Enjoy the Ride!

by Rabbi Mordechai Rhine

The mitzvah of Tzitzis is to put tassels on the corners of a four-cornered garment. Once the tassels are made correctly, what is most prominent about them is the eight strands that hang from a series of knots and windings.

Rashi explains that these eight strands represent the eight significant days surrounding the Exodus from Egypt. Specifically, there were eight days from the time the Jews brought the Korban Pesach before the redemption (on 14 Nissan) until after the splitting of the sea, when they finally said Thanksgiving for the redemption (on 21 Nissan).

Normally, we think of the eight days of the Exodus as something that we commemorate at the time of Pesach. What message do the eight strands of the tzitzis impart regarding those eight days for daily living?

The Talmud tells us that the Jews of the Exodus were “Small of faith.” Even after the miracle of the splitting of the sea, they refused to recite thanksgiving until they actually saw the Egyptians wash up dead on the shore. Only then did they feel that they were truly saved and able to say, “Thank You for the redemption.” Until then they still wondered. Despite the great miracles that were done for them, they thought, “Maybe the Egyptians will still come from a different route, and attack us.”

For almost eight full days, the Jews at the time of the Exodus felt that they could not yet recite thanksgiving on the miracles they experienced. It would have been premature, they thought, because the redemption was not yet definitively complete.

At the time of the Exodus, the fact that they were able to kill the Egyptian sheep god as a Jewish observance in Egypt without repercussions, was in itself a monumental level of redemption, and reason for thanksgiving.

That they were redeemed from Egypt as a people, from a place from which slaves never went free- and they were given gifts by their taskmasters- was also reason for celebration.

And, that G-d led them with a cloud and a pillar of fire, protected them from the Egyptian projectiles, and miraculously split the sea to enable escape should have caused them to rejoice.

But, instead, their attitude was, “We are not yet done. We can’t rejoice until we are totally and definitively successful in the process of redemption.”

The strands of tzitzis come to remind us of a different perspective.

Imagine that a child graduates eighth grade, but the parents refuse to celebrate because the child did not yet finish high school. And, when the child finishes high school, they won’t celebrate because the child still didn’t graduate college or find a job. And, when the child finds a job they would not offer congratulations or thanks because the child is not yet married. And, when the child does marry they would not wish the child “Mazal Tov” because he or she does not yet have children. We all understand that the perspective of such parents would be totally mistaken.

The strands of tzitzis remind us not to repeat the “eight day mistake.” Instead, we should enjoy the process, and celebrate the mini successes along the way.

Interestingly, the commentaries say that the word tzitzis is an acronym of four Hebrew words:“Tzaddik Yafrid Tzitziyosav Tomid- A righteous person separates the strands of his tzitzis all the time.” At first glance it sounds like a nervous habit, hardly something one should be praised for. But, when we realize that the eight strands of the tzitzis correspond to the eight days of Exodus, when the Jews just kept waiting for the conclusion before they would say “Thanks,” we realize that our task is to notice every “strand,” to treasure and give thanks for every single day.

Instead of waiting for some finality moment of salvation, let us instead enjoy every moment of the ride. As King David declares in the very last verse of Tehillim, “Every breath shall praise G-d,” For every single breath that we take we are able to say, “Thank You!”

With best wishes for a wonderful Shabbos!

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