Mitzvos that Provide Uniform and Identification

10: Tzitzis

They shall prepare fringes for themselves on the corners of their garments for generations.... (Bemidbar 15:38)

Any garment that has four corners must have fringes attached to it. This is a unique mitzvah, which is considered equal to all others (Menachos 43b) and which reminds us of all the others, as the Torah states, “You shall see it and remember all of the commandments of Hashem” (Bemidbar 15:39).

In order to gain this benefit, we need to train ourselves to look at the tzitzis and link them to a particular mitzvah or Torah teaching (Rav A. Miller, Awake My Glory, p. 300).

The Gemara (Shabbos 32b) teaches that one who is careful with the mitzvah of tzitzis will merit beautiful garments and will also merit to have twenty-eight hundred servants. Why specifically twenty-eight hundred? The answer is that tzitzis serve as a reminder that we are Hashem’s servants. Thus, He will reward us with ten servants from each of the seventy nations, for each of the four corners of tzitzis. (10 from each nation equals 700, and 700 times 4 corners of the tzitzis equals 2,800.)

One who puts his tzitzis over his eyes when saying the parashah of tzitzis will be saved from eye ailments (Mishnah Berurah 24:7).

Text Copyright © 2006 by Rabbi Moshe Goldberger and Torah.org.