Tallis and Tzitzis, Emunah and Daas, Korach's Argument about the Tallis that is Entirely Techeiles - Rabbi Asher Parkesh

00:01 In the days of the Rebbe Rashab in Russia, the government was looking to impose all kinds of decrees. At that time there were maskilim—Jews who were distant from Torah and mitzvos—who constantly tried to fight the observant Jews, those who kept Torah and mitzvos. They joined forces with the government and, wherever they could, tried to make trouble for observant Jews. There was a Jew then, a government-appointed rabbi, who was among the leading maskilim in Odessa. He had completely abandoned observance and waged a campaign to impose various decrees and abolish a number of Jewish practices. His name was Dr. Krebs. In any case, as the story is told, the Rebbe Rashab knew that this man had undertaken a whole project: for several years he had gathered all kinds of points and arguments against various practices, intending to involve the government so that it would issue decrees requiring certain things to be abolished or changed. In particular, he campaigned against the study of Kabbalah and the inner dimension of Torah, claiming that it did not meet the government’s requirements. The Rebbe Rashab called his son, the Frierdiker Rebbe, and told him

02:05 to travel to Petersburg and see what he could do to have the decree annulled. The Frierdiker Rebbe traveled to Petersburg and met with various important people, Jews and non-Jews, government officials and ministers. He saw that the situation was very serious and acute, and, by natural means, he could find no way to annul the decree. He was deeply distressed and traveled back to Lubavitch to tell his father, the Rebbe Rashab, about the situation and that he could find no way to set things right. He arrived in Lubavitch. It was a difficult journey, a long trip, [unclear], with all the jolting along the way. When he arrived in Lubavitch, he found his father, the Rebbe Rashab, preparing to daven, with his tallis resting on his shoulders. The two front tzitzis hung before him. The tallis rests on the shoulders, with the two tzitzis—the thirty-two threads—and all that they represent. He saw his father pacing back and forth in the room, the tallis on his shoulders and the two tzitzis in his hand. That was how he was: deep in thought, pacing back and forth. When the Frierdiker Rebbe entered the room and began telling his father about the bitter situation, and how

03:57 it seemed that, by natural means, he could find no way to annul the decree, the Rebbe Rashab immediately said to him: “As is known from Kabbalah and the teachings of Chassidus, a tallis is an encompassing light. And it is known that an encompassing light blinds the eyes of the external forces—it blinds the kelipos, the eyes of the external forces. So this is a segulah.” As soon as the Frierdiker Rebbe heard this, he took the tzitzis and kissed them. He immediately left, boarded the train again and, despite the journey and all its jolting, returned to Petersburg. This time he went with mesirus nefesh. This time he did not go looking for various ways to reach people and make connections. Instead, he went straight to the home of that maskil, that leader, that man. He knocked on his door and said that he wanted to meet with him. “I want to speak with him.” The man said, “Come, let’s talk now. I have something to ask. How can you speak now, right now?” And he received him with great pleasure and openness. For some time already [unclear]

05:40 Yes, when a person gathers all kinds of investigations and evidence, and all kinds of practices, customs and things that have no source, and conducts all kinds of investigations, [unclear]. And with all that, within a few days he goes. He spoke with the person in charge, [unclear], and with the ministers he was working with, about imposing new decrees on Jews. They told him, “They won’t be able to get out of this one. It will be very bitter, very bitter.” They laughed at and disparaged various matters, particularly customs, Chassidus, Kabbalah and practices based on Kabbalah. As the man spoke, the Frierdiker Rebbe acted, as they say, astonished, and said to him, “What are you saying? Well, what are you saying? I’d like to see what’s written there.” In his great pride, the man immediately went to the bookcases and took out the complete work he had prepared—a booklet in which he had collected everything he had worked on, all his investigations. He placed it on the table and began showing him what he had written, his investigations and evidence. The Frierdiker Rebbe took the work. They were both standing together by the table, and the man had begun showing him things in the booklet. The Frierdiker Rebbe took the whole

07:09 thing and immediately began tearing it, page after page, piece after piece. The man flared up in anger and began shouting. Meanwhile, the Frierdiker Rebbe calmly kept tearing another page, and another, and another. He continued until nothing at all remained. The man was beside himself, shouting and banging, and he could not even [unclear]. This was what the Frierdiker Rebbe did. The man was completely out of control, like an animal. But meanwhile, without any fear, the Frierdiker Rebbe tore the entire work to pieces. When he had finished, he left the house and ran. He hurried back to Lubavitch and told the Rebbe Rashab what he had done, recounting the whole matter in tears. The man nearly lost his mind when he saw that all his efforts had come to nothing. All the work he had done had gone into the trash, as they say. He had fear of Heaven. It made him ill. And as is known, some time later he passed away from the grief and suffering over all the work he had done and his inability to do anything. This was the mesirus nefesh of the Rebbe, the Frierdiker Rebbe, together with his kissing his father’s tzitzis and everything else. This is the parsha we are learning

08:44 at this time, Parshas Shelach and Parshas Korach. And the connection between Parshas Shelach and Parshas Korach gives us an opening to discuss tzitzis. As the Midrash asks about Parshas Korach: Why is the passage about Korach placed right after the passage about tzitzis? The mitzvah of tzitzis appears in Parshas Shelach, and immediately afterward comes “And Korach took.” What happened when “Korach took”? The Midrash says, and Rashi brings this in his commentary on the first verse of Chumash, that one of the arguments Korach raised against Moshe Rabbeinu was this: Korach took the two hundred and fifty men and dressed them in tallisos made entirely of techeiles. In other words, he was responding to the preceding passage: Moshe Rabbeinu had told the Children of Israel, “They shall make tzitzis for themselves,” and that there must be “a thread of techeiles on the corners of their garments.” Moshe Rabbeinu said that tallisos must have tzitzis, and each corner must have a thread of techeiles. Korach went and took two hundred and fifty men, dressing each of them in a tallis made entirely of techeiles. He went to Moshe Rabbeinu and asked him, “Does a tallis made entirely of techeiles require tzitzis? Does someone wearing a tallis made entirely of techeiles need to attach tzitzis to it?” Moshe Rabbeinu told him, “Yes, it needs tzitzis.” At that, Korach began to laugh and mock him, saying, “Come on, what is this? One thread of techeiles, when here there’s a tallis…”

10:24 made entirely of techeiles, and it needs tzitzis? The Midrash continues with other arguments he raised and describes how he mocked the Torah of Moshe Rabbeinu. This is what the verse says: “The entire congregation, all of them, are holy, and Hashem is among them; why, then, do you raise yourselves above Hashem’s assembly?” He argued against Moshe and Aharon, as emerges from the Midrashim on the whole matter. This also raises a question, a simple question that all the commentators ask: What exactly did Korach want? What is the connection? Looking at the plain meaning of the verse, his argument was, “Why do you raise yourselves above Hashem’s assembly?” His claim against Moshe Rabbeinu was: “Why do you raise yourselves up?” Why is Moshe Rabbeinu’s leadership necessary? “The entire congregation, all of them, are holy,” and Rashi says that “they all heard at Sinai, ‘I am Hashem your G-d.’” They heard it themselves; why do they need Moshe Rabbeinu? Then, on the plain level, he also had complaints against Aharon the Kohen: he wanted to be Kohen Gadol. It was jealousy of Moshe Rabbeinu and Aharon the Kohen—“Why do you raise yourselves above Hashem’s assembly?” So the question is: What is the connection to the matter of tzitzis? What argument was Korach making about tzitzis? He brought a tallis made entirely of techeiles—what exactly was the point? His question was, “Does a tallis made entirely of techeiles require tzitzis?” Seemingly, what does this have to do with tzitzis? The question concerned techeiles, not tzitzis. The Torah says there are eight threads on each corner of

11:56 Tzitzis: one of the threads must be techeiles. If so, seemingly the question should not have been, “Does a tallis that is entirely techeiles require techeiles?” Does it require a thread of techeiles? But the wording of the question, as brought in Rashi and the Midrashim, is: “Does a tallis that is entirely techeiles require tzitzis?” He wanted to ask about the entire mitzvah of tzitzis, not just the techeiles itself. What is the explanation, and what does it mean? On a simple level, as the commentators explain according to the plain meaning of the Torah, Korach’s argument was the opposite: Korach thought Moshe Rabbeinu would tell him that if the tallis was entirely techeiles, it did not need a thread of techeiles; it did not need tzitzis. After all, if it is entirely techeiles, why does it need another thread of techeiles? And similarly, a house full of seforim: if it is full of seforim, why does it need a mezuzah? Had Moshe Rabbeinu told him that it did not need techeiles and did not need a mezuzah, because the house was full of seforim and the tallis was entirely techeiles, then here too the argument would have been: Why must we turn to particular individuals? “The entire congregation, all of them, are holy.” All the Jews

13:25 are holy, all of them are holy. Why should there be a matter of “exalting yourselves over Hashem’s congregation”? Why do Moshe and Aharon have to be here? That is how the commentators explain it. But there is a deeper explanation here. We also see in seforim that Korach had a particular argument specifically about tzitzis. This follows from the sequence of the parshiyos: the preceding parsha is the parsha of tzitzis, and immediately afterward comes “And Korach took.” In other words, Korach had a particular argument about tzitzis. What was his argument? That a tallis entirely of techeiles is exempt not only from techeiles, but from tzitzis altogether. What is the reasoning behind Korach’s argument? In general, we know that the seforim of Chassidus, and particularly several seforim by disciples of the Baal Shem Tov, say that Korach was a great man, a holy man. This is also implied by the Midrashim, but the seforim of Chassidus in particular speak of great things concerning Korach: that he was a holy man and a great man, a person of high spiritual standing. As we find among a number of the Baal Shem Tov’s disciples, one can speak of Korach in very lofty, refined terms, as a great man, a holy man. So what caused it? Because [unclear], because that

14:55 humility and self-sacrifice that one must have toward Moshe Rabbeinu were lacking. But there was certainly something profound behind Korach’s position; he did not simply stir up a dispute. Undesirable things came of it afterward, but at its root, Korach’s dispute was a very deep one. The question is: What was Korach’s view? What was his argument here, that he specifically wanted a tallis entirely of techeiles and claimed it did not need tzitzis, while Moshe Rabbeinu told him that even a tallis entirely of techeiles requires tzitzis? What is the explanation, and what is the point of it? One explanation is given by the Alter Rebbe, who explains it in a wonderful, rich way—a very deep explanation that also applies to avodas Hashem. The general explanation can be understood from what is said there: What does the tallis represent, and what do the tzitzis represent? The Alter Rebbe explains that the tallis represents an encompassing light. A tallis is a garment, a garment that surrounds the entire body. That is what the tallis represents: something encompassing, which surrounds the person. The tzitzis, by contrast, represent precisely the opposite.

16:22 The tzitzis are like [unclear] extending from the sides. The difference between the tallis and the tzitzis: the tallis [unclear]. Two verses, which are said among the verses recited [unclear] tzitzis, tallis. They say there that the tallis surrounds the entire person. The tzitzis, by contrast, represent precisely the opposite. The tzitzis are like [unclear]; it is just the opposite: constriction, an internal light that descends into the details and [unclear]. The concept of the tallis and tzitzis is explained by the Alter Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, and in a number of [unclear]. The tallis and tzitzis represent the union of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah, the union of sovev and memale. In other words, the tallis represents sovev, the light that encompasses all worlds, and the tzitzis represent memale, the light that fills all worlds. Together, the tallis and tzitzis represent the connection that must exist between them—the connection between sovev kol almin and memale kol almin, between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah. That is the [unclear]. But the [unclear] is [unclear] greater, which encompasses.

18:15 And then there is the light that descends to every detail, to every world, and to every created being according to its capacity. The tallis and tzitzis represent the union of sovev and memale, the union of these two together. He brings this in the name of the Baal Shem Tov. He cites a letter from the Frierdiker Rebbe explaining, in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, the meaning of the verses said before and after the blessing over the tallis. Before the blessing over the tallis we say: “Bless Hashem, my soul. Hashem, my G-d, You are exceedingly great; You are clothed in splendor and majesty, wrapping Yourself in light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a curtain.” Then we say the blessing: “Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to wrap ourselves in tzitzis.” And afterward we say four verses: “How precious is Your kindness, O G-d” [unclear]. In the name of the Baal Shem Tov, he explains the meaning of all this, of the four verses that we say. He writes that “Bless Hashem, my soul. Hashem, my G-d” refers to the light of memale kol almin. The Gemara says in Tractate Berachos: “Just as the soul fills the body, so Hakadosh Boruch Hu fills the world.” This is the life-force of memale, which descends to each created being according to its nature. Then it says: “Wrapping Yourself in light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a curtain.” This is the concept…

19:41 of sovev kol almin: “Wrapping Yourself in light as with a garment,” encompassing all the worlds equally. So in the first two verses we speak of the light of memale kol almin and the light of sovev kol almin. Then we say—and this too is in the name of the Baal Shem Tov—“Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to wrap ourselves in tzitzis.” This is the connection between sovev and memale: we draw down the boundless light, the encompassing light, the light of sovev, and bring it down through the tzitzis in an inward way, so that it reaches the worlds individually and inwardly. “To wrap ourselves in tzitzis” is the union of sovev kol almin with memale kol almin; they become one. Afterward we say four verses, and these four verses correspond to the four worlds. Each verse refers to one of the four worlds—Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah—so that each world is addressed according to its nature. “How precious is Your kindness, O G-d, and the children of man take refuge in the shadow of Your wings” refers to the world of Atzilus, which is the level of man, the supernal man—“the children of man.” That is the first verse. Then it says, “They will be sated with the abundance of Your house, and You will give them to drink from the stream of Your delights.” “Your delights” refers to the higher Gan Eden, the world of Beriah. Then we continue, “For with You is the source of life; in Your light we will see light.” This refers to the world of Yetzirah, where there is already revelation—“we will see light”—the revelation of the world of Yetzirah. The final verse, “Extend Your kindness to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright of heart,” refers to Jews here below, in the world of Asiyah. Here there are “those who know You,” those who know Torah, and even “the upright of heart,” simple, sincere people. “Those who know You,” “the upright of heart”—and this immediately

21:22 brings us back to the main point, to the earlier level, the simple people, which is the quality of sincerity. He also brings this intention in the mitzvah of tzitzis in the name of the Baal Shem Tov. So it emerges that wrapping oneself in tzitzis—and this is the theme of the parsha of tzitzis—is meant to bring about the union of sovev kol almin with memale kol almin. What does this mean in a Jew’s service of Hashem? It is like this: Both of these elements exist in the service of the human soul. The encompassing element, sovev kol almin, is, broadly speaking, the service of faith and self-sacrifice. That is the tallis. A tallis is an encompassing light. In our service, the encompassing element represents faith. Faith is an encompassing light. Every Jew has faith. Faith is something that encompasses a person and everything about him. It is an encompassing light, above intellect, above understanding, above feeling, above everything, and it surrounds the whole person. This is faith, which encompasses the person in every aspect of his life. And so we find that every day, when a Jew gets up, the first thing he says is, “I give thanks before You, living and eternal King, for You have mercifully restored my soul within me; great is Your faithfulness.” This Modeh Ani is an encompassing light—faith—and that faith encompasses him entirely. But afterward, the encompassing light must be drawn inward. It is not enough to have faith alone. There must be the service—and this is what Moshe Rabbeinu, the “faithful shepherd,” says—that…

22:55 Faith needs to be nourished—that is the role of the shepherd, the shepherd of faith. Faith must be nourished and brought into expression inwardly, as we have discussed. We see that a person can have faith, and that faith can be present within him, yet remain on the level of a makif, an encompassing light, in the upper reaches of his soul. It does not penetrate the details: his daily life, his intellect, his emotions, or his thought, speech, and action. As the saying sometimes quoted puts it, “The thief, at the mouth of the tunnel, calls upon Hashem.” He really does believe in Hashem, and yet he is a thief. He is about to steal, and asks Hashem to help him steal. Why? Because his faith remains in his soul as a makif and does not descend into his inner life. That is why we need Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu is the faithful shepherd; he sees that faith must descend inwardly, and he reveals and draws it into the intellect, into understanding and comprehension, then into the emotions, and then into thought, speech, and action—into every detail. This is the idea of the tallis and tzitzis. And here Korach came and argued the exact opposite. Korach spoke of a tallis that is entirely techeles. Korach understood and felt the greatness of an encompassing light. He was a holy person, an elevated person, and he saw the

24:21 encompassing dimension in particular. Korach’s argument was that awe, faith, and self-nullification are the most powerful things there are. And a tallis that is entirely techeles—the tallis, the encompassing light, is all techeles. Techeles suggests the idea of being consumed, of the soul’s yearning. In other words, a Jew, by virtue of his tallis, the encompassing light of his faith, has this quality of techeles—a consuming longing and desire for Hashem. But this comes from faith itself. As the Gemara says, “Techeles resembles the sea, the sea resembles the sky, and the sky resembles the Throne of Glory.” All these are matters of [unclear]: by virtue of his faith, a Jew has awe of Heaven, faith, and a self-nullifying yearning for G-dliness. So Korach argued: A tallis that is entirely techeles—a Jew whose whole being is surrounded by this encompassing light, whose faith shines within him to the point that he is “entirely techeles”—does he need tzitzis? Does he need the inward, limited dimension, the work of serving Hashem and comprehending, of bringing it down into knowledge and intellect? Faith itself is enough. This was “And Korach took.” It is not clear to me precisely why his argument was that it should be exempt from tzitzis, and not merely exempt from techeles. He wanted it to be exempt from tzitzis altogether. Tzitzis represent limitation. Korach held: Why is limitation needed? Why must one engage with memalei kol almin? Why descend into the work of serving Hashem and comprehending, and deal with knowledge and details,

25:51 the details of daily life? After all, a Jew is a tallis that is entirely techeles, and every Jew has faith. This is the connection between his two claims. On the one hand, he argued that a tallis entirely of techeles is exempt from tzitzis; on the other, he argued, “Why do you raise yourselves above the congregation of Hashem?” That was Korach’s claim. He maintained that, broadly speaking, the main thing for a Jew is faith, [unclear] faith, the makif—and a makif is boundless. Sovev kol almin is a boundless power that a Jew possesses, and his tallis is entirely techeles; the encompassing light is present within him and shines openly. It awakens in him yearning, desire, and awe toward Hashem; techeles is associated with awe. So why are tzitzis needed? Why is inward, measured work needed—serving Hashem through comprehension and intellect, bringing it down into chochmah, binah, and daas? All these involve limitation. Moshe Rabbeinu explained that this was a great mistake: with an encompassing light alone, one can stumble in every area. Broadly speaking, there was only the makif there, and from it developed everything that followed—Korach and the rest, as the continuation of Parshas Korach relates. Because

27:12 with a makif alone, without an inner dimension, when one reaches the details and must deal with actual, specific matters, the result can be [unclear] the opposite of the power of faith and of what shines within him. This is why the narrative continues from Parshas Shelach into Parshas Korach. In Parshas Shelach, Moshe Rabbeinu taught the mitzvah of tzitzis, and the next parsha continues that theme. Moshe Rabbeinu explained that this is how it must be [unclear], that all these parshiyos form one continuous sequence. It begins with the spies, who wanted to remain in the desert and did not want to enter the Land of Israel. That was the root of the error. It was then explained that they specifically had to enter the Land of Israel. And within the Land of Israel itself, the work must extend to details, down to the smallest details. This is the idea of tzitzis at the end of Parshas Shelach: the makif must descend inwardly. The tallis alone is not enough; there must also be tzitzis. In this way, the light shines into every detail—on the corners of their garments and through the thirty-two threads—and every detail must be [unclear]. Awe, kabbolas ol, and faith must penetrate the details, every corner and every side, thought, speech, and action. And when [unclear]

28:27 This was Korach’s mistake: he thought the makif alone, faith alone, was enough to fulfill one’s obligation. He was shown that it truly was not enough. There certainly must be a makif, but alongside it, as Moshe Rabbeinu revealed, there must also be, in addition to faith, understanding in one’s service, in love, [unclear], in inward work. These things must be brought down into the details and the smallest details, into everything inwardly. Through this, “he will go securely on his way,” and he will truly be able to serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This is what the continuation of the parsha describes: there was a strengthening, and following Korach’s dispute they came to declare, “Moshe is true and his Torah is true.” This is expressed in the word emes, “truth,” whose letters stand for: the alef of Aharon—his priesthood was the subject of one of the claims; the mem of mezuzah; and the tav of techeles. “Moshe is true”: through these three matters—Aharon’s priesthood; and mezuzah, for even a house full of books needs a mezuzah. It is not enough for it to be full of books; it needs a mezuzah. One must serve Hashem through awe of Heaven and kabbolas ol, [unclear] on the doorway of the house. And likewise, [unclear] a tallis that is entirely techeles must lead to techeles together with tzitzis, to inward work. Through this, “Moshe is true and his Torah is true” is fulfilled, and one truly comes to connect with Moshe

29:53 Rabbeinu and his Torah in a genuine way. And through the [unclear].