THE 24/7 FAITH

“You shall make for yourself twisted threads on the four corners of your garment, with which you cover yourself.” (Devarim 22:12)

We have already encountered the precept referred to in this verse in another book of the Torah. There (Bamidbar 15:37-41) the children of Israel are commanded to make for themselves fringes (tzitzit) on the corners of their garments. In the verse above, the Torah employs another word, gedilim, twisted threads, indicating that besides the flowing, loose threads, there must also be a section of the tzitzit that is braided. Tzitzit is one of a triumvirate of mitzvoth, the others being tefillin and mezuzah, all of which appear in the book of Devarim (6:8-9 and 11:18 & 20) that the Sages grouped together in a remarkable statement in the Talmud (Menachot 43b). “Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says: Anyone who has tefillin on his head, tefillin on his arm, tzitzit on his garment, and a mezuzah on his doorway is strengthened from all sides so that he will not sin, as it is stated (Kohellet 4:12): “And a threefold cord is not quickly broken”. And the verse states (Tehillim 34:8): “The angel of the Lord encamps round about them that fear Him, and delivers them.” These three mitzvoth envelope a person, for they are to be found on his body (tefillin), his clothing (tzitzit) and his home (mezuzah). What is the unique feature of these mitzvoth that they prevent a Jew from sinning?

At the end of the Laws of Mezuzah (6:13), the Rambam writes about the importance of this mitzvah and he cites the aforementioned Talmudic passage: “A person must show great care in [the observance of the mitzvah of] mezuzah, because it is an obligation which is constantly incumbent upon everyone. [Through its observance,] whenever a person enters or leaves [the house], he will encounter the unity of the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, and remember his love for Him. Thus, he will awake from his sleep and his obsession with the vanities of time, and recognize that there is nothing that lasts for eternity except the knowledge of the Creator of the world. This will motivate him to regain full awareness and follow the paths of the upright. Whoever wears tefillin on his head and arm, wears tzitzit on his garment, and has a mezuzah on his entrance, can be assured that he will not sin, because he has many who will remind him. These are the angels who will prevent him from sinning, as [Tehillim 34:8] states: ‘The angel of God camps around those who fear Him and protects them.’”

Rambam views these mitzvoth as reminders of one’s duty as a Jew. When one encounters a mezuzah, one will inevitably contemplate the concepts that are contained within that small but mighty scroll: the unity of God; the commands to love God, learn His Torah and observe His mitzvoth. The same is true of tefillin which contain the same passages in a mezuzah plus two more. As for the tzitzit, the Torah itself calls them a reminder (Bamidbar 15:39), “It shall be for you a fringe and you shall see it and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and perform them and you shall not rove after your heart and after your eyes, after which you stray.”

There is, however, another factor about these mitzvoth that the Rambam emphasises, “A person must show great care in [the observance of the mitzvah of] mezuzah, because it is an obligation which is constantly incumbent upon everyone.” The key word here is constant. Sefer HaChinuch also makes this point (Mitzvah # 16) when he writes: “For through the good actions in which we engage, we are affected to become good and merit eternal life. Our Sages of blessed memory have alluded to this when they stated (Menachot 43b): Anyone who has a mezuzah on his doorway, tzitzit on his garment and tefillin on his head assuredly will not sin. This is because these are constant mitzvoth, and he is affected by them constantly.” The author of Sefer HaChinuch has a well-known theory whereby he believes strongly that human beliefs are influenced by human actions. When even a bad person consistently does good deeds, he will eventually become good and when even a righteous person consistently does evil deeds, he will become evil. This is how he explains the Talmudic passage above: tzitzit, tefillin and mezuzah prevent a person from sinning because they are performed constantly.

Judaism is a way of life that is characterised by constant and consistent practices. Halacha (Jewish Law) insinuates itself into every aspect of our lives: eating, working, travelling, studying, interpersonal relationships and more. The Torah accompanies us into the kitchen, the bedroom, the office, the study, the bathroom, the sports field. It is not a religion that is relegated to a particular place (a house of worship) or a particular time (a holy day). Jews have always understood this and have known that this is the secret of preserving our faith. Unfortunately, beginning in the 18^th century, some Jews lost their way. They looked upon other religions, primarily Christianity, and noticed that the adherents of those faiths were able to compartmentalise their lives into the religious and secular realms. Church and Sunday were for religion and the rest of the week was for “normal” life. These early reformers sought to purge Judaism of the very precepts that had maintained Jews throughout their long and harsh exile: kashrut, daily prayer, Shabbat observance, family purity and other “ritual” mitzvoth. They desired, instead, to strip Judaism down to moral principles and to abandon what they viewed as parochial observances.

An extreme example of this is the infamous ‘trefa banquet’ that took place in Cincinnati on 11 July 1883.  The banquet was the celebratory meal following the ordination of Hebrew Union College’s initial class of four rabbis that took place earlier in the day at Isaac Mayer Wise’s Plum Street Temple. There were more than one hundred rabbinic and lay leaders in attendance, representing 76 different congregations across the United States. In the words of Professor Jonathan Sarna (American Judaism – A History, page 145), “The lavish nine-course banquet three hours after the ordination, however, unwittingly undid all of the unity and goodwill produced by the earlier ceremony and displayed a different, more narrowly defined strategy for Reform Judaism. Held at Cincinnati’s posh Highland House and planned and sponsored by insensitive lay leaders, the banquet included four biblically forbidden foods (clams, crabs, shrimp and frog’s legs), and also mixed meat and dairy products, another violation of the Jewish dietary code. Some of the guests were horrified; two stomped out in anger. The fiasco, known as the trefa (unkosher) banquet, was reputedly the product of carelessness rather than malice. The Jewish caterer, Gus Lindeman, and most of his local clients, reflecting Reform Jewish tendencies of the day, had themselves long since abandoned the Jewish dietary laws and refrained only from serving pork products, which the meal carefully avoided. Traditionalists, however, viewed the banquet as a “public insult”, particularly since Wise, instead of apologizing for the gaffe, took the offensive against what he called “kitchen Judaism” and insisted the dietary laws had lost their validity…Symbolically, the trefa banquet separated American Jews into two opposing camps that could no longer even break bread together.”

What the so-called Rabbi Wise derided is exactly what our Sages praised: Judaism must be everywhere, all of the time: from the shul to the school to the street to the bedroom to the kitchen!

Lee, Chani Merryl & Naomi join me in wishing you Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Liebenberg.

This week’s YouTube message: https://youtu.be/m80pczZdHlI?si=nH4elgbtiJr6I4Bs