Fringes on the corners – Sh’lach L’cha
The end of the sidra brings us the command to wear fringes on the corners of our garments throughout our generations.
The rule is that if a person is not wearing a four-cornered garment, no tzitzit are necessary. But the Jewish people were apparently not satisfied to enjoy this exemption. They decided that in order to wear fringes, they would invent a four-cornered garment – two in fact, the tallit katan worn under the shirt, and the tallit gadol worn over one’s top clothes.
Why were they so anxious to wear tzitzit? A well known explanation points to the words, “You shall look at it (the fringe) and remember all the commands of the Lord and do them”.
Our ancestors discovered that the five knots and eight threads in each corner, plus the numerical value of the Hebrew letters of tzitzit, yield a total of 613, the number of mitzvot in the Torah.
The fringes remind a Jew of Torah: Torah reminds a Jew that he or she has a purpose in life. A Jew without tzitzit might forget that life must have an aim, a goal, a destination.
That is why Rabbi Nechunya ben Hakana used to give thanks that his portion was with those who sat in the Bet Hamidrash and not with those who sat idly at street corners with nothing to fill their days and challenge their minds.
