The Tzizith
(fringes)
a basic means to actualizing man's purpose
"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying: Speak unto
the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in
the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that
they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue.
And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that
ye may
look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do
them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes,
after which ye use to go a whoring.
That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and
be holy unto your God.
I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the
land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD your God."
(Numbers 15: 37-41)
We
learn from this content that this commandment's proper observance is
extremely important to God, and in that case, it must be extremely
important to us as well. It should be added that this is the only
commandment, whose proper performance makes a person holy to his
God. This is no small matter: It is the highest spiritual level a
person may be awarded by his Creator. Thus, this commandment
supplies an extraordinarily important reason for observing all the
commandments.
Note: Given that man is an imperfect
creation, it is very important to frequently remind him the
direction of his steps and the type of activity, which he must
perform for much of his time along his path and to request its
execution.
In
order to bring about its observance, we have to first understand its
essence.
What is the Tzizith and what is its aim?
The Tzizith is a symbolic means, meant to remind man to
actually observe all the commandments.
What is its content? If whenever you see the Tzizith, you
remember and observe all of God's commandments, so that you will not
stray, following your eyes and your heart's lust - then you will be
holy to your God.
What are those things, that "your hearts lust after and your eyes
see", which God does not wish us to perform?
These are the negative acts, which man, as an imperfect being, may
perform.
The types of content, featured in the commandment:
We
can distinguish between two types of content. The explicit and the
concealed. The explicit deals with what has to be performed,
as detailed in the commandment and the concealed deals with how
to perform the explicit content.
Is man capable of observing the Tzizith commandment? In
principle, it could be said that if God demands that man perform
this activity, there are good chances that he is capable of it.
If we examine reality, we come to realize that this
activity is more vital today than it ever was, due to the great
pursuit of immoral activities.
How can we properly observe the commandment?
Already at first glance, we point out four conditions:
That we recognize and comprehend the concealed
content.
That we shall be
at the stage after actualizing the contents of the chapters: "Love"
and "Creativity" and that we shall long to actualize the true Good.
That the Tzizith
shall remind us to carry out all the commandments.
In order to enable this, we must turn the Tzizith into a sign or
symbol
That we frequently perform all the commandments, because it is only this way that we will avoid
dealing in the activities that God prohibits. In order to actualize
this, the Tzizith should be seen often, namely, should be in a
visible location.
How shall we observe all of God's commandments when we gaze at the
Tzizith?
We shall observe all the commandments or continue to observe them if
we observe the one that represents them all, which is the
commandment of love. In observing it, we enter into a "state of
love", which will awaken us to the doing of Good and will bring us
to actually perform it.
The proper observance of the Tzizith commandment
In
looking at the Tzizith, we shall enter a state of love and will
recall that we have to perform Good. This will, in practice, bring
us to the positive activity at hand, and additionally, we will be
expressing love to that source, which this activity is
aimed.
We will then be dealing with proper activity and not carry out
negative actions, "which our eyes see and our heart lusts after".
Then we will be holy to God.
Thus, and only thus should this important commandment be understood
and performed.
If a certain occurrence would shift us away from proper activity,
glancing again at the Tzizith will return us to it. This way, we
will be involved with the proper activity most of the time.
In principle, we shall be busy, most of the time,
performing true, creative activity, which can be greatly performed.
Form a desire to appropriately carry out this commandment.
The divine expression that in performing it, you shall become holy
to God, is amongst the most dramatic expressions, of which only a
small number exist in the bible.
Therefore, the natural conclusion is that the Tzizith is
a powerful symbol; an impressive means of bringing about the
actualization of man's purpose.
Despite the Tzizith commandment's being aimed at the
people of Israel, it is proper and efficient for any person.
Everyone can derive great benefit through it, if he properly
realizes its essence. Each person can thus become holy to God since every person has the same purpose, for which he was
created the way he was.
In summary: With the Tzizith commandment, God
decrees for us, what and how we should busy ourselves most of the
time, in order to perform only Good and thereby avoid negative
activity, which we pursue owing to our innate imperfection.
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