BS"D

Parshath Shelach
by Yitzhak Kolakowski

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Fringe Benefits (with strings attatched...)

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"... and how are the cities in which it dwells - are they opened or
are they fortified?" (Numbers 13:19)

"And they shall be for you as tzitzith (fringes), that you should see
it and remember all of the L-RD's commandments, and do them...  So
that you should remember and so all of my commandments and be holy to
your G-d."  (ibid. 15:39-40)

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My dear friends, we all know that G-d is everywhere and there is
nothing else but Him, but we usually aren't aware of it.  Sometimes
we think that there are places which, G-d forbid, are devoid of Him,
but that isn't so.  The Bible tells us "the whole earth is filled
with His Glory" (Isaiah 6:3).  Everything has its own sparks
of holiness just waiting to be lit up.  However, despite that, one
might think differently and make the mistake that there is a place,
time, or even character trait which is devoid of Him.  For example,
one might think that the character trait of arrogance is a place
which lacks Hashem.  After all, our sages compare an arrogant person
to an idolator.  The Midrash tells us that an arrogant person has, so
to speak, stolen G-d's waredrobe; as it is written, "The L-RD reigns,
He is clothed in Majesty." (Psalm 93:1) (the Hebrew word "geuth" also
means "arrogance").  Besides, what does a person have to be
arrogant about?  He is made of soil and his destiny is to return
there.  So how can there possible be any holiness in this poor
character trait of arrogance?  However, there is holiness in
everything, even arrogance!

"Jehudah ben Tema said: 'Be as arrogant as a leopard...' (Pirkei Avoth
5:23)  What is the sage saying here?  Is arrogance good?  This is
even more puzzling when we see the rest of his statement, "the
arrogant go to Gehinnom (Hell, or Purgatory), and the shamefaced go
to Gan Eden (Paradise)."  In the same Mishnah, there seems to be a
complete contradiction, is arrogance good ("be arrogant as a
leopard") or bad ("the arrogant go to Gehinnom")?

I guess I'm not being so fair here, I left out part of the Mishnah.
"Be as arrogant as a leopard... to do the will of your Father in
Heaven."  You see, when a person is overly proud of himself and his
deeds that is the bad type of arrogance, almost like an idolatrous
self-worship.  But everything is the world has some holiness in it,
and arrogance had a lot of holiness - "azuth de'kedushah" "holy
arrogance".  This is the most humble type of arrogance there is,
because it is the pride and joy of being a servant of the Almi-ghty.
It is nullifying your own will before that of G-d, without shame or
embarrassment.  And from here we can understand the rest of the
Mishnah...

"The arrogant go to Gehinnom while the shamefaced go to Gan Eden..."
The Holy Rebbe Reb Zushya of Anipoli, zy"a, the brother of the Noam
Elimelech, zy"a, explains that this is talking about two ways of
serving Hashem.  "The arrogant go to Gehinnom", means that if a
person has "azuth de'kedushah" "holy arrogance", he can even go to
the very depths of Hell, from the streets and marketplaces even to
the halls of universities, and not only survive, but thrive and
elevate his surroundings to the side of holiness.  But if a person is
meek and even embarrassed, he should remain in the Paradise of the
four walls of the Synagogues and Study Halls of the disciples of the
sages.  Such a person cannot survive outside of Gan Eden, because he
lacks chutzpah.  (Reb Zushya stresses that a person must know what
type he is, because it is very bad if a shame-faced person leaves the
Beth Midrash.)

This is what Moses wanted to know when he asked the spies if the
Canaanite cities were "open or fortified..."  The Canaanites, of
course, were certainly not on the side of holiness, but the model is
the same whether it is one side of the battle or the other.  Rashi
(Num. 13:18) explains this by bringing the Midrash Tanhuma which
explains that the spies were to acertain the strength of the
inhabitants of the land by the types of cities they lived in.  If the
Canaanites lived spread out in openness, it was obvious that they
were strong, because they were depending upon their own might.
However, if they lived in fortified cities it could be deduced that
they were a weak people.

(But when the spies brought back their report, they said that they were a
strong [Heb. "ez" - same word as "arrogant") people who lived in fortified
cities! (Num. 13:28) That just goes to show that what you see isn't what you
get.)

Although these nations were, as I said before, on the Other Side (i.e.
the side of impurity and unholiness), and this was a demonstration of
their strength versus the holiness of Israel, the same is true even
more so on the side of holiness in our battle against our own
Canaanites, the evil inclination.  If a person is all tucked in,
hiding behind fortified walls, it shows a certain weakness and it
would be best that such a person should stay and learn Torah (which
is the among the highest things a person could do) in the Beth
Medrash.  But if a person is open, it shows he has no fear of attacks
from the side of evil because he is relying on the Source of all
strength.  Such a person can go out and bring others back to holiness
for G-d's sake.  (Both have a very important role and both are needed
for the survival of the world since they depend on eachother.)

This is one of the reasons why G-d gave us the mitzvah of Tzitzith.
Now, tzitith are an interesting thing, a person can either wear them
tucked in our hanging out.  Now I have the pleasure of having quite a
few Sefardi Jews (Jews of Middle Eastern decent, who have many
customs which are distinct from those of other Jews) as friends.  The
Sefardic custom today is to wear the tzitzith tucked in.  (Some
Ashkenazi Jews wear them in and some wear them out.)  One
of my Sefardic friends was telling me that when he was attending
college he wore his tzitzith hanging out all of the time.  I was
suprised, "I thought the Sefardi minhag (custom) was to wear them
tucked in."  He told me, "Under normal circumstances, yes, but the
halachah (law) is that if you need it for chizzuk (strength, i.e. to
strengthen one's self in serving G-d) you should keep them out."
From there we can learn an incredible lesson.  Most people I know
would probably tuck in their tzitzith if they were forced to be in a
secular environment, (then again, most people would wrongly think fortified 
cities are strong) but the halachah is that if you want strength
you should wear them on the outside.  This is the sign, and here even
the source, of strength, being open, showing confidence.  Perhaps
this is why this parshah ends with the mitzvah of tzitzith, and how
important it is to see the tzitzith - that they remind a person of
all the mitzvoth that Hashem commanded us.  This is because something
like tzitzith can make the difference between what a person will or
will not do in certain situations.  Pride and confidence in being a
servant of G-d is our strength, our joy, our very existance.

Yes, my friends, our very existance.  Not only tzitzith, but anything
a person may have to remind himself or herself and make it obvious
that they are a servant of G-d, like a yarmulke (skullcap) or
modest clothing which makes it obvious that one fears heaven...

Yes, even a yarmulke.  A few weeks ago there was a terrible disaster
in Tel Aviv, when 20 young people were murdered by despicable
terrorists in a bombing of the Dolphinarium night club.  A story was
told that there were two boys walking down the street that night.  It
was Shabbos and one of the boys was more traditional than the other,
i.e. wearing a kipa.  So when they passed by the club, the one boy
said to his skull-cap wearing friend, "Hey, let's go in.  I'll pay
for you so you don't have to break Shabbat."
"I don't think it's such a good place for me to go into wearing a
kipa."
"So take it off."
"I don't think so."
So they didn't go in.  After the catastrophe, they realized that the
kipa saved both their lives, and now both of them wear kipot.

"And all men fear, and they declare the work of G-d, and understand
His doing." (Psalms 64:10)

A person needs to know which type of person he is, and it really
doesn't matter if he has his tzitzith in or out, as long as he's
wearing them.  (Women today don't wear tzitzith.)  But even if you
wear them tucked in, you should always act as though they are hanging
out proudly.  Certainly a person should avoid going to places where
a G-d fearer doesn't belong, but if he or she has no choice to be
somewhere and there is no threat to life (which is the case in most
places today), one should make it obvious that he is a servant of
Hashem and sanctify His Name.  (Obviously if one makes a Chillul
Hashem, h"v, he shouldn't make it so obvious that he's Jewish, but
just don't make a Chillul Hashem - nobody says you have to.)

May we all be open and proud to be G-d's servants, relying
on His Strength and not on our own, remembering all of his mitzvoth
and being holy to Him.  And may we spread out and see the day when
"the righteous will be glad in the L-RD and take refuge in Him, and
all the upright in heart shall praise." (ibid. 11)

"Do not be ashamed nor confounded.  Why are you downcast?  Why do you
moan?  The afflicted of My people will take refuge in you, and the
city will be rebuilt on its hill."  (Liturgy:  Lechah Dodi - 
Hymn for Sabbath Eve)

If we are not ashamed, we'll see the City rebuilt on its original
site, on that Holy Hill...

Gut Shabbos and Have a nice Summer

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(c) 2001 J. Kolakowski.  All rights reserved.  Copying and free
distribution is permitted and encouraged.