How much longer will this evil congregation who incite complaints against Me [exist]? The complaints of the children of Israel which they incited them to make against Me, I have heard. (Bamidbar 14:27)

 

This evil congregation: This refers to the spies; [we derive] from here that a congregation numbers [a minimum of] ten.

(Rashi Bamidbar 14:27, Judaica Press translation)

 

And you shall no longer be called by the name Jacob, but rather Israel will be your name - and all of Israel was named after him. At that moment the Holy One, blessed be He, dedicated Israel to His name, as it is said, Israel, in whom I glory (Isaiah 49).

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: Since you were dedicated to My name before I created the world, be holy as I am holy, for it is said, for I am holy, therefore it says, you shall be holy.

What is this like? It is like a king who married a woman, and said to her: "Since you are dedicated to me, I am king and you are queen, just as it is my honor, it is your honor. Just so the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Go and sanctify the people, for it is said, and sanctify them today and tomorrow (Shemot 19) - the Holy one, blessed be He, sanctified them and said to Israel: and you shall be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Why? For I, the Lord, am holy - so you too be holy, since I have dedicated you to My name, for it is said: Speak unto the entire Israelite congregation and tell them, "You shall be holy... " The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: When you merit it, you are called the congregation of the holy, but when you do not merit it, you are called [this] evil congregation, for it is said, How much longer will this evil congregation (Bamidbar 14).

(Tanhuma, Kedoshim 2)

 

The Colorful Commandment of Tzitzit

Dov Abramson

Speak to the children of Israel and you shall say to them that they shall make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations, and they shall affix a thread of sky blue [wool] on the fringe of each corner. This shall be fringes for you, and when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord to perform them...

Our parasha concludes with Parashat Tzitzit - the passage of five verses which commands us to tie white fringes and an azure thread to the corners of our garments. Tzitzit is an artistic commandment; it involves the crafts of weaving and thread-making alluded to in the above verses. Most of its details appear only in the Oral Torah. Our Sages went so far as to expound upon the verse: "This is my God and I will enshrine Him [ve'anveihu] - be decorated [hitna'eh] before Him with commandments, make before Him... beautiful tzitzit... (Shabbat 133b).

It is not surprising that the tzitzit and tallit inspired the works of many generations of Jewish artists, either when they designed them as ritual objects, or in independent artworks that are in dialogue with the commandment of tzitzit.¹

Tzitzit is also a colorful commandment. The color azure plays a central role and is a necessary condition for the commandment's observance, even though for many generations Jews had to abandon the azure thread due to its unavailability and to uncertainty regarding the color's precise identity and source.

It is interesting to see how the Sages dealt with color in general and especially when it appears as a central element in a practical commandment. Unlike most discussions in the Oral Torah, which were preserved thanks to the oral transmission of texts and later by the physical writing of those texts, the transmission of traditions dealing with color is a much more subtle and complex affair. "Color traditions" posed a great challenge to the Sages of the Mishnah and the Talmud, since color imagery could not be created. This situation necessitated creative (and wonderful) solutions which allow us to peek into Jewish culture's world of color.

The famous mishnayot in the beginning of tractate Berakhot discuss the proper time for the morning recital of the Shema in terms of color perception: "When one can distinguish between Azure and white. R. Eliezer says: Between azure and green.² Relating to the writing of tefillin, mezuzut, and Torah scrolls, the RaMBaM states: "To the exception of other colors such as red, and green, and so forth, for if one writes a single letter of a Torah scroll, or tefillin, or mezuzah in other colors or in gold - then they are invalid (Hilkhot Tefillin 1:5).

Sometimes there seems to be a genuine dissonance between the black and white textual descriptions to which we have become accustomed and the attempt to bring life to the words in a colorful fashion. Despite the wonderful attempts of the present generation to produce color-literature treating the Tabernacle and its vessels (for instance), it appears that the graduate of the monochromatic beit-midrash will always be plagued by doubt upon encountering colorful and gleaming pictures of the High Priest's breastplate, and he will ask himself: "Is this really accurate? How can one know? Isn't it supposed to be black and white?"

Back to tzitzit. Since the color azure is so central to the commandment, our Sages had to give it a profound treatment:

R. Meir says. Why is azure singled out from all the varieties of colors? Because azure 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. (Hullin 89a, based on Soncino translation)³

R. Meir's famous dictum deals with the power of visual association, the power of color to arouse our memories - both personal and collective - and with the ability of such associations to generate memories and even deeds. Tzitzit is unusual among the commandments in that the Torah explicitly explains its rationale. The visual association is an inherent element in the commandment itself - and you shall see it, and you shall remember. Here there are two layers of visual associations: first, we see the tzitzit, which reminds us to observe the commandments; this occurs, in part, thanks to the tzitzit's color, which is itself fixed by the power of a second such visual association.

The question may be asked: Why did R. Meir need this chain of associations? Why didn't he simply say that azure is similar to the Throne of Glory, and that thus the tzitzit remind us of God's existence? What does this journey by way of the sea, the sky, and sapphire add for us?

I think that an answer to these questions may be derived from a modern addition to R. Meir's chain of associations. David Wolfson, a Zionist leader and activist who attended the First Zionist Congress (1987) in Basil, wrote:

At the behest of our leader, Herzl, I came to Basel to make preparations for the Zionist Congress.... Among the many problems that occupied me then was one which contained something of the essence of the Jewish problem. What flag would we have in the Congress Hall? Then an idea struck me. We (Jews) have a flag - and it is blue and white. The Tallit with which we wrap ourselves when we pray - that is our symbol. Let us take this symbol from its bag and unroll it before the eyes of Israel and of all nations. So, I ordered a blue and white flag with the Shield of David painted upon it. That is how our national flag, that flew over the Congress Hall, came into being. http://www.ort.org/ort/edu/festivals/independence/id2.html)

Indeed; the Israeli flag constitutes an additional link in R. Meir's associative chain, lengthening it to: Israeli flag > tallit > azure > sea > sky > sapphire > Throne of Glory.

Perhaps that can explain the reason why R. Meir spoke in chains. He may have wanted to show us that visual associations are, by their very nature, open-ended. Such associations are dynamic and can change in response to history and the development of our culture as individuals and as a people. Associations come and go, weaken and strengthen. We can add to them or subtract from them; we can interpret them and demand their continuation - as Wolfson did - for the culture of Israel is alive and breathing, flexible and elastic - and wonderfully colorful.

1. Here I will mention two of my favorite artworks that make use of tallit and tzitzit:  The first is Kol Ha'olam Kula Gesher Tzar Me'od (2007)[All the World is a Very Narrow Bridge], by the American artist Heather G. Stoltz, which uses tzitzit as an object (a bridge).  It can be viewed on the artist's website www.sewingstories.com.  The second piece is Avi Ezra's Isha Be'Tallit (2002) [Woman in a Tallit].

2. I discuss the halakha's use of colors to determine times of day in my Sha'ot Z'maniyot (2005), available on my website, www.dovabramson.com.

3. An example of the aforementioned difficulty in transmitting a "visual tradition" can be found in Rashi's commentary on the verses from our parasha in which Rashi surprisingly explains that tekhelet (azure) is "the yarok [yellow or green] (!) color of a snail."

Dov Abramson is a designer and artist who is involved with Jewish-Israeli culture. His work, Viduy: HaNiggun [Confession: the Melody] is currently on exhibition at the Artist's House in Jerusalem.

 

A new bottle full of old wine - from the pen of our member, Ronen Ahituv

Moses and Aaron fell on their faces... Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had scouted the land, tore their clothes. They spoke to the entire congregation of the children of Israel

Why did they tear their clothes? When they saw Moses and Aaron accepting their comrades' words, for it is said, Moses and Aaron fell on their faces (14:5). They did not say, "Let us go and do battle," rather they said, "We are incapable of entering the Land, for the Amalekite and the Canaanite are there before you (14:43), and the sons of giants live there. If only we do not return to Egypt!" That sealed the decree against them, for it is said, The Lord was also angry with me because of you (Devarim 1:37). What does because of you mean? Just as your decree against those who left Egypt was sealed when they accepted the spies' words, so the decree against Moses was sealed for accepting the spies' words for a time. The Holy One, blessed be He said to him: Is the Lord's power limited? Now you will see if My word comes true for you or not! (Bamidbar 11:23); Moses has said, for he is stronger than him (13:31), and he came to see the thing became true for him.

But what of its saying, And I said to you, "Do not be broken or afraid of them" (Devarim 1:29)? But it was not Moses but rather Joshua who said that! Rather, it would have been appropriate for Moses to have said it, and similarly it says, and they said the Land is good (verse 25); Joshua said that, but it would have been appropriate for the spies to have said it.

Know, that the Omnipresent told him, If you come to the Land... save Caleb son of Yefuneh and Joshua son of Nun (14:30); Caleb and Joshua will come, Moses and Aaron will not come.

What of its saying, Since you did not have faith in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly to the Land which I have given them (Bamidbar 20:12)? This tells us that He postponed punishment for the sin of the spies until they committed the sin of Meriva, saying, "If they sanctify My name I will forgive them the sin of the spies, the sanctification of Meriva will come and atone for the sanctification of the spies. When their time came to sanctify, the Omnipresent told them, "This is your hour." When Moses hit the rock, He immediately told him, Since you did not have faith in Me in the episode of the spies, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel at Mei Meriva.

The above derasha develops indications found in the book of Devarim that Moses and Aaron participated in the sin of the spies. Another hint is found in parashat Beha'alotkha, where God berates Moses for doubting His power, a sin similar to that of the spies. As for the interpretation of the phrase, for he is stronger than him, that the enemy is stronger than God, see Sotah 35a.

The principle sin of Moses and Aaron was, then, the sin of the spies, and not the sin at Meriva. Indeed, the sin at Meriva does not seem to justify their punishment; this has been a source of much discussion. The derasha goes on to explain verses that seem to contradict the interpretation.

 

And if Moses had Sent Women to Scout the Land?

He specifically mentioned [that] men [would be sent to scout the Land] because the Sages said (Yalkut Shimoni Pinhas 5773: 27) that the men hated the Land and [this is evident since the men] said let us make a leader and return to Egypt (Bamidbar 14:4), while the women loved the Land and said, give us a holding (27:4). And so, God said: To my mind, I see from future events that it would be better to send women who love the Land, for they would not speak badly of it. But [God told Moses]: [Send ] yourself [men] - that is, in accordance with your own opinion, for you think that they are fit and that they love the Land. [Go ahead!] Send men! That is why [it says] yourself, i.e., according to your opinion, but in My opinion, it would be better to send women.

(Kli Yakar Bamidbar 13:2)

 

The Finger of God and Man's Responsibility for his own Decisions

The entire community lifted up and let out their voice, and the people wept on that night - Rabba said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: That night was the ninth of Av. The Holy One, Blessed be He said to them: You cried for no good reason - I shall give you reason to weep for generations to come.

(Ta'anit 79a)

 

It is almost impossible to fully exhaust the significance of the fact that the people who 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 failed 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 reform of the entire nation. One incapable of recognizing his status before God and its ensuing commitments from within himself 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, the reaching of conclusions and the making of decisions. Paths of action are never given man as a free-gift, through the medium of wondrous revelation, by supernatural means.

We do not belong to the generation of the wilderness [midbar] which merited divine revelation; we belong to the generation which talks [medaber], 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: Sheva Shanim shel Sihot al Parashat HaShavua, pp. 665-666)

 

 

 

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