Hi, and welcome back to the daily study. We're looking inside of the seventh reading of the weekly Torah portion of Shalach, which is the Shabbat reading. God then instructed Moshe regarding the laws of three commandments that are deemed equivalent to observing the entire Torah. And what are they?
Not Worshiping idols, observing the Shabbats and wearing tassels. Tzitzit on the corners of four cornered garments. The numerical value of the Hebrew word tzitzit is 600. When this number is added to the number of half threads, eight and knots, five in each castle, the sum is 613, the number of commandments in the Torah, God instructed Moshe to tell the people, when you see the tassels, you will remember all the commandments of God in order to perform them.
Granted that we need the tassels to remind us of the 613 commandments, but why do we need the garment to which the tassels are attached? Why not just carry the tassels themselves? The answer lies in the significance of garments. The difference between clothing and food, our two main necessities, is that food becomes a part of us when we eat it, while clothing always remains outside of us.
Food, therefore, alludes to the aspect of the Torah that we can comprehend and adjust, while clothing alludes to that which remains beyond our grasp because it never fully becomes one with us. The instruction to attach the tassels to a garment in the case that it is not sufficient simply to remember the commandments, wearing such a garments helps us remember that the Torah and its commandments originate in God's wisdom, which transcends the limitations of human intellect. And by wearing the tt, we are remembering the source of the Torah.