Shabbos Parashas Shelach - 5774

Shabbos Parashas Shelach - 5774

Rabbi Hal Miller

It shall constitute tzitzis for you, that you may see it and remember all

the commandments of G-d and perform them and not stray after your heart and

after your eyes after which you stray. [Bamidbar 15:39]

While it may seem a simple and straightforward commandment, tzitzis is one of

the most confusing. We are not required to wear tzitzis. If we wear a four

cornered garment, it must have these fringes, but there is no requirement to

ever wear a four cornered garment. One can go through life without ever

putting on tzitzis, and not be in violation of any Torah command. Why is this

a Torah mitzvah?

The Gemora in Menachos [43b] says about tzitzis, "This precept is equal in

weight to all the precepts." Clearly this is important. What do the tzitzis

actually represent?

Nechama Leibowitz asks why on this commandment. She says, "The tzitzis are not

commanded merely to be made and worn on the four corners of one's garments,

but also to be seen. What are the implications of this seeing?" She then cites

the next verse [15:40] "So that you remember and perform all My commandments

and be holy to your G-d." The same Gemora says, "Teaching that seeing leads to

remembering, remembering to doing".

Many commentators work from the viewpoint of 'remembrance'. Ramban, for example

says, "that they should remember all the commandments and not forget the

Sabbath or any of the other commandments." He goes on that "Rashi writes that

it is because the numerical value of tzitzis in gematria is six hundred, and

the eight strings and five knots added yield 613", then shoots it down as the

word tzitzis in the Torah is spelled in such a way that this calculation does

not work.

Sforno explains the remembering as "This reminder will be due to your looking

at the fringes that may be viewed as if their king had placed a stamp on your

bodies confirming that the wearer is one of his subjects."

Ibn Ezra says it is "in order to remember not to err and commit a sin."

But all of these 'remembrance' commentaries, while interesting, do not tell

us why this is a commandment instead of just a good idea.

Nachshoni brings Tosafos in our Gemara that says, "tzitzis were a stamp placed

on a slave's clothing to anounce his status", indicating that in pre-Torah

days, slaves were required to wear some kind of identifying mark when out in

public. The fringes commanded here are G-d's mark on the Jewish people to

identify us to the rest of the world.

Abarbanel expands on this. "Our acts imprint their stamp upon the soul and

through constant repetition the performance of the act becomes easy. The Torah

commanded us to wear tzitzis in order to embed the memory of the mitzvos

deeply in our hearts."

Tzitzis are a good idea. They remind us constantly to do the right thing. They

are also a commandment, with two purposes: repeated wearing of them stamps

us with a sign to others that G-d is the Master of the Universe, and they also

stamp in our hearts the proper behaviors commanded by the rest of the Torah.

This mitzva might be viewed as the finishing act of creation of a Jew.