Tefillah 047

101:
We are discussing the third parashah of the Shema [Siddur Sim Shalom page 113, Siddur Va'ani Tefillati page 339 at the bottom]. We have already noted that the text of the biblical command states that the purpose of the command of the tzitzit is to "look at it and recall all God's commandments and observe them". The sages who developed the oral tradition took the command to "look at it" at face value and decided that the requirement to wear a four-cornered garment with tassels attached applied only when it would be possible to see the tassels in natural light: that is to say, daylight.

102:
The fact that it was determined that the commandment of tzitzit applies only during daylight hours led to a divergence of custom quite early on. Right up until almost the end of the middle ages there were communities which followed the ancient prayer ritual of Eretz-Israel where they recited the third parashah only at the morning service and omitted it at the evening service as being redundant at that time of day. Of course there were other communities where it was indeed recited at the evening service. This divergence of custom is reflected in the 5th mishnah of the first chapter of Tractate Berakhot. Here, the editor of the Mishnah states quite categorically:

This is the way in which the editor of the Mishnah refers to the third parashah of the Shema. However the rest of the mishnah reflects the problematica of the recitation of this parashah at night. The continuation of the mishnah is very well known because it is included in the Haggadah which we recite at the Seder service on Passover:

103:
At the beginning of the previous shiur I mentioned that the third parashah of the Shema consists of two topics. The first – and major – topic is, of course, the commandment concerning tzitzit. However, the parashah ends with the following verse [Numbers 15:41]:

And here we have the "mention of the Exodus from Egypt" referred to by the first clause of the mishnah. The dilemma of Rabbi El'azar ben-Azaryah which follows that editorial statement reflects the ambiguity concerning this parashah that the first clause of the mishnah tried to obfuscate. Rabbi El'azar ben-Azaryah admits that he has "not been able to explain why the Exodus from Egypt [i.e. the third parashah of the Shema] is to be recited at night." The mishnah brings a midrash attributed to Rabbi Shim'on ben-Zoma to remove the difficulty of Rabbi El'azar ben-Azaryah: the parashah is to be recited at night not because of the command concerning tzitzit but because of the additional theme of remembering the Exodus.

104:
The thrust of the midrash of Rabbi Shim'on ben-Zoma is that it is quite logical that this mitzvah, to be ever-mindful of the Exodus, applies both by day and night: the Torah says [Deuteronomy 16:3] that you must 'recall the day you left Egypt all the days of your life'; and, claims ben-Zoma, the addition of the word 'all' in the phrase 'all the days of your life' must include the nightime. To us this reasoning might seem very flimsy, but we must remember that quite often the biblical verses quoted as "proof-texts" in midrashim are merely pegs upon which to hang a conclusion already arrived at (by logic or tradition). In the epoch when the whole of the Oral Torah was still only preserved orally it was a very useful aide-memoire to be able to "hang" midrashim on biblical verses.

105:
At the end of the mishnah the sages have another midrashic purpose for the verse in question, which is completely irrelevant to our topic: the fact that the midrash of the sages is also quoted by our mishnah is a hang-over from the period when all studies were conned by rote and it would have been very dangerous to one's memory to "split one's learning".

106:
Nowadays it is the universal custom to include all three parashot of the Shema at the evening service

To be continued.

While we are discussing the command of tzitzit Michael Lewyn writes:

You may want to explain the difference between the tallit (which married men wear in prayer, at least according to Ashkenaz custom) and the tallit katan (which, as I understand it, all males should wear under their clothes).

I respond:

Let's first deal with Michael's assumption that the tallit is worn at prayer only by married men. In our last shiur I mentioned that nowadays more and more women in the Conservative Movement are observing the mitzvah of tallit – and there are many poskim [decisors] who have no problem with that: Rambam and Rabbenu Tam may serve as two examples.

Now let us consider Michael's second assumption, that that tallit is only warn by married people. There certainly is an Ashkenazi custom (for all I know it may also be followed by others as well) that a bride gives her husband the tallit that he will wear under the ĥuppah and thereafter; from this developed the custom that an unmarried man waits for his tallit until his wedding day. Nowadays there is a great halakhic problem with this custom and I firmly believe that in most cases it should not be followed in the Conservative Movement.

The tallit is just a piece of cloth onto which we attach the tzitzit and, as we noted in the previous shiur, the purpose of the tzitzit is to serve as a constant reminder of God's commandments. This mitzvah becomes obligatory upon every male who becomes a Bar-Mitzvah (and upon a female who becomes Bat-Mitzvah if she elects not to avail herself of the excusal we mentioned in the previous shiur). Thus everyone who has reached the age of obligatory mitzvah observance is required to wear tzitzit during waking hours. Since it is not always convenient to wear a large tallit all day (and in all places) it is the custom to wear under one's clothes a small garment which has tzitzit attached. This is refered to as tallit katan, a small tallit.

Unmarried men who constantly wear a tallit katan can, if they wish, observe the custom of not wearing a tallit at prayer until their wedding day. I do not think that it is unreasonable to assume that most Conservative Jews do not habitually wear a tallit katan; therefore it is best that all who are Bar-Mitzvah or Bat-Mitzvah wear a tallit at services.

There is a further consideration of ĥinukh le-mitzvot, educating children to mitzvah observance before observance becomes obligatory. I think that it is an admirable custom that youngsters who have started school, around the age of 6, be encouraged to wear a tallit of appropriate dimensions at services.

Because of personal commitments that I have the next shiur in this series will be, God willing, on Monday, June 11th.