White and blue of tzitzis

לפרשת ציצית.

On the portion of tzitzis.

The Sefas Emes turns to the parshah of tzitzis at the end of Shlach.

כתב רש"י נסמכה לפ' מקושש כי שבת שקול ככל המצות וכמו כן ציצית.

Rashi writes that it was placed next to the portion of the mekoshesh (the one who gathered wood on Shabbos) because Shabbos is weighed against all the mitzvos — and likewise tzitzis.

Rashi explains the juxtaposition: just as Shabbos is equal in weight to all the mitzvos, so too the mitzvah of tzitzis is reckoned as equivalent to all the mitzvos.

ולכן יש בשבת זכור ושמור שכולל מ"ע ומל"ת וכמו כן בציצית זכירת מצות ה' ולא תתורו בחי' מל"ת.

Therefore Shabbos has "zachor" (remember) and "shamor" (guard), which include both a positive command (mitzvas asei) and a prohibition (mitzvas lo sa'aseh); and likewise in tzitzis there is "you shall remember all the mitzvos of Hashem" and "you shall not stray," the aspect of a prohibition.

Both mitzvos contain a positive and a negative dimension. Shabbos: zachor (positive) and shamor (negative). Tzitzis: "remember the mitzvos" (positive) and "do not stray after your heart and eyes" (negative) — which is why each is equal to all the mitzvos, comprising both categories.

והם בחי' לבן ותכלת.

And these correspond to the aspects of "lavan" (white) and "techeiles" (the blue thread).

The two dimensions of tzitzis are embodied in its two colors: the white strings and the techeiles.

ואיתא מה נשתנה תכלת שים דומה לרקיע ורקיע לכסה"כ דכתיב ותחת רגליו כמעשה לבנת הספיר וכעצם השמים לטוהר.

And it is taught: why is techeiles singled out? Because techeiles resembles the sea, and the sea resembles the sky, and the sky resembles the Throne of Glory, as it is written, "and beneath His feet was like the form of a sapphire brick (livnas hasapir), and like the very heavens for purity." (Shemos 24:10)

Chazal trace a chain of resemblance from the techeiles up to the Kisei HaKavod, citing the pasuk that describes what was seen beneath the Divine "feet" at Har Sinai — a sapphire-like brick and the pure clarity of the heavens.

נראה דלבנת הספיר בחי' לבן והוא זכר ליצ"מ כמ"ש חז"ל לבנת הספיר היתה לפניו בשעת השיעבוד הוא בחי' עמו אנכי בצרה שהקב"ה שומר את בנ"י בגלות שלא יתלכלכו בחטא.

It appears that the "sapphire brick" (livnas hasapir) is the aspect of "lavan" (white), and it is a remembrance of Yetzias Mitzrayim, as Chazal said that the sapphire brick was before Him at the time of the bondage — this is the aspect of "I am with him in distress" (Tehillim 91:15), that the Holy One guards Bnei Yisrael in galus so that they not be soiled by sin.

The white of the tzitzis corresponds to the "livnas hasapir," recalling the bondage in Mitzrayim. Chazal say the brick (recalling the bricks the slaves made) was kept "before Hashem," expressing that He shares in Yisrael's suffering and shields them in exile from being defiled by sin.

ורמז הד' כנפות שהקב"ה עמנו בצרה בכל הד' מלכיות.

And the four corners [of the garment] hint that the Holy One is with us in distress throughout all four kingdoms (the four exiles).

The four-cornered garment alludes to Hashem's protective presence with Bnei Yisrael in each of the four galuyos.

ותכלת רומז לעצם השמים שהוא הפנימיות בנפשות בנ"י שקבלו בהר סיני וזה למען תזכרו בחי' זכור להתדבק בשורש.

And the techeiles alludes to "the very heavens (etzem hashamayim)," which is the penimiyus (inner dimension) within the souls of Bnei Yisrael that they received at Har Sinai; and this is "so that you shall remember," the aspect of "zachor" — to cleave to the root.

If white is the protection of galus, techeiles is the inner spark of kedushah received at Sinai — the soul's connection to its supernal root. "So that you shall remember" calls a person to attach himself to that inner source.

ומקודם כ' ג"כ וזכרתם אח"כ ולא תתורו.

And first it is written "and you shall remember," and afterward "and you shall not stray."

The Torah's order is deliberate: first comes the positive "remember," and only afterward the prohibition "do not stray."

דכ' שמעי בת וראו כו' ושכחי עמך.

As it is written, "Listen, O daughter, and see… and forget your people [and your father's house]." (Tehillim 45:11)

The pasuk pairs an act of attentive "remembering/seeing" with an act of "forgetting" — a model of two complementary spiritual movements.

שצריך האדם להשתמש במדת זכירה ושכחה.

For a person must employ both the faculty of remembering and the faculty of forgetting.

Avodas Hashem requires using both memory and forgetting in their proper place.

לשכוח הבלי עולם ולזכור בחלק אלקות שהיא בו בעצם.

To forget the vanities of the world, and to remember the portion of Godliness (chelek Elokus) that is within him in his very essence.

"Remember" means clinging to the divine spark within (techeiles); "forget"/"do not stray" means turning away from worldly emptiness — the two work together.

וזהו זכור ושמור.

And this is "zachor" and "shamor."

Remembering the inner spark and guarding against straying are the very pair of zachor and shamor expressed in tzitzis as in Shabbos.

והנה שבת היא מעין עוה"ב ולעתיד ישתכח כל עוה"ז ויתדבקו בשורש העליון ומעין זה בכל שבת קודש.

Now, Shabbos is a taste of the World to Come, and in the future all of this world will be forgotten and they will cleave to the supernal root — and a taste of this is in every holy Shabbos.

Shabbos foreshadows Olam Haba, when worldly distractions will be wholly "forgotten" and Bnei Yisrael will cling entirely to their root above. Every Shabbos offers a foretaste of that state of forgetting-and-cleaving.

וכמו כן לבן ותכלת.

And likewise [it is so with] lavan and techeiles.

The same dynamic of forgetting the world and cleaving to the root is mirrored in the white and the blue of tzitzis.

בכל דבר יש בחי' שמים וארץ.

In everything there is an aspect of "heaven" and "earth."

Every created thing contains both an inner, heavenly dimension and an outer, earthly one.

ומכש"כ בנפש איש ישראל.

And all the more so in the soul of a Yid.

This duality of heaven and earth is especially present within the soul of a person of Bnei Yisrael.

וחלק הארץ צריכין ללבן ולכבס דכ' והארץ היתה תוהו וצריך בירור.

And the "earth" portion needs to be whitened and laundered, as it is written, "and the earth was tohu (chaos)" — and it requires birur (refinement/clarification).

The earthly, material side of a person must be cleansed and clarified, just as the primordial "earth" began as formless chaos needing to be sorted and refined. This is the work of the white (lavan — also "to whiten").

ואז זוכין להתדבק בחלק השמים שקבוע באיש ישראל מקבלת התורה ז"ש אני ה' אלקיכם אשר הוצאתי אתכם מארץ מצרים בחי' לבנת הספיר.

And then one merits to cleave to the "heaven" portion that is fixed within a Yid from the receiving of the Torah; and this is "I am Hashem your God, who took you out of the land of Mitzrayim" — the aspect of the sapphire brick (livnas hasapir).

Once the earthly side is refined (the work of lavan/Yetzias Mitzrayim), a person can attach to the heavenly spark implanted at Matan Torah. The verse's "who took you out of Mitzrayim" corresponds to the white "livnas hasapir" — the redemption and protection in galus.

להיות לכם לאלקים היא כעצם השמים כנ"ל:

"To be a God to you" — this is "like the very heavens," as explained above.

The verse's continuation, "to be your God," corresponds to the techeiles, the "etzem hashamayim" — the inner cleaving to Hashem at the soul's root, the goal reached after the refinement of the earthly side.

Summary: Tzitzis, like Shabbos, is equal to all the mitzvos because it contains both a positive command and a prohibition — "remember the mitzvos" and "do not stray" — embodied in its white strings (lavan) and blue thread (techeiles). The white recalls the protection of galus (livnas hasapir, "I am with him in distress"), the avodah of "forgetting" worldly vanity and refining the earthly self; the techeiles is the inner Godly spark received at Sinai, the avodah of "remembering" and cleaving to one's supernal root. Every person and thing holds these two — heaven and earth — and by laundering the earthly side one merits to attach to the heavenly portion, "to be your God," like the very heavens.