Tzitzis and Tefillin Rectify Seeing and Knowing

בפרשת ציצית וראיתם אותו כו' ולא תתורו כו'.

In the passage of tzitzis: "and you shall see it… and you shall not stray after [your hearts and your eyes]" (Bamidbar 15:39).

The Sefas Emes opens on the mitzvah of tzitzis and its themes of "seeing" and not "straying" after the eyes.

מצות ציצית לתקן הראי' כדפרש"י מלשון מציץ מן החרכים וע"י מצוה זו יכולין להביט ולהשיג נפלאות ה' ולכן בק"ש יש מצות תפילין וציצית ואיתא הקורא ק"ש בלא תפילין כמעיד עדות שקר בעצמו.

The mitzvah of tzitzis is to rectify "seeing," as Rashi explains [the word tzitzis] from the expression "peering (meitzitz) through the lattices" (Shir HaShirim 2:9); and through this mitzvah one is able to gaze upon and grasp the wonders of Hashem. Therefore in Krias Shema there are the mitzvos of tefillin and tzitzis, and it is taught that one who recites Shema without tefillin is "as though he bears false witness against himself."

Tzitzis repairs the faculty of sight so it can perceive Hashem's wonders. Since Shema is a "testimony" to Hashem's Oneness, the accompanying mitzvos of tefillin and tzitzis are essential — without them the testimony is incomplete, even false.

ובר"מ איתא דגם בלי ציצית כמעיד שקר ע"ש בזוה"ק פרשה זו.

And in the Ra'aya Mehemna it is taught that even without tzitzis [reciting Shema] is like bearing false witness — see there in the Zohar on this parshah.

The Zohar extends the principle: tzitzis too is part of the testimony, so without it the Shema's witness is likewise deficient.

והענין דכ' בעד או ראה או ידע דיש עדות בראי' או בידיעה כי העדות שבנ"י מעידין אינו בפה בלבד רק מה שכל איש ישראל יכול להשיג ולראות ולדעת אותו ית' כמ"ש אתה הראת לדעת.

The matter is that it is written, "if he is a witness, whether he has seen or known" (Vayikra 5:1) — that there is testimony through "seeing" or through "knowing." For the testimony that Bnei Yisrael bear is not with the mouth alone, but consists of that which every Jew is able to grasp, to see, and to know of Hashem, as it is written, "You have been shown, to know [that Hashem is the G-d]" (Devarim 4:35).

Valid testimony rests on either seeing or knowing. Bnei Yisrael's testimony to Hashem in Shema is not mere words — it draws on each Jew's real capacity to "see" and "know" Hashem, faculties the Torah affirms we possess.

אכן ע"י מצות אלו מוציאין מכח אל הפועל בחי' ראי' וידיעה הנ"ל.

However, it is through these mitzvos [tzitzis and tefillin] that one brings the aspects of "seeing" and "knowing" from potential into actuality.

Tzitzis activates the power of seeing, and tefillin the power of knowing — turning latent capacities into living testimony.

והנה ע"י החטא נתערב טו"ר ולכן עץ הדעת טו"ר צריך בירור ובנ"י ניתן להם בתורה עצות לתקן אלה הדברים.

Now through the sin [of Adam], good and evil (tov v'ra) became intermingled; therefore the "Tree of Knowledge of good and evil" requires birur (clarification/sorting), and Bnei Yisrael were given counsel in the Torah to rectify these things.

The sin of the Eitz HaDaas mixed good with evil within man's faculties of knowing and seeing. The Torah provides the means — like these mitzvos — to sort out and refine them.

וק"ש גופא הוא עץ החיים וצריכין לחבר עמה בחי' הדעת.

And Krias Shema itself is the "Tree of Life" (Eitz HaChaim), and one must join to it the aspect of daas (knowledge).

Shema corresponds to the Tree of Life; to it one must attach refined daas, so that pure knowing accompanies the affirmation of Hashem's Oneness.

ולכן אמרו כאלו הקריב עולה בלא מנחה זבח בלא נסכים.

Therefore [Chazal] said [that one who recites Shema without tefillin] is as though he offered an olah without a minchah, a zevach without nesachim (libations).

An offering lacking its accompanying meal-offering and libations is incomplete; so too Shema without tefillin and tzitzis lacks its necessary "accompaniments."

כי מצות נסכים ומנחה שניתן לבנ"י בכניסתן לארץ הוא רמז שתיקנו בחי' עה"ד.

For the mitzvos of nesachim and minchah, which were given to Bnei Yisrael upon their entry into the Land, are a hint that they rectified the aspect of the Eitz HaDaas.

The meal-offerings and wine-libations, commanded as they entered Eretz Yisrael, symbolize the rectification of the Tree of Knowledge — the refining of grain and grape that the sin had corrupted.

כמ"ש חז"ל עץ שאכל אדה"ר חטה הי'. ענבים סחטה לו.

As Chazal said: the tree from which Adam HaRishon ate was wheat; [and another opinion:] she pressed grapes for him.

The forbidden "tree" is identified by Chazal with wheat or grapes — precisely the substances of the minchah (grain) and nesachim (wine).

וכשנתברר עץ הדעת צוה הקב"ה להקריב מנחה ונסכים עם הקרבן וכן בק"ש לסמוך לה בירור הדעת והוא בכח התפילין.

And once the Eitz HaDaas was clarified, Hashem commanded to offer minchah and nesachim together with the korban; so too with Krias Shema, one must adjoin to it the clarification of daas, and this is accomplished through the power of the tefillin.

Just as the refined grain and wine accompany the offering, the refined daas — embodied in tefillin — must accompany Shema.

ולכן בש"ק א"צ תפילין דכתיב בי' לדעת כי אני ה' מקדשכם.

Therefore on Shabbos Kodesh one does not need tefillin, for concerning Shabbos it is written, "to know that I am Hashem who sanctifies you" (Shemos 31:13).

Shabbos already contains the "knowing" of Hashem within itself, so the daas-function of tefillin is unnecessary on Shabbos.

וציצית הוא בחי' ראי' דכתיב ותפקחנה עיני שניהם וידעו כי ערומים הם.

And tzitzis is the aspect of "seeing," as it is written, "and the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked" (Bereishis 3:7).

The sin opened the eyes to a flawed, shameful kind of seeing. Tzitzis comes to rectify the faculty of sight that was damaged there.

ממילא ע"י תקון העינים ולא תתורו אחרי עיניכם זוכין למלבוש הטלית שהוא תקון רמ"ח איברים וגידין שבנפש שהוא בחי' המלבוש.

Consequently, through the rectification of the eyes — "and you shall not stray after your eyes" — one merits the garment of the tallis, which is the rectification of the 248 limbs and sinews of the soul, which are the aspect of a "garment."

By guarding the eyes from straying, one earns the "garment" of the tallis, which repairs the soul's spiritual limbs and sinews — the inner "garments" of the nefesh, undoing the "nakedness" caused by sin.

והוא בחי' ראי' במדריגה הקרובה לחוץ.

And this is the aspect of "seeing," which is on the level closer to the outside.

Seeing reaches the external surface of things, so tzitzis works on the more outward plane.

וידיעה הוא מקושר בפנימיות כדאיתא בזוה"ק פ' וארא לא נודעתי להם כי הידיעה יותר מן הראי'.

And "knowing" is bound up with the penimiyus (the inner dimension), as the Zohar teaches on Parshas Va'eira regarding "I was not known (lo nodati) to them" — for knowing is greater than seeing.

Knowing penetrates to the inner depth, a higher rung than seeing — which is why tefillin (daas/knowing) operates on the inner plane and tzitzis (seeing) on the outer.

ובאמת ב' אלו המצות תפילין וציצית הם בחי' נר מצוה זו ציצית ששקולה נגד כל המצות ומתקנת איברי וגידי הנפש.

In truth, these two mitzvos, tefillin and tzitzis, are the aspect of "a mitzvah is a lamp" (Mishlei 6:23) — this refers to tzitzis, which is equal in weight to all the mitzvos and rectifies the limbs and sinews of the soul.

"A mitzvah is a lamp" is applied to tzitzis, which Chazal weigh against all other mitzvos, since it repairs the entire spiritual "body" of the soul.

ותפילין אמרו חז"ל שהוקשה כל התורה לתפילין דכתיב למען תהי' תורת ה' בפיך והוא מתקן הרוח בחי' התורה.

And concerning tefillin, Chazal said that the entire Torah is compared to tefillin, as it is written, "so that the Torah of Hashem may be in your mouth" (Shemos 13:9); and it rectifies the ru'ach, the aspect of Torah.

If tzitzis is the "lamp/mitzvah," tefillin is the "Torah" — the whole Torah is likened to it, and it repairs the ru'ach, the higher soul-level associated with Torah and inner knowing.

ותקון הראי' ע"י ולא תתורו אחרי כו' עיניכם כו' למען תזכרו.

And the rectification of "seeing" comes through "and you shall not stray after… your eyes… so that you may remember."

Guarding the eyes from straying is the means by which one comes to "remember" all of Hashem's mitzvos.

ומלת למען כלל ב' פירושים כמו למען אשר יצוה.

And the word "lema'an" (so that / in order that) includes two interpretations, as in "lema'an asher yetzaveh" (Bereishis 18:19).

Lema'an can express both purpose ("in order that") and result ("with the result that"), and the Sefas Emes says both senses apply here.

ושניהם אמת כי צריכין לשמור לב ועינים מגשמיות כדי להיות זוכין לזכור מצות ה'.

And both are true: for one must guard the heart and the eyes from materiality in order to merit to remember the mitzvos of Hashem.

In the first sense, guarding heart and eyes from gross physicality is the prerequisite that enables one to remember Hashem's mitzvos.

וכמו כן למען תזכרו מצות ה' תזכו לזה שלא לתור אחרי לבבכם ועיניכם.

And likewise, "so that you may remember the mitzvos of Hashem" — through this you will merit not to stray after your hearts and your eyes.

In the second sense, remembering Hashem's mitzvos is itself what protects a person, so that he no longer strays after his heart and eyes — the two readings reinforce each other.

וכשנשמרין מב' אלו זוכין למלבוש נאה היפוך ממ"ש וידעו כי ערומים הם מהמצות כדפרש"י שם:

And when one guards against both of these [the straying of heart and eyes], one merits a beautiful "garment" — the opposite of what is written, "and they knew that they were naked," meaning naked of mitzvos, as Rashi explains there.

Guarding heart and eyes clothes a person in the lovely spiritual garment of mitzvos — the very reverse of the post-sin "nakedness," which Rashi explains as being stripped of mitzvos.

Summary: Tzitzis rectifies the faculty of "seeing" and tefillin the faculty of "knowing," and together they make Krias Shema — our testimony to Hashem — complete, for that testimony rests on each Jew's real ability to see and know Hashem. The sin of the Eitz HaDaas intermingled good and evil within these faculties, and the Torah's mitzvos (paralleled by the minchah and nesachim that refine wheat and grape) come to clarify them. Guarding the heart and eyes from materiality clothes the soul's 248 limbs in the beautiful "garment" of mitzvos — the very opposite of the "nakedness" that the sin produced.