The Tzitzis Jews
At first, I had to do a double-take. A bare-headed man had just passed me on the street with long tzitzis dangling down from the side of his pants. This was certainly an unusual sight. I think it was the first time in my life I ever saw a man walking down the street without a kippah on his head but with long tzitzis sticking out from the side of his pants.
In the following months after my original surprise, I began to see more and more people walking down the streets here in Israel, bare-headed, but adorned with long flowing tzitis. Some of them even had techeiles!
So, what is going on here? Well, since October 7th, Israeli society and the Jewish world at large has undergone a gigantic shake-up. Many Jews across the world are beginning to connect more to the authentic roots of Judaism. My daughter was at the Kotel for the first night of Selichot recently, along with about 100,000 other people. She told me that many of the people who came, from their outside look, were not necessarily coming from the most religious segments of Israeli society. But they came, and this phenomenon is continuing every night now in Elul.
In the recently published Hebrew book titled “Veshavu Banim” by Rabbi Yisroel Goldwasser, the author describes a remarkable encounter that he had last year on Motzei Simchas Torah. This was one day after the last hostages had been released from Gaza and Rabbi Goldwasser went to visit a 99 year old female Holocaust survivor accompanied by the woman’s grandchildren. During the visit, the woman asked a powerful question: “Why, during the Holocaust, did we not see any mass movement of return ( teshuva) like we see now after October 7th?”
The question is striking and we are certainly in no place to make judgements. However, during the Holocaust the Jewish people felt crushed and many felt hopeless. However, the experience of October 7th was very different for many people. Before October 7th, many Israelis had placed a nice amount of their trust in the IDF, in Israel’s superior technology, and the sophisticated, unbreakable fence that separated us from Gaza etc. Well, October 7th broke that illusion. From the pain of suffering and disappointment, many began to realize the fulfillment of the words of our sages (Talmud end of Sota) when describing the suffering at the end of days: ועל מה יש לנו להשען על אבינו שבשמים. ” Who can we rely on? On our Father in Heaven.”
So perhaps the mass nightly gatherings late at night at the Kotel and the Tzitzis Jews are both expressions of this burgeoning recognition. Because the essence of the mitzvah of Tzitizs is to be a reminder. A reminder of our connection to Hashem and His mitzvos. A reminder of who we truly are as Jews. A kippah, on the other hand, while of great importance, also carries with it great social identification and subsequent responsibility. However, wearing Tzitzis, while not having so many social implications, is actually the fulfillment of a great Torah commandment! Our Sages tell us that the mitzvah of Tzitzis is equal to all of the other mitzvos of the Torah. The Talmud in Menachos 42B tells us a story about a man who was greatly pulled by inappropriate desires until he saw his Tzitzis and refrained as a result. Also, the etymology of the word ‘Tzitizs” comes from the Hebrew word ציץ, which means to “blossom”. And this is exactly what we are beginning to see happening: The great blossoming of the beautiful, pure Jewish soul!
Ariel Galian