily increased the number of colors named in the optical spectrum from the traditional six colors to seven, to match the seven musical notes of a western major scale, the seven (known) planets (Sol, Mercury, Venus, Luna, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn), the seven days of the week, and other lists of seven. But before Newton, the color indigo was called blue or violet.
16. see
17. The Etymologiae is relevant because it does not mention the Hebrew word tahash. If the Hebrew word "tahash" had been commonly known as the name of an animal known to the ancient and medieval world outside of the Jewish community it certainly would have been included in this work. (It is evident from the Etymologiae that Isidore was aware of Classical Greco-Roman natural histories and of African and Middle Eastern and Talmudic and Rabbinical traditions; it is not evident that he knew the Hebrew word tahash as the name of an animal.)
18. Each tachash skin could be made into a single finished curtain 30 cubits in length and 4 cubits in width. (With a standard ancient cubit estimated at 17.5 inches, that makes a single finished curtain measure 58 feet, 4 inches long, by 5 feet, 9 and 15/16 inches wide.)
19. Cultivated plants and domesticated animals in their migrations from Asia to Europe, by Victor Hein, page 493 ("note 84, page 352"): "Here we follow the common opinion, namely, that tasso, taxo, taxus, badger..." —Old French.
20. For an understanding of scholarship in the 17th century: See Etymological fallacy, pseudoscientific language comparison, Medieval etymology, false etymology, ignorance (different from stupidity), and History of the scientific method.
21. 1776 — In 1843 Eduard Ruppell designated the dugong as Halicore tabernaculi. The "timeline" of changes in the scientific name of this animal begins here with the first official 1776 zoological classification of the dugong as Trichechus dugon—instead of the much later 1843 Halicore tabernaculi—and lists each of the changes in the scientific name as they occur over the following decades.
22. see Cryptozoology: cryptids. The investigations of cryptozoologists 1892-2010 do not include the Jewish word "tahash" as listing any kind of animal unknown to naturalists or rumored to exist. For example, Willy Ley's book, Exotic Zoology, 1959, 481 pages, discusses the legendary unicorn with reference to the Talmud, showing his awareness of Jewish legend and folklore, but he does not use the word "tachash" or "tahash".
23. Talmud: Tractate Shabbath 28a,b.—–see the Geonim 589-1038, the Rishonim 11th-15th centuries, the Acharonim 16th century to present. A general listing of their works can be seen at Rabbinical literature. See History of responsa (covering answers to questions asked over a period of 1,700 years) and Jewish Commentaries. The following articles are informative: —Kosher animals—Jewish Encyclopedia: Clean and Unclean Animals.
24. "bad" is the older form of the past tense for "bear": i.e. "and it bore one horn on its forehead..."
25. search "Nahman bar Isaac" (not "ben Isaac") then click on "JewishEncyclopedia.com- NAHMAN BAR ISAAC" for article.

References

1. SearchGodsWord.org Strong's number 5785 and Strong's Hebrew Lexicon number 5785
2. "ערש תחשים oroth techashim: Few terms have afforded greater perplexity to critics and commentators than this. Bochart has exhausted the subject, and seems to have proved that no animal is here intended, but a color." Adam Clarke—Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary (1831): Exodus 25:5 "Badger skins" —–"T'hasim (singular tahas) is an ancient riddle...." William H. C. Propp, The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40: Volume 2A, 2006, p. 374. —–"The identity of the tahash remains obscure." Encyclopedia Judaica, Second Edition, 2007, Volume 19 SOM-TN, "TAHASH", p. 435a.
3. Anchor Bible Dictionary: TAHASH: "Hebrew tehas...."
4. S. Dalley, Journal of Semitic Studies 45:1-19, Faience and Beadwork, 2000, and William H. C. Propp, The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40 Volume 2A, Nov. 2006, p. 374.
5. Navigating the Bible II: select' STUDY: Translation.
6. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Hebrew Lexicon "badger" 8476 tachash ("probably a species of antelope") —The New Smith's Bible Dictionary: Badger: "(Hebrew: Tachash). The antelope, Tachaitze of Eastern Africa, bluish slaty-gray in color. Sculptured in Egypt." —The New American Bible translators (Deuteronomy 14:15) interpret דושון dishon as "addax", from the same word as the KJV "pygarg" and RSV "antelope, Strong's number 1758. —see Addax. —No other particular species of antelope has been proposed by Bible translators as translation of dishon דושון (see List of animals in the Bible: "antelope", from Ian A. Stuart. Kathy Hall (ed.). The Animals' Bible. Thirteenth Level Media, Canada. p. 499. ISBN 0986571504, 9780986571503. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)). In ancient times, addax spread from North Africa through Arabia and the Levant. According to the Torah the addax is a "clean / kosher" animal: it chews the cud and divides the hoof. Deuteronomy 14:4-6. The translators of the authoritative Strong's number 8476 say that tahash is "probably a species of antelope." None of these facts, either individually or taken together, can be taken as proof that the particular antelope species addax is identical with tahash, only that professional scholars believe it is the most probable species. "The identity of the tahash remains obscure." (Encyclopedia Judaica: "TAHASH")
7. Rupell & Leuckart, 1828, 1831 see Phaneropthalmus smaragdinus: Rupell and Leuckart, 1828 and Hexabranchus pulchellus: main page: Taxonomic notes: "This species is listed as Hexabranchus sanguineus (Rupell and Leuckart, 1831.)"
8. see The Probert Encyclopedia: Dugong: "A variety was discovered in the Red Sea by Ruppell, and called Halicore tabernaculi."(1843) Its zoological name has been changed several times: see The Paleobiology Database: enter Halicore tabernaculi in top field, click [SEARCH]: then select view classification of included taxa: Classification of Trichechus dugon (Halicore tabernaculi Ruppell/Rupell 1843): The chronological listing of the zoological classification of the dugong: Trichechus dugung Erxleben 1777——Dugong indicus Lacepede 1799——Dugong dugong Illiger 1811——Halicore hemprichii and Halicore lottum Ehrenberg 1832——Halicore tabernaculi Ruppell 1843——Halicore australis Owen 1847——Halicore cetacea Heuglin; it was recombined as Halicore dugung Trouessant 1898——it was recombined as "Dugong dugon" Scheffer and Rice 1963, also Husar 1978, Domning 1994, 1996, and Rice 1998.
9. Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition, 2007, Volume 19 SOM-TN: "TAHASH", page 435a. see Biblical Translations.
10. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE): "Badger", also Barnes' Notes on the Bible: Exodus 25
11. Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed., Vol. 19: SOM-TN, 2007, p. 435: "TAHASH" "...because the Arabic tukhesh means the sea-mammal Dugong hemprichi, some endeavor to identify it with the tahash."
12. Encyclopedia Judaica: TAHASH; International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: BADGER; and Kolel's Parasha Study number 1999 "...it seems much more fun to imagine that the tachash could be a giraffe, a narwhal, or a mythical unicorn."
13. Methods in the Mediterranean: historical and archaeological views on texts & archaeology. p. 258. ISBN 978-9004095816.
14. List of animals in the Bible: "Addax" and "Antelope"—Ian A. Stuart. Kathy Hall (ed.). The Animals' Bible. Thirteenth Level Media. p. 499. ISBN 0986571504, 9780986571503. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)—The New Smith's Bible Dictionary: Badger: "(Hebrew: Tachash). The antelope, Tachaitze of Eastern Africa, bluish slaty-gray in color. Sculptured in Egypt."
15. The Torah u-Madda Journal: Giraffe: A Halakhically Oriented Dissection, Doni Zivotofsky, Ari Z. Zivotofsky and Zohar Amar.
16. "And rams' skins dyed red, and violet skins, and setim wood:" (DV) (A.D. 1610). See Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible: Exodus 25:5: where he says that the Septuagint calls 'orot tahashim hyacinth skins or blue skins, according to which they appear to be the rams' skins dyed blue, citing Josephus.
17. The New American Bible, Saint Joseph Edition. © 1970, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C., Catholic Book Publishing Company, New York, N.Y. p. 83. footnote Exodus 25:5: "Tahash: ...The Greek and Latin versions took it for the color hyacinth." —See also SearchGodsWord.com Greek Lexicon number 5192 huakinthos "jacinth (hyacinth)" and Strong's Concordance Greek Lexicon 5191/5192 "jacinth (hyacinth)
18. Alfred Ely-Day. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915): "Badger". (end of entry). See K. A. Kitchen. Some Egyptian Background to the Old Testament: Tyndale Bulletin: Volume: TYNBUL 06:1 (Apr 1960). University of Liverpool. pp. 7–8, footnote 29.—"Heb. tahash is probably best derived from the old Egyptian word tj-h-s, 'to treat leather', Erman & Grapow, Worterbuch d. Aeg. Sprache, V, 396, 7. So Bondi, Aegyptiaca, 1-4, corrected by Griffith, in Petrie, Deshasheh, 1898, 45-6, and revival by Albright and Cross, Bibl. Archaeol., 10, (1947), 62 and n. 22."—See W. M. Flinders Petrie, D.C.L., LL.D, Ph.D. Deshasheh, 1897. The Offices of the Egypt Exploration Fund, London, 1898.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (Full text of "Deshasheh, 1897").
19. Sharphouse, J.H. (1983). Leather Technician's Handbook. Leather Producer's Association. ISBN 0950228516.
20. Simmons, Rabbi Shraga. "Tallit stripes" He states that the blue stripes of the tallit later morphed into black stripes; Rabbi Yehudah, Yerusahlmi (Jerusalem Talmud), Shabbath 2:3; Arukh s.v. Teynun; Koheleth Rabbah 1:9; Josephus 3:6:1 (3.102), 3:6:4 (3.132); Septuagint; Aquila; Saadia Gaon; Jonah ibn Janah; Avraham Maimon ha-Nagid (see Navigating the Bible II, Shemot-Exodus 25:5 –footnote to "blue-processed skins").
21. Talmud Bavli: Tractate Baba Mezia 61b: "...it is I who will exact vengeance from him who... blue."—Soncino Babylonian Talmud.
22. The statements in this section are from the Anchor Bible Series: Anchor Bible (Ezekiel 16:10, Comments) and the Anchor Bible Dictionary: "TAHASH".
23. Tyndale Bulletin 5-6 (April 1960) "Some Egyptian Background To The Old Testament" by K. A. Kitchen, University of Liverpool, p. 7-8, footnote 29, citing Erman & Grapow, Worterbuch d. Aeg. Sprache, V, 396, 7—J. H. Bondi, Aegyptiaca 1-4—Griffith, in Petrie, Deshahsheh, 1898, 45-46—Albright and Cross, Bibl. Archaeol., 10, (1947), 62 and n.22.
24. Alfred Ely-Day, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915): "Badger"; and Brown Driver Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon, page 1065 † תחש tehas.
25. Navigating the Bible II: Exodus 25:5 —footnote: blue-processed skins.
26. Navigating the Bible II (2000), GW (1995), NAB (1991), NRSV (1989), NJB (1985), RSV (1952), BBE (1949).
27. Alfred Ely-Day, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915): "Badger". —S. M. Perlmann: Shanghai businessman and scholar, 1912. see Kaifeng Jews.
28. see Kolel's Parasha Study number 1999 and Strong's Concordance Hebrew Lexicon number 2363 hish, and hoosh.
29. Flavius Josephus (1835), "The works of Flavius Josephus: the ...", books.google.co.uk, Armstrong and Plaskitt, and Plaskitt & Co., retrieved 11 December 2010 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |Chapter= ignored (|chapter= suggested) (help)
30. Barnes' Notes on the Bible: Exodus 25:5 "leather, probably of a sky-blue color".
31. SearchGodsWord.org Hebrew Lexicon 3550 כהניא and Strong's Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary of The Old Testament 3550 kəhunnah, and 3547 כהן kahan ...(fig.) put on regalia, (i.e. regalia of great dignity/authority.)
32. The Complete Jewish Bible With Rashi Commentary Yehezkel-Ezekiel 16:10: " I put shoes of glory on your feet."
33. Greek huakinthinos, also huakinthos: —KJV jacinth.
34. The table of contents. Physiologus, Translated by Michael J. Curley: First translation into English of the Latin versions of Physiologus as established by Francis Carmody, 92 pages, c. 1979 by the University of Texas Press. Woodcuts in this edition are reproduced from the 1587 G. Ponce de Leon edition of Physiologus, courtesy of the Newberry Library, Chicago. ISBN 0-292-76456-1. Notes included tell the reader, "The legend of the unicorn arises out of reports concerning the rhinoceros." p. 86
35. Jerusalem Talmud Yerushalmi: Shabbath 2:3. Also Eccles. R. 1:9—Encyclopaedia Judaica: "Tahash". The reference Eccles. R. 1:9 designates a text in the mishnaic compendium: Ecclesiastes Rabba 1:9 or Qohelet Rabba 1:9 (Qoh. Rab. 1:9): in context, the notation R. or Rab. or Rabbah designates the mishnaic compendium within the Talmud. see Midrash and Aggadah.
36. Adam Clarke—"The Septuagint and Vulgate have skins dyed a violet color; the Syriac, azure; the Arabic, black; the Coptic, violet; the modern Persic, ram-skins. The color contended for by Bochart is a very deep blue." Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary.
37. The Kabbalists and the Hasidim, for example, see deeper meanings in every word of the Torah. Geoffrey Wigoder, G.G. (ed.). The New Encyclopedia of Judaism. The Jerusalem Publishing House, Ltd. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help) Allegory Occasionally, extensive allegorization can be found in the Talmud and Midrash. Allegorical interpretation was adopted by the rabbis as a device for expanding a sacred text. ——Jewish Encyclopedia: ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION ——Beacons on the Talmud's Sea: Analyses of Passages From The Talmud And Issues In Halachah, Adapted From The Works of The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson. published and copyright by Sichos in English. ——Barnes' Notes on the Bible: Galatians 4 It is well known how fond the Jews were of allegorizing. Every thing in the law was with them an allegory. Their Talmud is full of these; and one of their most sober and best educated writers, Philo, abounds with them. ——JewishEncyclopedia.com - Parable: In the Talmud. ——H. Polano, 1876. The Talmud: Selections: Introduction. The Talmud, Its Nature and Scope, with a Chronological Table of its Compilation..{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) ——Ochs, Peter. Judaism: June 22, 1997: Article: From Peshat to Derash and back again: Talmud for the modern religious Jew. ——Parashat Terumah – Shemot (Exodus) 25:01 to 27:19. ——Aish.com The Lively Parsha Overview, by Rabbi Avi Geller: Trumah (Exodus 25:1-27:19) A Symbolic Description of the Tabernacle (c) Tachash skins according to the Midrash, a giant rainbow-colored unicorn found only at this time in the wilderness. ——See Pardes (Jewish exegesis). See also Allegorical sign of the community of God with note containing additional external links discussing allegorical interpretation.
38. "already in their possession". So Rashi: Shabbos Parshas Terumah, 6th day of Adar, 5747, published and copyrighted by Sichos In English: under "The Rashis and the questions", we are told that in the case of the techashim which no longer exist it was necessary that Rashi state in his Commentary that they were a species of animal which did exist and was available to the people at that time, so that the people had techashim skins with them.
39. Shemos (Book 2: Exodus) Terumah: Rashi Exodus 25:5.
40. Zoo Torah: Contents: Education: see section "Education"—–Zoo Torah by Rabbi Natan Slifkin and Perek Shirah (text). The "wild beast" of Perek Shirah includes the tahash: R. Nahman b. Isaac said, "one can say that it is a kind of wild beast." Shabbath 28b. See PaRDeS and Allegorical sign of the community of God. Jewish Rabbinical Pardes exegesis is similar to Catholic Christian Medieval fourfold allegorical interpretation —see 20th century Catholic Document Divino Afflante Spiritu
41. Babylonian Talmud: Shabbath 28a,b.
42. Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed. 2007, "TAHASH". Rabbi Yehudah Jerusalem Talmud (Yerushalmi), Shabbath, 2:3. See Garments of Salvation – Ancient Dyes: "blue-processed skins" —see also commentaries under ANCIENT DYES for discussions of "tekhelet", "sky-blue" and "blue processed skins".
43. see Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: "BLUE" tkeleth: 40 bible-verse references: 39 of them keyed to Strong's (Hebrew Lexicon) number 8504 "tkeleth", and 1 to Strong's number 8336 "shesh". There is 1 related entry for "BLUENESS" keyed to number 2250 which begins with the root "cH' / kH'." Note at entry 8504 the words: "...i.e. the color violet...or stuff dyed therewith:—blue." The source of the blue or purple violet color used by the ancients at the time of Moses is the subject of the debate. see Semantic change.
44. The Free Library: "Tyrian purple".
45. Rabbi Yehudah, Yerushalmi, Shabbath 2:3; Arukh s.v. Teynun; Koheleth Rabbah 1:9; Josephus, Antiquities 3:6:1, 3:6:4; Septuagint; Aquila; Saadia; Ibn Janah; Avraham Maimon haNagid.
46. {Cite book|title=The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville|author=Stephen A. Barney, W. J. Lewis, J. A. Beach, and Oliver Berghof, translation and copyright 2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press, The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK. information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521837491|isbn=0-521-83749-9}}.
47. Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, pp. 251-2. See The Medieval Bestiary: Animals in the Middle Ages: Unicorn.
48. "black leather (dark blue skins)" —Navigating the Bible II: Exodus 25: –footnote: "blue-processed skins."
49. Jewish Encyclopedia: Ibn Janah, Abu al-Walid Merwan
50. Navigating the Bible II: Exodus 25: –footnote: blue-processed skins.
51. Navigating the Bible II: Exodus 25: footnote: blue-processed skins.
52. Biographical information on Rashi at Answers.com—Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Rashi; Gale Encyclopedia of Biography: Rashi; Encyclopedia of Judaism: Rashi; Columbia Encyclopedia: Rashi.
53. Talmud: Shabbat 28a,b —see Kolel's Parasha Study, number 1999.
54. see Judaica Press Complete Tanach with Rashi (Chabad.org)—scroll down to the commentary on verse 10. "... badger,...". See also כהניא kəhunnah –All Targums on a verse (Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon). Also Numbers Rabbah 14:3; Hullin 89a. For further discussion of Targum Yonatan reading of תחשים as a color ("glory") כהניא see the article "Blue in Judaism".
55. See Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible: Exodus 25:5 "...and it is much questionable whether the same creature is meant we call the badger, since that with the Israelites was an unclean creature..."
56. Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible: Exodus 25:5 "...and it is much questionable whether the same creature is meant we call the badger..." (badger). —Also Strong's number 8476 (for "badgers'") "...prob. a species of antelope...". —Also Encyclopedia Judaica: TAHASH "...The AV and JPS translation of 'badger' has no basis in fact."
57. ON THIS DATE "Rabbi Abraham Maimon Ha-Nagid"
58. Navigating the Bible II: Exodus 25: –footnote: blue-processed skins—see also Garments of Salvation - Ancient Dyes: scroll down to "blue processed skins". See Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary Exodus 25:5: The Septuagint and Vulgate have skins dyed a violet color; the Syriac, azure; the Arabic, black; the Coptic, violet; the modern Persic, ram-skins. The color contended for by Bochart is a very deep blue.
59. Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed., Vol. 19 SOM-TN, 2007, page 435.
60. basilisk: see Isaiah 14:29, Psalm 90:13, Biblia Sacra Vulgata, Douay-Rheims Bible (Psalm 91:13 Hebrew/Protestant versions)
61. Talmud: Chullin 59b. The keresh is a giant deer, the tigris is a giant lion, Dvei Ilai is a dense forest.
62. Encyclopedia Judaica article "TAHASH" says that because the Arabic tukhesh means the sea-mammal Dugong hemprichii, some have endeavored to identify it with the tahash.
63. Bible translations: ASV 1901, NWT 1961, NASB 1971, NIV 1978, JPS Tanakh 1985.
64. Exodus 25:5; 26:14; 35:7; 35:23; 36:19; 39:24; Numbers 4:6; 4:8; 4:10; 4:11; 4:12; 4:14; 4:25; Ezekiel 16:10
65. Brown-Driver-Briggs: at linked site locate index number , click it: image of page 1065 will appear on right, enlarge the page, locate fourth entry down †i. תחש tahas...
66. S. M. Perlmann, Shanghai businessman and scholar. See article Kaifeng Jews "History" 9th paragraph, "Despite their isolation...", 6th sentence, "S. M. Perlmann, a Shanghai businessman..."
67. Alfred Ely-Day, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) "Badger" (end of entry).
68. Encyclopedia Judaica, 2nd ed., 2007: TAHASH.
69. The New Smith's Bible Dictionary: Introduction
70. V. B. Scheffer and D. W. Rice. 1963. A list of the marine animals of the world. United States Fish and Wildlife Service Special Scientific Report--Fisheries 143:1-12.
71. The Anchor Bible, Vol. 22, Ezekiel 1-20, 1964, page 270: "XV. Jerusalem the Wanton. Ezekiel 16:10", page 278: Comment: "tahas, out of which..." The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. 6 Si-Z, 1992, page 298, TABERNACLE: d. The Outer Enclosures; and page 307, TAHASH: "Heb. tahas..." —dusu/duhsu a reddish-yellow stone or leather of that color used for sandals and other purposes. William H. C. Propp, The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40: Volume 2A: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, Nov. 2006 (First Edition) p. 374.
72. The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40: Volume 2A, p. 310 "5 and reddened ram skins and beaded skins and acacia wood," and p. 374 "beaded skins T'hasim (singular tahas) is an ancient riddle that has now been solved..."
73. Chanan Morrison. Gold from the Land of Israel: A New Light on the Weekly Torah Portion from the Writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook. p. 147. ISBN 978-9657108925.
74. Natan Slifkin. Sacred Monsters: Mysterious and Mythical Creatures of Scripture, Talmud and Midrash. p. 68. ISBN 978-1933143187.
75. Soncino Babylonian Talmud: Translated into English, with notes, glossary and indices, under the editorship of Rabbi Dr. I. Epstein, B.A., Ph.D., D. Lit., c. 1938, 1948, 1952, 1961, The Soncino Press, London.
76. Chanan Morrison, Gold from the Land of Israel: A New Light on the Weekly Torah Portion from the Writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook, pages 147ff, showing that God uses all of creation; —Natan Slifkin, Sacred Monsters: Mysterious and Mythical Creatures of Scripture, Talmud and Midrash, pages 68ff; —Kolel's Parasha Study number 1999; —The Jerusalem Jewish Voice: The Weekly Torah Reading--A First Glance Bamidbar: Numbers 1:1-4:20: A COLORFUL CARAVAN The tachash was known for its speed; its use here symbolizes the unimpeded speed with which Torah must be spread, as the Jewish folk wanders the desert of history. —Partners In Torah: The Melvin Magerman Parsha Partner: 14 Sivan 5769, 6 June 2009: Parsha Pointers: Talking Points NASO: Parshas Naso, by Rabbi Elazar Meisels Tachash hides symbolized the physical world. —The OU/NCSY Israel Center: Torah tidbits: MISC section - contents: 4. Words of Wisdom, Words of Wit, by Shmuel Himelstein: "What is a TACHASH?" —Chulin, 60: Thoughts on the daily daf: (single horn) It had only one horn coming out of the middle of its head. This symbolized following the single, straight and logical way, the way of Hashem, and not deviate due to personal desires. It was used to show that the Jewish people repented for their sin. —Rabbi Kook on Terumah: Tachash and Erev Rav: It represents the desire to include as many talents and gifts as possible – even those that, on their own, might be negative – when building up the nation. This specifically relates to Moses' decision to allow the "Erev Rav" (the "Mixed Multitudes") join the Jewish people as they left Egypt. —Learning Torah.org Terumah: The Tachash and the Erev Rav, Rav Kook (Chanan Morrison) —Torah MiTzion: Religious Zionist Kollels: Parsha Online: Parshat Vayakhel: Tachash and Gold: The Tachash is viewed as the interface between eternal values and a particular (temporal) reality. —OU טרה Torah Insights, by Rabbi Avraham Fischer: Shabbat Parshat Bamidbar, 26 Iyar 5765 - June 3, 2005 the tachash covering of the holy vessels of the Mishkan during transport shows how precious and special they are. This is similar to the concept of Tzniut, modesty and inwardness, in which the concealment of the body indicates the uniqueness and kedushah of the soul which is within (Tehillim 48:14; Micha 6:8; Tanchuma Ki Tissa 31; Rut Rabba 4:8). —mlc The Meaningful Life Center: the coarse leather "covering" made from the hide of a tachash corresponds to a society and environment even more corrupting than a person's own negative inclinations—physical life enmeshed in bobily needs and relationships, in negative drives and inclinations, and in a world still distant from its creator, Based on an address by the Rebbe, Shabbat Bamidbar 5725 (June 5, 1965) —Hadrash Ve-Haiyun Dor Rev'i, Efraim Levine: The Midrash (Torah Sh'laima Shemos 48) says that just by looking at the tachash one's anxiety would dissipate. The outer covering of these utensils was tachash, the hide that evoked joy. This is symbolic of our approach to mitzvos. When approaching a mitzvah one's initial emotion should be joy. —Parsha In Depth The materials donated correspond to the components of the human being: tachash skins, the scalp. The Mishkan is the equivalent of the universe (Midrash Rabbah). Thus the tachash expressed the true nature of every creation: that it exists to the sole end of serving and revealing the divine essence implicit within it (The Lubavitcher Rebbe). —The Jerusalem Jewish Voice: The Weekly Torah Reading--A First Glance: VAYIKRA ("He called...") LEVITICUS 1:1-5:26 the Mishkan also resembles God's other microcosmos, Man--it too has outer "skin" (the outer curtains of goat and tachash skins). —Zohar III, 152a the biblical stories are only the outer garment of the Torah; —The Tabernacle: a makeshift sanctuary in the wilderness, by Rabbi Louis Jacobs, from The Jewish Religion: A Companion, published by Oxford University Press, which says that the purpose of the Tabernacle was not for God to reside there inside of it, but as an example to encourage them to make room for God in their hearts, dedicating the ultimate value of many forces in the world, the multiple colors of the tahash a metaphor that represents the desire to include as many talents and gifts as possible; —Rabbi Judah ben Tema (Ethics of the Fathers, 5.20) counselling the people to be strong as the leopard and swift as the eagle, fleet as the gazelle and brave as the lion to do the will of thy Father in Heaven; —Perek Shirah, an ancient midrash, assigns verses from Scripture to various elements of the natural world, teaching lessons on life and the universe (includes the "wild beast" of the Talmud, Shabbat 28a,b, which the sages say includes the tachash, "a kind of wild beast", Rabbi Nehemiah) —Jewish Encyclopedia: SHIRAH, PEREK (PIRKE): —–a metaphor to Christians of the kingdom of God: Acts 10:1-35 the great curtain containing all kinds of animals, Matthew 13:47 the great net that gathered every kind, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 the community itself as the dwelling of the Spirit of God, Revelation 21:26 the glory and honor of the gentile nations brought into it, C. H. Raven, God's Sanctuary, John Ritchie Ltd., 1991 ISBN 9780946351312 —–Moses Tabernacle–Foreshadows Christ Redemption: For the Eyes of Your Understanding: Volume VII: Christ in the Tabernacle–A Foreshadow of Redemption: Volume 7–Table of Contents: Chapter 4–Coverings for the Tent: Badgers' Skin Covering represents the covering of the Abrahamic Covenant.–—The Jewish Virtual Library: Allegory—–Bible Encyclopedia.com: Allegory. —CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Types in Scripture. ——See: Typology, Aristobulus, Philo, Kabbalah, sensus mystica.
77. SearchGodsWord.org Hebrew Lexicon 08476 תחש and Eliyah.com on-line Strong's Hebrew Lexicon number 8476: "tahash, takh'-ash; prob. of for. der.; a (clean) animal with fur, prob. a species of antelope—badger." —Smith's Bible Dictionary: "Badger": (Hebrew: Tachash). The antelope, Tachaitze of Eastern Africa, bluish slaty-gray in color. Sculptured in Egypt. —See Addax as the most probable meaning of "dishon" (antelope), from The Animals' Bible, by Ian A. Stuart, Kathy Hall, ed.. The word for the particular antelope "addax" is phonetically very similar to the Hebrew " 'adash" and "tahash". Another antelope that anciently ranged the region of the Levant is the Oryx. Both are multi-colored, each has a distinctive, singular horn. The NAB translation (Deut. 14:5) lists the addax and the oryx separately: the NJB lists them as "antelope and oryx"; the REB lists them as "white-rumped deer and long-horned antelope".

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