Why Wear Tzitzit?

 

 First, what ARE tzitzit? They are the fringes on the corners of a garment referred to in the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy. They are most often worn in the edges of a tallit or prayer shawl, but as I live in a hot humid climate I have clip-on tzitzit that clip onto my belt loops.

Why do I wear them? Well the most typical answer would be to say "because G-d said so!" There are reasons however, as there are reasons to all things that G-d commands.

The LORD said to Moses as follows: Speak to the Israelite people and instruct them to make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout the ages: let them attach a cord of blue to the fringe at each corner. That shall be your fringe; look at it and recall all the commandments of the LORD and observe them, so that you do not follow your heart and eyes in your lustful urge. Thus you will be reminded to observe all My commandments and to be holy to your God. I the Lord am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I the Lord your God.

~Numbers 15:37-41 JPS Tanakh

So the tzitzit is a visible reminder of G-d's commandments. Something that, if temptation comes your way you have a visible reminder of what the commandments are. Clearly though the tzitzit is also a visible marker of G-d's people, a sign that sets them aside as a holy people.

As far as being a visible reminder of the Commandments, I personally am barely conscious of wearing them these days so I am not sure how well that works on a conscious level. Unconsciously, you know you are wearing a sign that says "I belong to G-d" so your mind understands that certain things are incompatible with that even if you don't consciously think about the tzitzit.

Now probably most of the people who might read this blog, to the extent that I have readers, are Christian and they might ask why they would want to wear tzitzit. I cannot answer that, I can only give my answer which is that I definitely want to feel included in G-d's own and I want to do what He says. Even if you think that a lot of the legalese in the OT was wiped out in Jesus' death, well, did G-d ever command anything superfluous? Were there good reasons for the tzitzit once? Might there still be good reasons?

Also, while I don't generally get involved in matters of specifically Christian theology, for Christians what outward sign do you present that you are a member of G-d's people? A cross? Lots of people wear crosses, some for fashion and some for some sort of goth sensibility and some just to be perverse and wear a symbol of something they definitely do not believe in. Almost nobody wears a tzitzit for fashion, thank goodness. People hardly know that tzitzit are a thing. It is an outward sign of your inward membership in G-d's community.

Also if someone ever asks what those things are on your belt loops, that's an opportunity to talk about the Bible. My long hair (also biblical) is also such a sign. The commandment that applies to everyone in the Bible is not to cut the corners of your hair. Well my head has no corners. ;) I don't know how to apply that for certain, I just know how Jews historically interpreted it. We also know that some people chosen by G-d do not cut their hair at all, either as part of a temporary commitment or permanently in the case of people like Samson and the prophet Samuel. So I don't cut mine at all.

So I wear tzitzit, an outward sign of my inward membership in G-d's kingdom.