Snails Blood and Tassles? Clams and Heaven's Gates?

In a previous post titled "Go Tallit on the Mountain," I mentioned that I was going to get some tallit katan (shown right) and they finally showed up! I ordered them from Jerusalem, and the tzitzits are hand tied, solid white. The type that I ordered are certified kosher (yes, kosher covers more than just food), and I will be ordering the blue thread soon.
I have mentioned the "particular color of blue" before, and mentioned that I would write more on that later, so here you go...

The scriptures tell us to include a "blue" thread in the fringes that are to be tied on to the four corners of our garments. I say "blue" because the word for "blue" in Hebrew is Tekhelet. This sounds simple enough, but it turns out that for many centuries, the Jewish people have been unable to find the exact type of blue. Instead of just taking any old blue (which is what I have been doing for the past four years), many Jews prefer not to use any blue thread at all, for fear of having the wrong one.

In the Talmud (sort of like a huge commentary on the Old Testament, written by Jewish sages from long ago), the instructions are given for making this special blue, and as it turns out, it is more difficult than those of us in the West would think.

It all starts with a tiny snail that lives in the Mediterranean Sea called a "chilazon." This tiny shellfish's blood is used for the die. Now, before I go any further, this will sound strange to those of you who know Torah; all shellfish are unclean - an abomination to God's people. Isn't that a little peculuare? To me, it is as odd as the "Pearly Gates." After all, the pearl is an irritation to the abomination we call a clam, right? Strange.
At any rate, the Talmud didn't have photos, and the identity of the "chilazon" was lost. Evidently, they have found it and are making it again, which is good for us, but leaves one to question the Kabulistic writings that tell us "the chilazon will not reemerge until the coming of the Messiah."
...but I have no problems questioning Kabulistic writings. For the time being, the blue blood of the chilazon is good enough for me.

See what I mean? That's a lot of information to sort through! It is awesome to know that our God is who He is. I know that His grace is sufficiant for me - and because of that, I want to obey Him with all of my heart.

I'lll try the new blue, when I get the extra money - in the mean time, I forgot to tell you how much I prefer the tallit katan over the "belt-loop-tzis." I know that that is the right way for me to fulfill this Commandment.

Now, should I start wearing a head covering all the time? I have some study material that claims just that, and it is getting harder and harder to deny it's validity - I may be donning a kippa in the future; but for now, I'm going to keep searching it out in God's Word.

(I used chabad.org for this article)