BS"D Parshath Shelach by Yitzhak Kolakowski - - - - Fringe Benefits (with strings attatched...) - - - - "... 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) - - - - 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 - - - - - (c) 2001 J. Kolakowski. All rights reserved. Copying and free distribution is permitted and encouraged.