The Advice of the Tzitzis

A certain man heard that the Zohar calls the mitzvos six hundred and thirteen pieces of advice or “eitzos,” and couldn’t fathom what this implies. When he asked the Chidushei HaRim, zt”l, about this he explained that this reveals the greatness of every mitzvah. “This teaches that each and every mitzvah teaches us to overcome our natural state of being sunken in materialism. Through every mitzvah it is possible to attain wondrous elevation. This can be understood in light of the gemara in Menachos 44. There we find the story of a man whose tzitzis ‘hit him in the face.’ And eventually he became a true ba’al teshuvah…” In his last will and testament the Sifsei Tzaddik, zt”l, teaches how to access the guidance contained in mitzvos. “Accustom yourselves to approach every mitzvah as a precious commodity which should make you feel joy—much like a man who finds a fortune. Remember your smallness, and that despite this Hashem has chosen you to serve Him through this mitzvah. Even though He has myriads of angels to serve Him, he prefers the service of Yisrael, the people He has drawn close to Him. It is only fitting that you fulfill the verse, ‘One heart mirrors the other like a face is reflected in water,’ and value each opportunity by serving Hashem with your entire heart. “Every time you don your tallis, you should be filled with profound joy. We attain this by recalling the greatness of this mitzvah, which our Torah reveals gives us the ability to recall all the mitzvos. In Menachos we find that the tzitizis hit a man about to sin on the face and this caused him to ascend from the lowest depths to the highest heights. He felt like he was crushing his entire self by resisting his urge to sin, but in the end he merited a great illumination and became a complete tzaddik. “Every person should beg Hashem that the mitzvah of tzitzis should protect him and his offspring from plummeting into the darkness of this world. One who works on this will eventually feel a huge illumination in the mitzvah of tzitzis.”

A Speck of Chometz

The Shulchan Aruch rules that a prayer intoned without kavanah is like a body without a soul. This rule applies equally to how one fulfills the mitzvos. If he uses the mitzvah to connect to Hahsem, they reach the highest spheres. Although fulfilling a mitzvah without thinking is also very precious, when compared to doing a mitzvah with kavanah, it too is like a body without a soul. That is the main element of the mitzvah is lacking. This is one reason why many people say לשם יחוד before fulfilling mitzvos. In this manner, they attempt to recall that one is not only obligated to fulfill the mitzvos. To paraphrase the Shelah Hakadosh, “He must also remember the One who gave the Torah.” But how is one to remember Hashem while involved in the many physical preparations of the chag? Rav Avraham Ladau, Av Beis Din of Zembin, would always send a short message to Rav Shmuel Dovber of Porisov with the wagon driver that would go to that town before Peasach. The message would reveal what the rav was thinking about while involved in all the preparations and mitzvos of Pesach. One year the message was, “Chometz on Pesach is אסור במשהו, even a tiny amount. Emunah—failing to remember Hashem—is also אסור במשהו, even for an instant!” When Rav Shmuel Dov Ber heard this message he said, “This short message can easily be expounded on for a full year!”

Hidden Thoughts

The Alter of Kelm, zt”l, explains the avodah of purifying one’s thoughts. “Just like gold is very precious but is worthless until it is separated from the dross which is the majority, the same is true of the human psyche. Although we have an abundance of proper feelings and good character traits these cannot shine forth properly until the dross of bad middos and illicit desires are removed. Before one has smelted gold it remains dull and lusterless; the same is true regarding good character traits. “Although we know how to smelt gold many are puzzled at how they can remove the bad within themselves. The answer is that we must stand strong in the furnace of temptation, when we are pushed to follow our heart’s desires. The first and most important place of tests which burn away bad desires is in one’s thoughts. We must remove illicit thoughts especially of licentiousness. In terms of middos one who has a bad temper must accustom himself to speak softly. A person who feels unhappy about his friend’s success should work to save another from harm. “In this manner he will slowly remove the bad and the wondrous middos will shine through and be recognizable to all.” [חכמה ומוסר, ח"ב, ע' רי"א]

The Power of Longing

Rav Nosson of Breslov, zt”l, explains that all avodah is predicated on lighting a fire in one’s heart and understanding that we can accomplish whatever spiritual goal we set for ourselves. In the words of the Alter of Kelm, zt”l, “Greatness of the heart is a foundation of every Jew’s avodah, since everything, both material and spiritual is predicated on it. Consider the manner in which the Mishkan was fashioned. How could these Jews, who had been slaves all their lives, craft such beautiful workmanship? The answer is that their hearts was filled with a fiery desire to build the house of Hashem. This was so powerful that they cried, ‘Yes, we can!’
“This took such surprising courage in the sense of strong-heartedness that Moshe himself was surprised to see it. As the verse states, 'וירא משה והנה עשו ככל הצוה ה''—‘And Moshe saw that, behold, they had done as all that Hashem had commanded.’ The word ‘behold’ is superfluous. It serves to express Moshe’s wonderment that such untrained laborers achieved results.
“Where did this strength come from? It emerged from the fiery longing in their hearts to do the will of Hashem at all costs. This desire stems from one’s understanding, since there is no longing without awareness. Yet arousing this fire also depends on how we act on our holy desire. As we push ourselves to act we will achieve siyaata d’Shmaya and expand our yearning and achieve more and more amazing results.”

The Foolishness of Pride

Many great tzaddikim explained that, in a certain way, arrogance is the worst character trait. Even when a person truly improves himself, he can easily fall into the trap of feeling excessive pride in his accomplishments. Once he starts feeling this way, it is very difficult to help him. But what should one do to avoid such pitfalls? The Kedushas Tzion, zt”l, learns practical guidance on this issue from a statement in the Mishnah.
“If one works hard to advance spiritually, he still must overcome the kinds of thoughts that invalidate his avodah just as thoughts of pigul invalidate an offering. These thoughts revolve around how much he as grown, but they are tainted by conceit. To counter them we need only consider the root cause of pride. Our sages teach that arrogance is a sign of poverty in Torah. As people are wont to say, ‘A baal gaavah is nothing more than a fool.’ The person who fell in this area will then understand that the only way to overcome his flaw is to begin learning Torah with renewed intensity. If he learns Torah with this intention, the arrogance will quickly pass away.
“This is the meaning of the statement in the Mishnah, 'עלה בכבש'—‘One who has ascended in being kovesh yitzro, in overcoming his yetzer hara, and attains a level of kedusha; 'ופנה לסובב'—He understands that he has veered off the path of holiness by indulging in prideful thoughts; 'ובא לו לקרן דרומית'—‘He will then come to the south corner.’ This should be understood in light of the teaching in Bava Basra, ‘One who wishes to become wise will turn to the south,’ which was the place of the menorah, the light of the Torah. The only thing for him to do is to learn Torah with renewed intensity so that he can rectify that which caused the arrogance in the first place: poverty of Torah.”