S.A.L.T. - Wednesday

          Parashat Shelach concludes with the mitzva of tzitzit.  Amidst this discussion, the Torah informs us of the underlying reason behind this mitzva: "You shall see it and remember all the Lord's commandments and observe them, that you do not follow your heart and eyes after which you stray" (15:39).  The fringes on our garments remind us of the mitzvot, they help prevent us from following the path that our instincts would normally have us follow – the path of physical gratification and indulgence. 

         The Midrash Rabba, cited by Rashi on this verse, explains the process by which the human being is naturally attracted and drawn to this type of behavior: "The eyes see and the heart desires… "  The verse therefore describes tzitzit as the means by which one can avoid following that which he first sees and then desires.  The Sifrei, however, takes the opposite approach.  Noting the sequence in the verse – "your heart and eyes," the Sifrei comments that we see from here that the eyes follow the heart. One does not desire because he sees, but rather sees because he desires.  One first experiences the will in his heart, and only thereafter does he follow up on that will by searching with his eyes for its fulfillment.  As proof, the Sifrei observes that many blind people commit sins as often as seeing people do.  Clearly, then, sinful conduct originates in the heart, not in the eyes.  Eyes are merely the vehicle used by the sinner who seeks to commit the act desired originally in his heart.

         Do we have in these two Midrashim two different approaches to the process and origin of sin, or do they simply deal with two different phenomena?

         Rabbi Zalman Yaakov Friederman, in his "Shoshanat Yaakov" (Boston, 1927), suggests that these two passages deal with two different groups of people – children and adults.  The first passage, from the Midrash Rabba, describes the process of how children grow accustom to sin: they see and then desire.  They become attracted by what they see around them and then decide in their heart that this is what they want.  Adults, however, who have already experienced sin, temptation and the like, begin the process in their hearts.  Their inclination to sin does not begin with what they see around them; it has already been implanted within them from earlier experiences.  For them, sin originates in the heart.

         As Rabbi Friederman notes, Chazal emphasize that a child should begin wearing tzitzit at as young an age as possible (Yalkut Shimoni, Parashat Shelach).  The Torah here addresses itself to both audiences.  For the children, the mitzva of tzitzit is meant to direct them initially along the path of proper conduct, to draw their attention to Torah and mitzvot rather than to the lures they would otherwise see around them.  For the adults, tzitzit serves as a reminder that regardless of what we have experienced in the past, we must focus our attention to whatever extent possible on the fulfillment of God's commands, rather than on the fulfillment of our instinctive drives and yearnings. 

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