The Torah commands us to place a blue colored string פתיל תכלת together with the other seven strings of the tzitzis. Chazal tell us that the reason for this blue string is to remind us that the color of these blue strings is close to the shade color of the ocean. The blue shade color of the ocean reminds one of the shade color of sky, and the shade blue of the sky would bring one to be aware of the color associated with the Kisay Hakavod. The question the sefarim ask is why didn't the Torah go directly to the shade of blue color that aligns itself with the Kisay Hakavod instead of the process of going from shade to shade of colors until we reach the desired goal of consciousness of the Kisay Hakavod?
The Mesilas Yesharim begins his classic sefer with the words that one must clarify and arrive at the truth to realize what is his obligation and mission in this world and towards which purpose must man focus on and strive to fulfill all the days of his life. These words of all the days of one's life proclaims the light year difference between a the ambition of a Yid and all the nations on earth. On the track of physical living there is such a concept of retirement. When an individual reaches a certain age or his bodily functions slow down and become compromised, he stops working and toiling to make a living. The problem with such a concept is that all these years one was working on "making a living" but not experiencing "living" a living. The Torah says וחי בהם live with the Torah and Mitzvos for only then one is deemed to be alive. Don't forget that the word live backwards spells evil. True living is to constantly work on making correct and righteous moral choices. The journey of a spiritual person continues until his last breath in the world. He is never finished or graduated from toiling to transform himself into a greater spiritual being, to perfect his middos, to create a greater closeness with Hashem, to be less selfish and become more enlightened with Torah, Mitzvos, and the recognition and subservience to one's creator.
The Torah by commanding the insertion of the blue string on your four cornered garment, is telling us that life is all about spiritual advancement, to upgrade avodahs Hashem by pursuing the fulfillment of the different shades of the same mitzvos. Hashem doesn't want you to live a minimum spirituality and then possess the retirement mind set of contentment and crossing the finish line. If you have a neshamah, then a finishing line in ruchniyus is non - existent. The upgrade in the different shades of a mitzvah all lead to the Kisay Hakavod bringing increased honor to Hashem.
In this shade business of ruchniyus one can be their own designer just like we find in paints lehavdil. You can create your own shade of any color by mixing other colors together. What Hashem has nachas from is that one is always moving to the next level in each mitzvah which possesses an unlimited amount of levels and shades that are available for one to attain.
According to our explanation we can understand why the parsha of tztzis is together with the chait of the Meraglim. The Meraglim didn't want Am Yisrael to enter Eretz Yisrael. They were afraid that the nation would lose their madraigos that they possessed in the desert with Clouds of Glory the Manna the well of Miriram. Their ruchinyus was what is called Steady Eddy. As the saying goes if it isn't broken don't fix it. Little did they realize that Yisrael in their present state was compromised. In the desert there was slim possibility of spiritual upgrade shade advancements in mitzvos for they saw and felt cushioned with the presence of Hashem always amongst them. They would eventually perform mitzvos out of rote and habit as part of their second nature. However if they entered Eretz Yisrael they then would have to go work and become more earthly whereupon they would have increased struggles and shortcomings. But in this state of yeridos there is also a silver lining. When a Yid has a nefilah in a mitzvah that he performs it is to him like a red alert and alarm. He questions himself how it was possible for him to miss this very important mitzvah. If he is spiritually healthy he will immediately make up in his mind that he has to improve this mitzvah so it won't ever happen again. There is no question that with this new resolve and commitment, his quality of that mitzvah and others will be upgraded to a
This is the connection between the Meraglim and Tzitzis. In their minds they were of the opinion that the best thing for Yisrael was to be cushioned by Hashem's overt presence and therefore shortcomings would be very rare if any. Hashem wanted constant growth which can only come from failure שבע יפול צדיק וקם. Only with such an avodah can one be propelled to step up to the next shade and level in each mitzvah.
Let us take a deeper look into our topic of shades. The word shade has another interpretation which means to screen and shelter from sunlight or shadow. In Lashon Hakodesh this is called צל. There are two types of לצ one of kedusha and the other tumah. The word םיקלא םלצ means image of Hashem (a shadow mirrors the person and his bodily movements). The Aramaic word for tefillah is צלותא a time when we try to contact the צלם the image of Hashem which lies within us. Tefillah is a time of endeavor to achieve בוצל ךיפנכ תסתירנו. Yet the letters of צל spell לץ which is a mocker and cynic who brings about tumah and belittlement to kedusha and ruchniyus.
A shade or blinds allows a person to let the light in or keep it out of his presence. The light of the sun is compared to Hashem's wisdom, chesed, and truth. Those individuals who are narcissistic, close the shades of their minds and hearts in order to block any spiritual light from entering and changing their lives. They use the blind in a way to be blinded from seeing insight and clarity in their lifestyles that would motivate them to live a virtuous spiritual life of G-dliness. For the לץ ignorance is bliss at least in the short term. In the long term his ליצנות will take him to צללו כעופרת to sink and drown into the perversion that he made for himself. שקר אין לה רגלים
ךל חלשאנשים this is a mission statement for Man in this world. You are Hashem's messengers to go through life on earth with the only purpose of נשים א that "we should breath" from the lashon of נשמה, the Aleph which is Hashem who is known as the אלופו של עולם the creator that preceded everything. As Chazal comment on the passuk הי ללהת המשנה לכ that on every breath one should praise Hashem Therefore חלש לך can be also translated "to send away the לך" the You and your self - centeredness and your bodily cravings for pleasure. This could be the explanation why the term אנשיםalone conveys importance and םיקידצ as Rashi points out.
The passuk continues ויתורו את ארץ כנען the word ויתורו could be translated to ויתירו you should loosen your hold and gravitation to earthliness. The way to achieve this is through כנען humility and subservience to Hashem. The passuk continues אשר אני, that this is the only way that one can make his ינא himself אשר happy and fulfilled. The pursuit of the physical cannot be satisfying nor fulfilling for it leaves one with the craving for even more and even perhaps an addiction to it.
The way to grow in spirituality is through tefillah which fosters a deeper connection to Hashem and it will help one not to become swayed and seduced by his yetzer harah and conformity. Out of the twelve spies only כלב and יהושע remained loyal to Hashem. How? Through tefillah צלותא by opening the shades so the light of Hashem would enter and beam. It was Moshe who davened for יהושע and Kalev davened in Chevron at the burial place of the Avos. They were steadfast and were not influenced from the outside even a bit.
We say in davening ות לכל בוט רכש ןהבוטחים בשמך באמ ת. It is tefillah whose theme is ןוחטבand תמא that gives one a functioning spiritual GPS to ensure that the earth does not swallow us up during our sacred mission of life. The word בטחון equals 75, the word אמת is 441. Together their numerical value is 516 which equals the word תפלה (including the Kollel). בשמך באמת the gematriah of באמת equals כלב יהושע. They davened and were strengthened by תמא
There is an idiom expression "Made In the shade". It means to have a very easy life. This is an absolute goyish concept. The Torah's idea of shade is producing more qualitative mitzvos, deeper love and fear of Hashem, to pull off the blinds and let Hashem's bright light in order to reach more height in spiritual stature, to fight the yetzer harah, to keep out of your life the night and do what's right and serve Hashem with all one's might. All these are far from "a very easy life". Our shade is more demanding. However, the rewards for such a challenging mission is out of sight – Olam Habah.
Gut Shabbos,
Rabbi Brazil
