Fringe Benefits

Fringe benefits

By Rabbi Y R Rubin Shlita.

Whenever we have the opportunity to visit Yerusholayim there is one shop that draws me to it like a magnet. On Malchei Yisroel there is a small tallis factory outlet, and no matter when I am there, I must go in. The place is a veritable tallis cornucopia with every style, colour and size of tallis draped along the walls.

I have a passion when it comes to talleisim; it started when I was a kid and davened in a shteibl in Kew Garden Hills, Queens. The area is now a fully-fledged Torah enclave with Yidden on every street and glatt kosher stores in the main shopping area. In my childhood it was sparsely populated with many homes being built especially for homecoming soldiers. Into this mix came a rov,  Rav Yosef Gelernter ztl who was a Chassidishe Yied. He had learnt in the Mesivta in Warsaw as a bochur and besides being a Gerrer Chossid, was also the scion of great rabbinical giants. He built a small shteibl where Yiddishkeit was alive and thriving, without any compromise to the American lifestyle that inhabited the world outside its doors. The Rav was piety personified, his davening  warm and resonant. Being a shteibl the place had a number of talleisim that were always on the tables, ready to be picked up, lovingly kissed and placed over the head of its wearers. These Yidden were mostly survivors of the camps, as was the Rav and his wonderful Rebbetzin. I fell in love with those talleisim; there was something about their feel, the scratchy, yet silky touch of the strings, and the way they created a safe haven for those ensconced in them. Being a youngster I could only envy those married congregants, but I took great solace in my talleisim ketanim. I would go shopping on the East Side of Manhattan, in the old Jewish section where shops sold the “real” items, woolen with black stripes and thick strings that dangled to your knees. They were wondrous, and I could never have enough of them. I would try to buy several at a time so that if one pair was stained I could hand wash it myself and have a spare (or three) in reserve. I learned how to tie the strings myself and had a little earner in yeshiva tying others’ tzitzis.

The Rov was a great tzitzis lover, and I used to gaze in wonder when he put his tallis on in the mornings. In those days it wasn’t every Rov that would walk about with his tzitzis out so proudly; his were thick and long, pristine white against the black of his trousers.The image of him standing with his tallis on still lives in my mind’s eye although I last saw him davening over fifty years ago.

So you can understand why I have a “thing” about tzitzis and how going into a tallis shop can set my adrenaline flowing.

The Kotzker Rebbe ztl used to describe the tallis as the only real Yiddishe garment, in that it is specifically given its own place in the Torah. We have just read- in Parshas Shelach- about the purpose of this cherished mitzvah:

“These shall be your fringes and when you look at them, you’ll remember all the commandments of Hashem, and do them; and will not [continue to] go astray [following] after your own heart and your own eyes, which [have had the ability at this point to] lead you to immorality.  So that you will remember and do all My commandments, and be holy unto your Elokim.
—Bamidbar 15:39,40
The Medrash explains:
“So that you will may remember and do all My commandments.”
This is comparable to one thrown into the raging waters to whom the ship’s captain flung a rope. The captain told [the man thrown overboard] “grasp this rope in your hands and don’t let go for if you do  … you’re lost.”

Similarly, Hashem told Bnei Yisroel: “as long as you hold fast to the mitzvos [you will live] [as it says] ‘And [only] you who cling to Hashem your Elokim are all alive today’ (Devarim4:4).
—Midrash Rabboh Bamidbar17:6

The life- saving rope is an allegory for our tzitzis: if we hold onto them and delve into their lessons we can be saved from drowning. We are all cast into the raging waters of this materialistic world; many despair and wonder how they can remain safe. The tallis, with its lessons and reminders, is the refuge we can create that can save us from being overcome.

I often gaze in wonder whilst holding the tzitzis in my hand. Look at those strings, intricately twisted and turned, the long ends seemingly tangled unaccountably. Yet for me this speaks volumes about our lives. We are all entangled with strands of stress, worry, unworthy thoughts, fears and so much more, yet we hold this jumble of life to our hearts and realize that if we hold on to Hashem’s mitzvos, all will become clear. There are no short cuts; life will present its challenges, but in the ocean of reality we have a life line. The tzitzis may seem fragile and thin, but they have helped us stay alive throughout history.

A story is told that after the Churban many of the survivors lived in DP camps. The Klausenberger Rebbe ztl would set up groups and create some a semblance of a Torah community. Once he received one set of tzitzis from America and sought a fair way to award them to one of the olam. There were about 150 takers for the one set of strings so it was decided to have a goral (lottery) to decide who would get it.

In the crowd was a Gerrer chossid, Reb Mendel Tchipek, who strongly desired the tzitzis, so he ripped the back of his only shirt in a way that would obligate him to wear tzitzis. He showed the Rebbe his ripped clothing and said “My clothing now has four corners, so I am obligated by the Torah to wear tzitzis, therefore I should receive the tzitzis strings.”

The rebbe was impressed by this man’s mesiras nefesh, but he still couldn’t give him the set. There were others who desired the tzitzis as much as he did. “We will see” the Rebbe told him, “perhaps you will win the goral, and then it will be rightfully yours.”
He won the goral, and with it the prized tzitzis.

As I wend my way through the piles of talleisim at the shop in Yerusholayim, I could buy so many pairs and in so many styles. Yet, would they mean so much to me? To any of us?