June 15, 2023 / 26 Sivan, 5783 • Parshat Shelach
Issue 773
Dedicated in loving memory of Mrs. Miriam Friedman

G-d instructs Moses regarding wearing tassels (tzitzit) on the corners of four-cornered garments. These serve as a reminder to perform all G-d's commandments. 

Numbers 15:37-41


Originally, each tassel consisted of three white threads and one turquoise thread, all four doubled over, hanging from each corner of the garment.

Nowadays, however, all four threads are white, since we can no longer identify with certainty the creature from whose blood the turquoise thread must be manufactured.

Allegorically, the turquoise thread symbolized the awe of G-d and the white threads the love of G-d. The fact that by Divine providence all the threads of the tassels are nowadays white indicates that in our era, our approach to G-d is mainly thorough love rather than awe and fear.

By cultivating love of G-d, we can thereby achieve all the levels of spiritual growth that formerly required a separate emphasis on fear and awe.

—from Daily Wisdom 3, P. 304