A Thread of Blue and the State of Israel

The road to a holy state is long and hard... and we dare not avoid the challenge

The conclusion of Parashat Shelach Lecha instructs us in the mitzvah of tzitzit - putting fringes on the corners of a garmet - and includes the requirement that these fringes contain a thread of a specific shade of blue called techelet:

"Speak to the Children of Israel, saying to them that they should make tzitzit for themselves on the corners of their garments, for all generations, and they shall place a thread of techelet on the tzitzit of each corner." (Bamidbar 15:38)

Rabbi Meir explains the significance of the blue woolen thread in a well-known statement appearing several times in the Gemara:

"Rabbi Meir would say: How is the techelet different from all other colors? Because the techelet is similar to the sea, the sea is similar to the firmament, and the firmament is similar to the kisei hakavod [God's glorious 'throne']..." (Sotah 17a)

Rashi notes that the techelet itself, perhaps surprisingly, is not similar to the kisei hakavod:

"All these [techelet, sea, firmament] are necessary since we have verses only comparing the firmament to the kisei hakavod; therefore [Rabbi Meir says that] the techelet is similar to the sea, and the sea is similar to the firmament, for techelet is not particularly similar to the firmament, but instead is 'similar to that which is similar,' as the techelet is similar to the appearance of the sea, and we can see that the sea is similar to the firmament." (ibid.)

Thus, the techelet is not, by itself, at all like the kisei hakavod, but instead is similar to something which reminds us of something which is similar to the kisei hakavod! Obviously, the kisei hakavod has no actual color; we instead are speaking of a symbolic connection to the color of techelet. Nevertheless, Rashi does associate the kisei hakavod with the color of the firmament. Why, then, would the Torah command that we utilize a reminder which can only be understood through several stages of interpretation? Would it not be more sensible for the color of the thread to directly resemble the firmament, rather than resembling something which itself only is "similar" to the firmament?

Rav Moshe Feinstein zt’l answers this question with a fascinating insight into religious psychology. He explains that the path toward religious perfection can permanently change a person only if it is truly a path. A sudden epiphany will overwhelm with a temporary intensity which disappears when the experience wanes. Proper religious growth only occurs in the context of slow and deliberate steps, each leading to higher and more meaningful levels of closeness to God. The absence of such careful movement and hard work will cause the experience of the divine to remain no more than an experience. The internalization of such an experience can only take place following a slow and painful - yet ultimately rewarding - process.

As the vision of the kisei hakavod cannot be available without proper preparation, so, too, must the techelet symbolize something which leads higher, rather than the kisei hakavod itself. The individual looking at the techelet is not inundated with revelations of the heavens, but with something which can ultimately lead to such a vision. Through the techelet, the Torah teaches that the great religious experiences for which many strive can only have meaning if they arrive at the end of a process, rather than the beginning.

The greatest example of this reality is the preparation needed to prophesy. The Rambam explains this process in detail:

"Prophecy only rests on a wise man of great wisdom, powerful in his character traits, and whose evil inclination never overcomes him... A person who is filled with all of these attributes, in perfect physical condition, when he enters the 'orchard' [of mystical experience] and is drawn after those great and distant ideas - assuming that he has a proper mind to understand and comprehend, and he has sanctified himself and separated from the ways of the rest of the nation... And he strengthens himself such that he teaches himself never to give any thought to worthless things and the vanity of time and its devices, and instead his mind is always free to think of things above, tied under the kisei to understand those holy and pure forms... Immediately ruach hakodesh [divine inspiration] rests upon him." (Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 7:1)

The mystical experience may be available to the novice, but true prophecy only takes place after intense and extraordinarily difficult preparation.

It is noteworthy that the Rambam also mentions the kisei hakavod as a source of prophecy. As Rav Moshe indicated, the kisei hakavod symbolizes the pinnacle of religious experience; the Rambam, too, describes the prophet as being underneath the heavenly throne. The kisei hakavod represents the highest level available to the prophet, but even his ascent to the pure and lucid worlds above begins with a small step. In a certain sense, his ascent could begin with something as simple as wearing tzitzit. For as Chazal tell us, "This mitzvah is equivalent to all the mitzvot put together." (Menachot 43b) When one starts with a simple step - and what could be simpler than putting strings on the corner of a garment? - the result may be continued growth toward the highest levels of holiness.

"Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai says, anyone who is careful in this mitzvah merits receiving the face of the Shechinah." (ibid.) The beginning is nothing more than a woolen thread of blue; its end result is the heavenly throne itself.

Is this not also the story of the State of Israel? Many religious individuals in the first half of the twentieth century doubted that Israel could have spiritual significance, given that its early leaders had minimal association with Torah and mitzvot, and were, in fact, antagonistic to religion in general and Orthodox Judaism in particular. How could a state predicated upon overthrowing the yoke of heaven be holy?

The genius of individuals like Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook zt’l was to recognize that the early Zionist pioneers and thinkers represented only a first step in the long future history of Medinat Yisrael. Much like a thread of techelet that does not resemble the heavenly throne yet ultimately leads to God, these early Israeli leaders started a process that has enabled the State of Israel to bring God’s presence into the world.

Every individual alive is witness to the difference between the IDF, which tries to avoid civilian injuries and deaths, and our adversaries, who target and hit hospitals with no military objective other than killing Jews. And as we see in the current war against Iran, our moral directives have not detracted from our ability to run circles around the enemy - an ability that can only be understood as a gift from God. No one wants war - but when forced to protect its citizens from an intractable enemy which threatens and actively works to wipe Israel off the map, the IDF conducts a just war that demonstrates God’s presence on earth.

We have been the recipients of a divine gift… and, as Rav Solveitchik zt’l indicated in his seminal work Kol Dodi Dofek, we can never allow God to speak in a monologue, but instead must respond to create a dialogue. When, God willing, this war is completed, we need to work even harder to ensure that the State of Israel lives up to its own highest and cherished ideals. Israel is ethical and moral - and it can become more moral still. We are not perfect, and we need to work so that there is no gap whatsoever between our self-perception as a medinah l’mofet - the exemplary nation - and the reality that we represent.

How that new reality will look is something our society must work on constantly. But we should be proud to be part of the process. The miracles we have experienced demand of us nothing less.