Tzitzit: Junior Tzitz

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Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of Efrat presented an exciting interpretation of the term "tzitzit" in his report on Parshat Tetzaveh this week. "What is most jarring to the modern-day ear," Rabbi Riskin notes, "is the painstaking description of the 8 specific clothes of the Substantial Priest and the 4 specific clothes of the standard priests.

Outfits Make the Male?

"The Talmud stipulates that only when appropriately garbed [Exodus 28:two] are the priests endowed with sanctity and permitted to minister in the Sanctuary [B.T. Zevahim seven]. Is the Torah then training us that 'clothes make the male?' "The priestly garb is not meant to endow sanctity but to inspire it, as effectively as to instill in the priests the self confidence that they can make the total entire world sacred. Additionally, the Torah teaches that every single Jew ought to see him/herself as a Substantial Priest dressed in sacred vestments, a member of 'a holy nation and a Kingdom of priests.'" Rabbi Riskin explains that the Substantial Priest ought to constantly dress in the tzitz, a gold headband on a heavenly blue thread of techelet, on which it is penned "holy unto the Lord."

Tzitzit: Mini Tzitz

Tzitzit on a wool garmentHe then writes that the classic Jewish men's garb is the tallit, or the scaled-down tallit katan (preferably with a thread of blue techelet, the salient element of the Substantial Priest’s tzitz), noting that the tassels are named tzitzit, or "a junior tzitz." Rabbi Riskin concludes by expressing that to inspire himself to share in the mission to excellent the entire world every single Jew ought to dress in "the priestly, regal clothes, which instruct dedication to God and dedication to the nation."