The commandment to wear tzitzit, special fringes worn on four-cornered garments, appears at the end of this week’s parashah. Here are two thoughts on this commandment:
1. The Torah makes a linguistic connection between these tzitzit and the scouts who are spoken of in the beginning of the parsha (thank you to Joel Linsider for first pointing this connection out to me). With reference to the scouts, the Torah says, vayaturu, “And they scouted [or toured] (Numbers 13:21)” and with reference to tzitzit, the Torah says that their purpose is lo taturu, so that one should not be led astray by one’s heart and eyes (Numbers 16:39). Rashi, citing Midrash Tanhuma, says that the heart and the eyes are like scouts for the body, looking out for good places to wander and sin. The four corners of the tzitzit also imply a sense of movement, a sense of existing in a world with four directions to turn towards, like a scout touring a land. Perhaps the idea, then, is that the tzitzit serve as a kind of guide as we tour this world, a guide that reminds us that wherever we go, we carry God and His commandments with us.
2. There is a midrash which tells the following mashal (parable) to explain the significance of tzitzit: “It is like a man who is thrown into the sea and the captain of a ship throws him a rope and says to him: ‘Hold on to this rope and don’t let it go, because if you let it go, you will lose your life.’ “ (Bamidbar Rabbah 17.6). Tzitzit are a lifeline, connecting a person to the source of life, God. The image also reminded me of an umbilical cord, with all its associations of attachment and life dependence.
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