“Where
Are Your Tzizis?”
Rabbi
Shaanan Gelman
(with Rabbi Ariel Rackovsky)
A prominent Rebbe
in a well-known Yeshiva high school had a student who was ill. Concerned about
the well-being of his talmid whom
he had not seen in a few days, he went to the
boy’s dorm room to pay a bikur cholim
visit. What happened next remains the stuff of legend at this yeshiva. As he
stepped off the elevator, a different student was walking down the hallway
somewhat less than fully clothed. The Rebbe saw him and recoiled in horror -
yet he managed to say the one thing that wouldn't shame him further: “ARI! WHERE
ARE YOUR TZITZIS!?”
This week’s
Sedrah concludes with the parshah of tzitzit, which is the third of the three
paragraphs of the Shema, a mitzvah to which the sages attach a great deal of
significance. In fact, the Talmud tells us that if one contemplates the mitzvah
of tzitzit, and in particular the techeilet,
he will be compelled to contemplate the highest spiritual spheres.
תלמוד בבלי מסכת סוטה דף יז עמוד א
היה ר"מ אומר: מה נשתנה תכלת מכל מיני צבעונין? מפני שהתכלת דומה לים, וים דומה לרקיע, ורקיע דומה לכסא הכבוד,
But what is
the benefit imparted by the thread of
sky-blue wool? The Gemara answers: As
it is taught in a baraita that Rabbi
Meir would say: What is different about sky-blue from all other colors such
that it was specified for the mitzva of ritual fringes?
It is because sky-blue dye is
similar in its color to the sea, and
the sea is similar to the sky, and the sky is similar to the Throne of Glory,
In
other words, the techeilet is
supposed to function as a visual cue, to put us in a proper frame of mind to
connect with the divine. But this passage is perplexing. Why does it have to
list all these steps? Does anyone actually think this way? It’s like a
spiritual Rube Goldberg device. Why do we need a convoluted step by step process
to arrive at the proper machshava?
Just think about God!
Furthermore,
we may wonder why this Mitzvah is brought specifically here, bookending a
sedrah that begins with the sin of the spies.
These weren’t ordinary citizens of average
intelligence; they were אנשים, translated by Rashi as חשובים.
They were well regarded leaders, people of Torah knowledge and stellar personal
qualities. Rabbi Dr. Leo Jung, the legendary pioneer of American Orthodoxy and
Rabbi of Manhattan’s Jewish Center for six decades, offered a homiletic
explanation. כלם אנשים- from head to toe, they were of regal
bearing and demeanor. So what was their sin? That as intelligent, accomplished
and regal as they were, they thought and acted in a superficial way. They took
one look at the land and rendered a snap judgement on its basis, foreseeing their entire future there in 30
seconds. In truth, this is a fundamental aspect of human nature.
In
2006, Princeton scientist Alex Todorov[1]
asserted that when encountering a new person, we form an impression on their
trustworthiness, competence and likeability within one second of seeing their face- and, with regard to their
trustworthiness, within 100 milliseconds.
Moreover, further exposure does not change our mind, no matter the tenor of
the interaction or the merit of the other person. Instead, we strengthen our
belief in our initial snap judgement.
Chazal
understood that, to arrive in a place of profound understanding and
appreciation of another, let alone God, it requires more than an initial
glance. Yes, there is a need to see the strings, but there must be memories
triggered and a thought process that is engaged. Thus, tziztit are the
corrective to the sin of the spies, because the blue fringes remind us to think deeper, beyond our first
impressions.
In
our increasingly polarized world, it is rare indeed to hear anyone say- about
any issue at all- “I never thought of it
that way before,” or “My opinion was ill-informed” or “That’s an important
perspective, and I will reconsider my view.”. These sentences should be part of
the regular repertoire of any
growth-oriented, intellectually honest individual. The willingness to
adjust our views and reconsider should not
just be about issues, but about people as well. We would certainly want a second chance to
correct a negative first impression. Whether you have the mitzvah to wear tzizit and
techeilet or not, it behooves all of
us to internalize the lesson of the tzitzit-
to look beneath the surface and give a second glance, with a fresh pair of
eyes- especially if those eyes are our own.
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