Sugya Series,

The Mitzvah of Tzitzis

 

The Mitzvah

You shall place tzitzis on the corners of your garments, and you shall put with the tzitzis a thread of ticheiles/ blue. It will be tzitzis, and you see it, and you will remember all of the mitzvos of the Torah and you will observe them. You shall not stray after your hearts or eyes. You shall remember and you shall perform the mitzvos, and you will be holy to Hashem. (Bamidbar 15:38-40)

 

The lack of ticheiles / blue doesn’t stop us from observing the mitzvah with the white threads. (Mishnah, Minachos 38a)

 

A garment that does not have four corners is not included in this mitzvah.

If the person is not wearing the garment then there is no obligation to place tzitzis on it.

[According to Torah law] a person does not have an obligation to purchase a garments of four corners in order to be obligated in the mitzvah.

(Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 10:1, 19:1, 17:1)

 

G-d gave you the tzitzis as the means for a lesson; but he left the use of them to your own free will. He pledged you, when you wear a garment with four corners, to provide it with tzitzis; but he left it to you whether or not you wished to wear such a garment- probably so that you should feel the need for it yourself and to grasp the means with all the more joy, thereby rendering it more meaningful to you at all times. (Rav Hirsch, Chorev Ch. 39-285)

 

The Source of the Word

 Tzitzis: A movement pressing outwards from inside. Hence, Tzitz, sprouting, blossoming, from the stem and branches of plants. In Rabbinic Hebrew Ziz, a projection.

(Rav Hirsch, Bamidbar 15: 38; see Bamidbar 17:23 “sprouted a bud”)

 

A person, by nature is inquisitive and curious. This quality was placed within him so that he should strive for greatness and depth in Torah. However, if this quality is misused it can bring tremendous destruction on the person. Often people say, “Let me just experience this improper thing, just once.” ”t is this curiosity that pushes the person to think that this craving is truly important.

(Rav Dessler, Michtav M’Eliyahu 1, page 132; see Shir Hashirim 2:9 “peeking”)

 

The Power of the Mitzvah

The Gematriya of the word tzitzis is 600. When you add the 8 strings and the five knots the total is 613. (Rashi Bamidbar 15:39)

 

Ticheiles / blue is like the sea, and the sea is like the sky, and the sky is like sapphire, and sapphire is like the Heavenly Throne. (Talmud, Chullin 89a)

 

There was an incident with a man who was careful with the mitzvah of tzitzis. He heard of a prostitute that took 400 gold coins as her wage. He sent her 400 gold coins to make an appointment. When he arrived, she prepared for him by setting up seven beds. The first six were silver, with ladders connecting them. The seventh was of gold, and upon it she waited. As he prepared for her, his tzitzis came and slapped him in the face. He removed himself from the situation, and she came over to him. “Tell me what is wrong with me,” she asked. He said, “I assure you, there is none as beautiful as you. But there is a commandment called tzitzis where it is written ‘I am Hashem you G-d’. My tzitzis appeared to me as witnesses…”

(Talmud, Menachos 44a)

 

The Obligation

 The mitzvah of tzitzis does not apply at night. According to the Rambam this refers to nighttime. According to the Rosh it refers to clothing that is normally worn at night. (Shulchan Aruch 18:1)

 

Positive commandments, which are time oriented, are obligatory upon men but not upon women. (Mishnah, Kiddushin 29a)

 

Women are not obligated in tzitzis because it is a positive commandment which is time oriented. If they want to do the mitzvah voluntarily, they may do so, just like by other such mitzvos. However, it is an act of haughtiness to do so, because even a man who is included in the command, is not obligated to buy a garment with four corners.

(Shulchan Aruch 17:2)