The Land I Will Show You, sec. 7, chapter 11
Tzitzis and Proper Vision
(For the previous chapter of “The Land I Will Show You,” click here. For the ToC, click here.)
11: Tzitzis and Proper Vision
The mitzvah to see the land is to see what is good in Hashem’s eyes, and to understand what interests Hashem, so to speak. The good in Hashem’s eyes is the eternal, universal and absolute good. To the extent that a person’s understanding of this deepens, his sense of vision improves, becoming similar to Hashem’s vision. Thus, it is appropriate to contemplate the essence and the nature of the good, and to ask: What, essentially, is the universal and fundamental good? Kindness, justice and righteousness? Wisdom? Pleasure? All of the above? In other words: What does the verse “And Hashem saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:31) mean? This is a question it is worthwhile to delve into deeply in order to adopt the true perspective on the good. But, as already mentioned (here), it suffices to at least accustom yourself to thinking that Hashem has His own perspective on the good, different from our perspective as individuals who are interested only in what affects us, and that His perspective encompasses all of reality as it is. Through this way of thinking, it is possible to rein in a person’s natural sense of the good and to replace it, gradually, with that of Hashem.
From the story of the spies, we can learn another aspect in the mitzvah of having correct vision, and how to succeed as a spy.
It is written: “Send for yourself men to explore the Land of Canaan” (Numbers 13:2). Mirroring this, at the end of Parashas Shelach it is written: “And they shall make for themselves tzitzis on the corners of their garments throughout their generations... and it shall be for you as tzitzis, and you shall look upon it and remember all the mitzvahs of Hashem and perform them, and not explore after your heart and after your eyes after which you stray” (ibid 15:38-39). This implies that the mitzvah of tzitzis corrects the failure of the spies and prevents flawed vision. Moreover, the garment that requires tzitzis is similar to the land – both have four corners, as it is written about the land: “…to the corners of the earth” (Job 37:3); “To seize the corners of the earth and shake the wicked out of it” (ibid, 38:13); “From the corners of the earth we hear songs” (Isaiah 24:16). The continuation of the last verse mentioned hints at a connection between the garment and the land: “And I said: I have a secret! I have a secret! Woe is me! The treacherous have dealt treacherously, indeed, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously.”1 What is this connection, and how could putting strings on the corners of garments lead to proper viewing of the land?
To understand the significance of the mitzvah of tzitzis and its connection to the land, let’s delve into the prophets’ parables about Hashem’s garments and the comparison between them and human clothing. In their parables, the prophets liken heaven and earth to Hashem’s garments, and the light to a robe He wears. Let us capture the depth of this metaphor through examining some verses and combining their themes. It is written:
At the beginning You founded the earth; The heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; all of them will wear out like a garment; like clothing You will change them, and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will have no end” (Psalms 102:26-28)
Heaven and earth are Hashem’s garments that will wear out. Hashem will change them like a person changes his clothing, while He Himself will endure forever. Similarly, it is written:
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish away like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants will die in like manner; but My salvation will be forever, and My righteousness will not be abolished (Isaiah 51:6)
In place of the old heavens and earth that will wear out, Isaiah prophesied about new heavens and a new earth:
For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth (ibid 65:17)
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me… (ibid 66:22)
The description matches what is written in Psalms “like clothing You will change them” – Hashem will, so to speak, dress in new garments.
The metaphor is expanded in the book of Isaiah: The heavens and the earth will come to an end, and the entire universe will change, particularly its light. As it is said:
The sun shall be no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light to you: but Hashem shall be for you an everlasting light… Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will no longer wane, for Hashem will be an everlasting light for you (Isaiah 60:19-20)
Another verse completes the metaphor: “He wraps himself in light as if it were a robe” (Psalms 104:2) – the light serves as a garment for Hashem. Let us now arrange the entire metaphor and then interpret it.
The original light, created on the first day, is Hashem’s original garment, but the light was hidden after the sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge,2 and now we have only the sun and the moon, which are dim and obscured compared to the true light. Now, there is no full light illuminating the corners of the earth. To the extent that there is no full light, Hashem’s garments are not perfect, and He is clothed in the darkness of heavens and earth. Therefore, Hashem will eventually change these garments and wear the original garments of light, and He will be an everlasting light.
Now to the meaning of the allegory. A garment is something visible to the eye, covering what needs to be hidden from sight. The meaning of garments of light – garments made out of light – is, therefore, something that covers but also illuminates and reveals. How so? A covering that perfectly matches what is underneath is an outer covering that leads to an understanding of the hidden interior; in contrast, dark garments are those that conceal the nature of what is beneath them like its material appearance. There is a garment that perfectly matches what is underneath, presenting a true image of its wearer, and conversely, there is a garment that deceives the eyes and leads the observer astray: Its wearer is disguised and pretends to be something he is not.
How are these concepts transferred to God and His creation? The entire creation appears in the visions of the prophets as Hashem’s garments. For Hashem can be known only through His actions, which are like garments covering the hidden Hashem. They are what can be seen of Him, like human garments in relation to a person. Like human garments, Hashem’s garments can serve as a true representation of Him and give an accurate concept of Him, or alternatively, they can conceal and obscure.
“He wraps himself in light as if it were a robe” refers to the original intention in creation – that contemplating Creation would lead to complete knowledge of Hashem, as Hashem’s actions illuminate Him and bring a person to know the God who performs them. The attainment of this spiritual level was postponed by the hiding of the first garments of light, such that Hashem is not fully known; heaven and earth hide knowledge of Him instead of guiding a person to it. This is hinted at in the metaphor of the sun that sets and the moon that wanes presented in the book of Isaiah: There is no full light in heaven and earth; instead of revealing Hashem, they conceal Him, and darkness – that is, concealment – prevails. Instead of knowing Hashem through His actions, understanding that behind all that exists lies Hashem’s Will and activity, His actions are perceived as if they are independent entities disconnected from Him. We do not have a pure perception of good, but instead a perception mixed with one of evil.
For now, Hashem is not fully revealed through His actions. However, the matter will eventually return to its perfect state, such that all of Hashem’s actions – the entire creation, heaven and earth – will guide mankind to knowing Him. There will be new heavens and a new earth, and Hashem will be an everlasting light.
This is the essence of the allegory of the changing garments of Hashem, from revealing garments to concealing garments and back to revealing garments.
And as with Hashem’s changing garments – so with human garments. It is written: “And Hashem God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21); and in the Torah of Rabbi Meir they found written “garments of light”;3 for initially, Adam and his wife were clothed in garments of light, and in the end, after they sinned, garments of skins.4 Garments of light are garments that reveal what is beneath them, that guide the mind and illuminate it to understand the inner nature of the thing; while garments of skins are garments that obscure and conceal.
Human garments correspond to Hashem’s garments. When Hashem wore light as a garment and saw the light and all that was made “that it was good,” everything was seen perfectly, the goodness of everything was clear and visible to the eye, and even the human body could be exposed and seen. Adam and his wife were naked, clothed in garments of light that helped their bodies to be seen in the good divine light. For truly all of Hashem’s work is good, and everything can be seen, if only we see everything in a good light. But after the good light was removed due to the sin of Adam and his wife – who saw the tree “that it was good,” a corrupted vision that led to the knowledge of good and evil too – Adam and his wife were ashamed of the evil they saw in the naked body, and they covered their nakedness with garments of skins.
Dressing in garments is a decision to not see, to not use the sense of sight, so as not to come to see the evil as well. Adam and his wife saw evil and not good alone, and because they knew their vision was corrupted, they covered their eyes – he is clothed in garments so that his wife won’t see him, and she is clothed in garments so that her husband won’t see her.
Adam and his wife could not see the pure good without seeing an admixture of evil – and this is nothing but the hiding of Hashem’s good light, as Hashem’s good intention was not understood through the creation without an admixture of evil, without an admixture of duality. The human being covered himself in garments, and the dark heaven and earth concealed Hashem’s goodness like human garments that conceal the person. The good light was removed, and instead, there is now a mixture of light and darkness, good and evil, knowledge and concealment. Vision is corrupted and the good Hashem is not seen in His light.
With this, we can come to understand the depth of the mitzvah of tzitzis: how it will teach us how to see the land and not to explore after the heart and the eye.
The garment is treacherous, and the cloak betrays.5 There are foolish people who see the external clothing visible to the eye, and if the vessel looks good, they do not look further at what is in it – at the quality of the person covered in garments, as if the clothing is the body. Likewise, foolish people see heaven and earth, Hashem’s actions, and thinks they are the entirety of reality.
The mitzvah of tzitzis corrects this mistake. Hanging fringes on the corner of the garment marks the garment as a garment and not as the actual body of the person. The tzitzis signifies to the observer: “Do not fall into the trap of thinking that the garment is the person! There are things inside it – the person himself, the inner truth.” The exterior is not the interior, and if there are things not visible to the eye – like the human body – it is not because they are not essential in existence. On the contrary, the invisible thing is the essence, like the invisible Hashem who is active within heaven and earth. All externality is but a hint that leads to internality.
Thus, tzitzis corrects the attribute of vision. When a person is clothed in cloaks of skins that obscure, the tzitzis reminds us that there is a good light in the person that is but hidden for a moment. Therefore, through this mitzvah, the congregation that explored after the heart and the eye will come to recognize the holiness of the land hidden behind darkness like a person hidden in garments, to know that “the land which we passed through to explore it, is a very, very good land” (Numbers 14:7). From the message of the tzitzis on the corners of the garments, one can learn to look deeply into everything, to its good interiority.
Anyone who fulfills the mitzvah of tzitzis is as if he receives the face of the Shechinah;6 It doesn’t say “You shall look upon them” but rather “You shall look upon it (Him)” – Hashem.7 The perfect vision that leads to perceiving Hashem is this: seeing the garment, which is indeed externality, but in a way that guides to the attainment of interiority. The tzitzis save from the treachery of the garment.
We have learned that the proper vision is to see the interiority of things. That is how righteous spies act: They explore the land but do not explore after the heart and the eye, but rather look at everything to see its interiority. For every superficial thing has an interior facet, which is its holiness; if you train yourself to search for the interiority of everything and think about it, and not about the superficiality that is visible to the eye and entices the heart, then you are a companion to Joshua and Caleb and are engaging in the mitzvah of “I will show you,” that is, adopting the sight of Hashem.
How do you see the interiority of a thing? Every time you see something, translate what appears to the eye into the language of interiority. Every specific thing you see has a secret, a reason why it appears so, some purpose. For example, say you see a tree with a bird standing on it and rain falling. What is the tree, essentially? Why does it look like this? What is a bird and what are rains? For they are all truly expressions of Hashem’s Will. What is His Will that created the thing exactly thus? In other words, why does the tree grow and the bird seek food and the rains water? What principle of eternal Will stands behind the things? Always search for purposefulness, and then, when you contemplate and delve into these thoughts that arise through vision, you are engaging in the mitzvah of “I will show you.”
Training yourself in such vision extends to the domain of human activity as well. Just as there is a purpose for every divine creation, that is, every natural thing, so, too, is there a purpose for every artificial thing. To the extent that the purpose of the thing matches God’s purpose in His actions, the thing is good; to the extent that it does not, it contains an admixture of evil, the innovation of human beings.
Through adopting such vision, we will merit new heavens and a new earth, Hashem’s proper garments that lead mankind to perceive Him, as the divine holiness shines through the Holy Land.
In the next chapter we shall see that hanging fringes on the corners of the garments also hints at the foundational belief of the resurrection of the dead, and that this notion, too, stands at the axis of the story of the spies and their failed mission.
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בוגדים בגדו ובגד בוגדים בגדו. “Garment” in Hebrew is “beged” – the same root as treachery.
“Garment” in Hebrew is “beged” – the same root as treachery. “Cloak” is “me’il” – the same root as betrayal.
Language of Midrash Tehillim, 90:18.