For the tribe of asher,

sethur, son of michael

                (Bemidbar 13:13)

And these are their names: For

the son of Zaccur – Said R. Yitzchak: This is

something we have on tradition from our fathers, the spies were named in

accordance with their actions, but we have detected only one, "Sethur the son of Michael. [He was named] Sethur because

named] Nahbi because he hid [hikbi]

the words of the Holy One, blessed be He; and Vophsi

attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He.

 (Bavli Sotah 34b)

"Sethur"

the Holy One, blessed be He – It is essential to know with which acts he

undermined. It seems that were it not for the sin of the spies, all 31 kings

would have been defeated through acts of heaven, just as befell the Assyrian

camp in the times of King Hezekiah, and he undermined His actions, for now they

had to fight by themselves. And regarding the statement regarding God being

weak, it seems to me that according to His original intent the land should have

been given to them miraculously. And regarding the hiding of God's words, that

he hid some of His words, for He said"… that I am giving the Children of

Israel" (Bemidbar 13:2), and inasmuch as He said "that I am

giving" we infer that He plans to give miraculously, and they need not

wage war, so that they need not fear defeat, and by his speaking about defeat

in battle, he hid His words "…that I am giving", as if He had never

spoken them… he spoke words in order to frighten Israel.

(Rabbi Yosef Hayyim

of Bagdad: Benayahu ben Yehoyada, Sotah

34b)

On memory

Moshe Meir

And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying:  'Speak unto the

children of Israel, and tell them that they make them throughout

their generations fringes in the corners of their garments, and that they put with the

fringe of each corner a thread of blue. And it shall be unto you for a fringe,

that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do

them; and that ye go not about after your own heart and your own eyes, after

which ye use to go astray;  that ye may

remember and do all My commandments, and be holy unto your God.  I am the Lord

your God, who brought you out of the land

of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God.'

This parasha raises a number of linguistic difficulties:

A.  

"…they are to make themselves fringes…

It shall be for you a fringe". If they made fringes, then there are

already fringes and there is no need for them to be fringes!

B.  

"That you may look at it and

keep-in-mind… in order that you may keep-in-mind". If with looking comes

keeping-in-mind, why is it necessary to add "in order that you may

keep-in-mind"?

C.  

"I am the Lord your God… I am the Lord your God". Why

the repetition? [It may be a repetition for stylistic purposes, but the

question still joins the preceding ones].

The Bible's

style of writing sometimes integrates two parshiyot

into one. Above, we attempted to define the two parshiyot

by assigning different fonts to each parasha,

thus receiving two coherent stories. In the

first, in this font (Arial), God

commands to make fringes on the corners of the garments in order that they

remember all the commandments and they be a holy

people to the Lord who redeemed them from Egypt so that He be unto them a

Lord. In the story appearing in this font (Century) He orders that upon the fringes should be

placed an indigo twist and it shall be a fringe – a second fringe. The purpose

of these fringes is also to remind us of all the mitzvoth, but also to prevent succumbing

to the enticing heart and eyes. The three repetitions quoted in our questions,

derive from the existence of two stories, each containing the three motifs:

fringes, remembrance and identity: "I am the Lord". There appears

here an important principle of memory theory. Memory is always memory within

memory, just as forgetting is forgetting within forgetting. Human consciousness

is composed of layers and folds. Something slips a bit from one's memory, and later it slips yet more. Something returns a bit

and then it can return yet more. A one-time violent remembrance can cause

externalization. Internalization occurs only in memory which follows memory.

R. Meir says.

Why is blue singled out from all the varieties of colors? Because blue

resembles the color of the sea, and the sea resembles the color of the sky, and

the sky resembles the color of a sapphire, and a sapphire resembles the color

of the Throne of Glory, as it is said: "And they saw the God of Israel and

there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone"; and

it is also written: "The likeness of a throne as the appearance of a

sapphire stone, and upon the

likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above"

(Ezekiel 1).

 (Tractate Hullin

89a)

The memory

moves gently, from layer to layer, from hue to hue. The Sages fashioned a

reality in which the tsitsit meet man

in the depths of the material world, and reminds him of his values:

Once a man,

who was very scrupulous about the precept of zizith, heard of a certain harlot

in one of the towns by the sea who accepted four hundred gold

appointed a day with her. When the day arrived he came and waited at her door,

and her maid came and told her, 'That man who sent you

four hundred gold [denars] is here and waiting at the

door'; to which she replied 'Let him come in'. When he came in she prepared for

him seven beds, six of silver and one of gold; and between one bed and the

other there were steps of silver, but the last were of gold. She then went up

to the top bed and lay down upon it naked. He too went up after her in his

desire to sit naked with her, when all of a sudden the four fringes [of his

garment] struck him across the face; whereupon he slipped off and sat upon the

ground. She also slipped off and sat upon the ground and said, 'By the Roman

Capitol, I will not leave you alone until you tell me what blemish you saw in

me. 'By the Temple', he replied, 'never have I seen a woman as beautiful as you

are; but there is one precept which the Lord our God has commanded us, it is

called zizith, and with regard to it the expression 'I am the Lord your God' is

twice written, signifying, I am He who will exact punishment in the future, and

I am He who will give reward in the future. Now [the zizith] appeared to me as

four witnesses testifying against me'. She said, 'I will not leave you until

you tell me your name, the name of your town, the name of your teacher, the

name of your school in which you study the Torah'. He wrote all this down and

handed it to her. Thereupon she arose and divided her estate into three parts;

one third for the government, one third to be distributed among the poor, and

one third she took with her in her hand; the linens however, she retained. She

then came to the Beth Hamidrash of R. Hiyya, and said to him, 'Master, give me instructions and

convert me.' 'My daughter', he replied; 'perhaps you have set your eyes on one

of the disciples?' She thereupon took out the script and handed it to him. 'Go',

said he 'and enjoy your acquisition'. Those very linens which she had spread

for him for an illicit purpose she now spread out for him lawfully. This is the

reward [for the precept] in this world; and as for its reward in the future

world I know not how great it is. (Tractate Menachot 44a)

The seven beds

lead delicately from one to the next, reaching the bed of gold. So do the tsitsit lead from hue to hue to the heavens

and above the heavens. So must man lead his self-consciousness

and his memory to those values which he sets for himself in his world – above

the heavens, upon the throne of glory.

Moshe

Meir, an educator, leads Bet Midrash study groups He

holds a doctorate in Jewish Philosophy. His book "Two Together", dealing

with new religious-secular philosophy, was published a few months ago by Magnes.

"The

country in which they dwell – is it good or is it bad?"

Onkelos, however, translated "Is it rich or is it poor"

– for there are countries whose inhabitants are wealthy because their produce

is inexpensive, and they are successful in their dealings and in commerce with

their neighbors; and there are countries which are dependent upon their

neighbors, and their own inhabitants are incompetent – even though the land

itself is good and not poor. (Ramban,

Bemidbar 13:19)

"Where

there are no men – try to be a man"

"Send

for yourself men" – This is the meaning of that which is written "The

not lift a hand " (Psalms 76;6) – "The stout-hearted were

despoiled" – these are Moshe

and Aharon, who sent spies who returned and spoke

slanderously of the land, and they [the Children of Israel] knew not what to

do, and even Moshe and Aharon's hands were impotent.

Immediately Caleb rose up and silenced the crowd, as is written, "Now

Caleb hushed the people before Moshe" – he stood on a bench and

stilled them, saying 'Quiet! Quiet!' – and they were

quiet in order to hear him. "Good is that land, exceedingly,

exceedingly!" Said The

Holy One, Blessed Be He, to Moshe: "I am greatly indebted to Caleb, as is

written "Only Caleb son

of Yefunne" (Devarim 1:36). What is meant by "only"?

He lent me more than 600,000 of you. You could not find your hands, you were

negligent. Therefore it says "The stout-hearted were despoiled." And why did all this happen? Because the messengers were fools. It is with regard to them

that Shelomo said: "He who sends a message by

a dullard will wear out legs and must put up with lawlessness." (Proverbs

26:6)

(Tanhuma,

Shelach, 2)

"The finger of god" and man's responsibility

for his decisions

"The entire community lifted up and let

out their voice, and the people wept on that night" – Said Rabba

in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: That night was the

ninth of Av. Said The Holy One, Blessed Be He, to them: You cried for no good

reason – I shall give you reason to weep for generations to come.

(Bavli,

Taanit 79a)

It

is almost impossible to fully exhaust the significance of the fact that the

people which merited that which no generation before and no generation

thereafter merited – for the giving of the Torah was a one-time, never to

re-occur event – that this generation in particular should fail totally,

bringing about the nullification of the divine plan which included the promise

to bring the nation to the promised land.

From

this we derive that man, through his actions, can ruin the world, even

notwithstanding the divine plan. The entire story of the generation which exited

Egypt

is replete with signs, omens, and revelation, yet all of these were unable to

change man's nature, unable to bring him to faith, and certainly not to the

repair of the entire nation. One incapable of recognizing from within himself

his status before God and its ensuing commitments will never achieve

this awareness through any external agent. This conclusion is valid not only

with regard to the distant past, but also to the present and future; Divine

supervision and all that is humanly perceived to be "the finger of

God" cannot bring men to find their way even in political, national or

social matters… the correct path in management of the world, the state and

society or the determination of historical courses of events. All these flow

from human understanding, with the reaching of conclusions and making

decisions. Paths of action are never given man as a grant, through the medium

of wondrous revelation, by supernatural means.

We

do not belong to the generation of the desert which merited divine revelation;

we belong to the generation of the wilderness which has no divine revelation.

We do not know – we cannot know what event or act has elements of "the

finger of God" in the sense of divine intervention in historical

processes. We cannot know which of these phenomena belong in the category of

"Olam k'minhago

noheg" – "the world acts in its usual

way." We must beware the great and terrible danger of dependence upon that

which seems to be "the finger of God", a dependence with potential

for casting off responsibility from the shoulders of man and nation, the

responsibility of determining their way according to their understanding and

their accountability.

(Y. Leibowitz:

Seven Years of the Discussion on the Weekly Parasha,

pp. 665-666)

Why

Conjoined as a Third Parasha in "Kriyat Shema"?

The

significance of the relationship between "And you shall

love" and "And these words shall be" [the first two

passages of the first parasha of Kriyat

Shema] in the "Shema",

and the relationship between this first parasha and

the second parasha – "And if you will carefully

obey my commands" is illuminated by the addition of the third parasha – the parasha of Tsitsit – to the two opening parshiot.

This portion deals with memory and action; it expressly directs man's awareness

not to the subject of "God and Man" but the subject of "Mitzvoth

and Man" ("…and you shall remember all God's commands, and you

commands…"). Remembrance

is a thing of the heart, and, at first blush, it would have seemed possible to

combine it with "faith" and "love" in their abstract sense;

but Scripture states the meaning of remembrance is the

doing of the mitzvot. Remembrance of God exists in the believer's

consciousness on one of two planes: that of "Shema"

(pure belief 'lishemah', with no ulterior motive) – God is

the Lord; and the second plane, that of "And if you will carefully

obey" (belief 'shelo lishmah' – with ulterior motive) – God is the

supra-Minister of Finance, supra-Minister of Health, supra-Minister of

Security, etc. But regardless of whether one remembers God on the "Shema" plane

or on the "And if you will carefully obey" plane – both obligate the

observance of mitzvoth.

At

the conclusion of Parashat Tsitsit,

which concludes the Kriyat Shema,

there appears a concept with specifically religious significance, the concept

of kedusha

– holiness: "And you

shall be holy". This

concept has no meaning outside the world of religious faith. True, the concept

has filtered into the day-to-day vernacular, taking on secular meanings, such

as: "The memory of my late mother is holy to me" – but in such as

case it is no more than an idiom with emotional content. In its original and

essential meaning, "holy" refers only to God; therefore it cannot be

explained through concepts taken from human thought or in other terms from

human language, and it cannot be applied to anything found in the world. In

human reality the category of "kedusha" can be used only to designate activity

directed toward the "kadosh" – the Holy One" – a designation

of the service of God through observance of the mitzvoth. It designates the

purpose and goal to which one must strive, and also the striving itself, but it

does not designate any given or existing thing. In human reality, there is only

functional kedusha; the essential kedusha is God's alone. Whoever attributes kedusha to anything from the natural or

artificial reality – to man, to the land, to an institution, to an edifice, to

an object – is guilty of idol worship; he raises it to the level of the divine.

This is the great meaning presented to man by the mitzvah of Tsitsit: "so

that you remember and perform all My commands and you will be holy…"; that

is to say, you are not holy by virtue of your essence; your holiness is not

something which exists in yourself; it is something for you to achieve. The

mission is eternal, because it is tied to a condition which can be fulfilled

only with eternal effort.

We

bring the words of one of the greatest Torah scholars and believers, one of the

greatest religious thinker of recent generations, Rabbi Meir Simcha HaCohen of Dvinsk, author of the "Meshech

Chochma". Many times, with great emphasis, he

repeats in his book his explanation that "there is nothing holy in the

world… only the Lord, Blessed Be He, is holy, and only He is deserving of

praise and service"; no creation has holiness – only the Creator, Blessed

Be He"; "all things considered holy – Eretz

Yisrael, Yerushalayim, the

Temple Mount, the Mikdash, the Tablets of the Law –

none of these possess intrinsic holiness, but they were sanctified through

action and mitzvoth." Therefore, when Israel repudiates the Torah and

violates the mitzvoth – all the above lose their holiness, they become profane.

He repeats this idea again and again: "Do not imagine that the mount is

something holy…" ; "…Do not imagine that

the Mishkan and the Mikdash

are, in themselves, holy entities" and many more such statements. In one

place he adds the remark "This is a weighty matter" – as though he

had foreseen how "religious" Jews, 50 years after his death, would

disgrace and profane the concept of "kedusha"

by exploiting as cover for satisfaction of human needs and interests – private

or communal.

It

seems that Torah desired to instill in us the deep religious significance of

"kedusha", and therefore it placed the

story of Korach in juxtaposition to the parasha of Tsitsit. A space of

only three lines separates between the great programmatic proclamation of faith

voiced by Moshe our Teacher ("You shall be holy") and the

programmatic proclamation of faith voiced by Korach:

"The entire community is holy" – i.e., kedusha

is not a goal which Israel is charged to achieve but it already exists

inherently and unconditionally. The great concept of faith – kedusha – is profaned and becomes an idolatrous

concept.

(From Y. Leibowitz:

Paths to Faith in Judaism, in "Faith, History, and Values", pp.

18-19)

About us

Oz Veshalom-Netivot Shalom is a

movement dedicated to the advancement of a civil society in Israel. It is

committed to promoting the ideals of tolerance, pluralism, and justice,

concepts that have always been central to Jewish tradition and law.

Oz Veshalom-Netivot Shalom

shares a deep attachment to the land

of Israel and it no less

views peace as a central religious value. It believes that Jews have both the

religious and the national obligation to support the pursuit of peace. It

maintains that Jewish law clearly requires us to create a fair and just

society, and that co-existence between Jews and Arabs is not an option but an

imperative.

4,500 copies of a 4-page peace oriented commentary on the

weekly Torah reading are written and published by Oz VeShalom/Netivot

Shalom and they are distributed to over 350 synagogues in Israel and are

sent overseas via email. 

Our web site is www.netivot-shalom.org.il.

Shabbat Shalom is available on our website: www.netivot-shalom.org.il

For

responses and arranging to write for Shabbat Shalom: pleiser@netvision.net.il