The portion opens with, “Send for yourselves men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan" (Numbers 13:2), and ends with, “Do not turn aside after your hearts and after your eyes" (Numbers 15:39). In between comes, “And they returned from spying out the land after forty days" (13:25).
Indeed, the portion opens with, “And you shall see what the land is" (Numbers 13:18), and ends with, “And it shall be for you tzitzit, and you shall see it and remember" (15:39), and in between lies the sin of the spies: “And they saw the fruit of the land" (13:26). To search and to see. The individual, prone to error, seeks and desires the good, and this is what Moses asked of the spies - to search, namely, to discern the advantages of the desirable land.
To search, a Torah expression that teaches all: “the path in which they shall go and the work which they shall do" (Exodus 18:20). But the people, the spies, returned from searching the land, from seeing. They did not contemplate the spiritual greatness of the Land of Israel; instead, they focused on its physical benefits, brought back its fruit, and spoke of its dangers, the dangers posed by the fierce nation dwelling there. As the Prophet Jeremiah says, “Your evil shall correct you, and your backslidings shall rebuke you" (Jeremiah 2:19). In Metzudat Zion’s explanation: “and your backslidings", a matter of rebellion and walking in the ways of the heart.
Or, “Return, rebellious children; I will heal your backslidings" (Jeremiah 3:22) - you who rebel, return to Me (Metzudat Zion). Two went after the good - Joshua and Caleb. Joshua, who received Moses’ blessing, and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who stepped aside and disassociated himself from the counsel of the spies. He went and prostrated himself at the graves of the forefathers and said to them: “My fathers, entreat mercy for me that I be spared from the counsel of the spies" (Sotah 34b). The spies, in contrast, lost their bearings. They lost sight of the good that lies within the Land of Israel, failed to sense what awaited them, and spoke ill of the beloved land. As Scripture says, “They despised the desirable land."
Against this loss of direction - and more precisely, the loss of the Jewish compass - came the commandment of tzitzit at the end of the portion, restoring that compass to us. The compass teaches that the command to search the land means to seek the good in the land, to examine the immense advantages of the land of the forefathers, and not to search “after your heart and after your eyes, after which you go astray." Therefore: “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: They shall make tassels on the corners of their garments… and you shall see them and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them." Only thus will you reach the loftier goal of the people of Israel: “And you shall be holy to your God."
It is no coincidence that Rashi notes that the word tzitzit is akin to the words of the Prophet Ezekiel: “Then a spirit lifted me up and brought me by a lock of my head, and it lifted me up between the earth and the heavens and brought me to Jerusalem in visions of God, to the entrance of the inner gate facing north" (Ezekiel 8:3). God lifts Ezekiel by the lock of his head and brings him to the holy place, to the entrance of the inner gate facing north, to the place toward which the compass of every Jew points - Jerusalem.
Rashi adds: “In visions of God" - He showed me as though He carried me to Jerusalem. When Israel faltered in the sin of the spies and preferred the comforts of the desert - manna, water, and the clouds of glory - over the obligation to go out, fight, conquer the promised land, and begin working it for their livelihood, they lost their desire and conscience to come to the Land of Israel. Then God commanded Moses: “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them…" There is no “speaking" except harsh speech, as it is written: “The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us" (Genesis 42:30). Thus the Lord commands Moses: speak to them harshly, seize them by the tzitzit of their heads, and tell them: “They shall make tassels on the corners of their garments… and you shall see them and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them." This is a daily instruction for generations. The tzitzit teaches them the path they shall walk and reminds them of the deeds they shall perform, without straying from the Torah’s path.
Yet it seems fitting not merely to derive the meaning of tzitzit from Ezekiel’s prophecy, but to go further. There are those who, even within the sanctity of Jerusalem, even within the Holy Temple, sin - including among the seventy elders of Israel. The prophet says: “And seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel stood before them... and the smoke of the incense rose up" (Ezekiel 8:11). Last Shabbat we read that Moses appointed seventy elders of Israel, and now in our portion, the spies sinned, even though they were righteous men, as the Kli Yakar states: “Moses, you see through the spirit of holiness whether the people are fit for this mission. For most of the world errs regarding flatterers, who present themselves as righteous and wear a cloak of authority in order to deceive."
Therefore God instructed Moses: “Send for yourselves men" - precisely those whom you deem important, not those who are merely considered important by others, for they may inwardly lack substance. Yet although Moses chose, through the Spirit of Holiness, leaders and the finest of Israel, they failed to fight for the conquest of the land and even incited the people to despise the beloved land. The cloak of Torah scholars, the mantle of the noble, is no guarantee. But one who wears tzitzit daily implants in his mind his purpose on earth - to do God’s will in the Land of Israel, which God chose as His inheritance for His people. Thus he fights for it with self-sacrifice.
The Malbim adds a psychological dimension (Numbers 15:40), noting why the Torah chose the word “to search" rather than “to follow your heart." The human soul is created with an upright nature and naturally inclines toward the good, so it is impossible to forbid a person from following his nature. Yet the verb “to search" means, in his view, to seek out misguided thoughts that do not conform to reality. This is what the spies did. They did not see the land as it truly was in objective reality, but rather “searched" and projected their internal fears and desires onto the external world until they perceived the land as one that devours its inhabitants. Some explain, as Rabbi Yehuda Haim and Rabbi Shmuel of Sochotchov (Rabbi Shmuel Bornstein) assert, that their fear was that conquering the land would require them to bear arms, establish a state, plow, and sow. They believed that practical and political engagement would detach them from a life of holiness.
After considering the deep meaning of the word “to search" at the beginning, middle, and end of the portion, let us delve into the verb “to see," for the portion also opens with, “And you shall see what the land is," and ends with, “And you shall see it and remember." In between lies the sin of the spies: “And they saw the fruit of the land."
There is seeing, and there is seeing. Sight, one of the central senses, allows us to absorb information from the environment through perception, yet it serves only as a mediator through the intricate visual system of the eye and brain. The question is whether the mind seeks to see the good or merely the desires of the heart. “And we were in our own eyes as grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes" (Numbers 13:33). “We were in our own eyes as grasshoppers" - that is how the spies perceived themselves; accordingly, “so we were in their eyes" as well. There is a strong connection between evil speech and the way one sees. As King David says: “Who is the man who desires life, who loves days that he may see good? Guard your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit" (Psalms 34:13-14).
Seeing the good is inseparably linked to guarding one’s speech from evil and keeping one’s lips from deceit, and this depends upon the will within the observer - what he seeks to see. The Abarbanel writes: “Guard" - holy people carry fear in their hearts, for their virtue is expressed through their speech and conduct. The purpose of tzitzit is to sharpen one’s vision toward the good, enabling one to reach the goal of “And you shall be holy to your God."
It is no accident that in prayer after the tzitzit portion we say, “I am the Lord your God," for this reflects the truth of those attributes: steadfast and righteous, established and upright, beloved and pleasing, delightful and sweet, awe-inspiring and worthy, accepted and good, indeed beautiful. The spies did not seek to see the good, but rather to evade the obligation to fight for the conquest of the land and guard it, preferring to remain leaders in the desert beneath the clouds of glory. “And you shall see it" - thus tzitzit corrects the sense of sight. It trains a person to view reality through the lens of “and you shall remember all the commandments of the Lord," preventing fear or despair from distorting reality, as occurred in the attempt to conquer and enter the Land of Israel.
Rashi emphasizes the direct connection between the spies’ sin and its correction through the commandment of tzitzit, since the eyes and the heart serve as the “spies of the body" - the eye sees, the heart desires, and the body acts. The spies failed precisely in that process: they saw fortified cities and giants; their hearts fell into fear, and the result was a refusal to ascend to the land.
“And you shall see it and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and perform them" - seeing and remembrance lead to action; thus they prevent the soul of Israel from chasing after its heart and eyes. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says that whoever is diligent in this commandment merits beholding the Divine Presence (Menachot 43b). Not as the spies did, who searched the land according to what they saw with their eyes, a path that led them to moral failure, as the verse states: “And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and bear the consequences of your rebellion" (Numbers 14:33).
But this commandment is not only a compass reminding us to keep the commandments; it also includes tekhelet, the unique blue wool used in tzitzit: “And they shall put on the fringe of each corner a thread of tekhelet." All the threads represent “turn away from evil and do good," yet regarding the tekhelet thread it is said, “you shall see it." Tekhelet resembles the sea, and the sea resembles the sky, and the sky resembles the Throne of Glory. Rashi explains: what makes tekhelet unique? Tekhelet resembles the sea - in which miracles were wrought for Israel - and the sky resembles the Throne of Glory. Thus, through tekhelet, a Jew remembers the One who sits upon the Throne of Glory, and it is fitting for Israel to sense that His throne rests over them.
Seeing the color of tekhelet in the tzitzit awakens thoughts of the sea, the sky, and the Throne of Glory, and thereby helps guard against sin. Yet Rabbi Aharon Weiss warns that the effect depends on the observer’s intent. One Shabbat, his students went to the shore seeking spiritual renewal and spent their time playing with boomerangs. Upon returning, although they had seen the color of the sea, there was no added sanctity on their faces, as though they had seen the Throne of Glory.
Another lesson of the tzitzit commandment is that one need not flee from the material world to find holiness. One takes a simple everyday garment, made of ordinary material, and attaches the threads, thereby remembering the Throne of Glory. This understanding - that one can sanctify material reality - is a prerequisite for settling the Land of Israel. Those who grasp the secret of tzitzit, the ability to see godliness manifested through action, are capable of going out to fight, conquer, and build the land with the understanding that the material act itself can be holy (based on Olat Re’iyah I, pp. 24-25, in the laws of tzitzit).
Since the outbreak of the war, the commandment of tzitzit has risen in prominence. Many soldiers, Jews and even non-Jews, and especially women, have shown interest in it. Tzitzit has become a symbol of pride in the right to fight for Israel and, consciously or unconsciously, a symbol of protection, perhaps due to the verse in Job: “To seize the corners of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it" (Job 38:13).
It is no coincidence that tzitzit is also associated with the four-cornered garment. Nor is it by chance that in the blessings surrounding the Shema, in the blessing Ahavat Olam, we acknowledge God’s abundant mercy in giving us the Torah - “and teach them Your statutes" - while simultaneously praying for the Land of Israel: “Bring us in peace from the four corners of the earth," and lead us upright in our land, as expressed in the Sephardic rite.
Once, one of my teachers, who wears a tallit katan over his clothes, was asked why he does not wear a kapoteh, a formal outer garment worn above the tzitzit. The rabbi replied that the kapoteh is a garment only about 250 years old and is not uniquely Jewish in origin. It began as a rural or military garment. By contrast, tzitzit is a distinctly Jewish garment given to us some 3,300 years ago, and its source lies in the holiness of the Torah.
The spies, though they belonged to the generation of knowledge, failed precisely because they did not see the good in God’s promise and because they feared descending from the spiritual realm into the physical and military labor required to conquer the land. The commandment of tzitzit was given immediately afterward as a daily educational tool, one that aligns human vision with reality and teaches how to take a physical, earthly object and bind it to the Throne of Glory.
The author is the CEO of Tzifha International Real Estate.