WELCOMING SHABBAT
Shabbat is more than a day of refraining from worldly activity.
When experienced to its spiritual fullest, its holiness enlightens all other days of the week.
We invite you to enhance your Shabbat with these words of Torah.
Parashat Shelach – What is the Tekhelet All About
- The tzitzit strings symbolize the mitzvot, which connect the physical world to God. Performing mitzvot, like making blessings or giving charity, acknowledges God's presence and unites the material with the divine, fostering spiritual connection and humility.
Parashat Shelach – What is the Tekhelet All About
How do the strings of the tzitzit remind of those of the mitzvot? The job of a string, of a rope, is to tie two things together; it connects them…
As chassidus explains, a mitzvah is from the root “tzavta”, meaning connection, coming together, uniting. When we do a mitzvah, for example, putting up a mezuzah on the door, we connect the house with God. We recognize that the house belongs to God. When we make a blessing over a cup of water, we acknowledge that the cup of water was created by God. When we give tzedaka, we recognize that the money we made is from God, so we give some charity.
In these moments, we are not only making a connection between God and us, we are connecting the world to God.
The mitzvot, the strings, “tie” God with the world, “sewing” the two together, so to speak. A Jew, by performing mitzvot, is like a tailor who sews materiality and connects it with the Spiritual. In doing that, we recognize that everything is from God. This humility allows room for connection.
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The above quotes are taken from the original audio/video content