T orah P ortion
CAN DL E L IGHTIN G
The Power of Tzitzit
BY RABBI GILA COLMAN RUSKI
PARSHAT KI TETZEI
WHEN I WAS A CHILD,
tzitzit (long fringes that are
attached to the four corners
of an undergarment) were
explained to me as a ritual
object that only Orthodox men
wear daily.

Lately, as I walk around West
Philly, I have been noticing
more and more tzitzit dangling
from corners of garments. As
Philadelphian Jews no doubt
know, this is not a neighbor-
hood where Orthodox Jews
generally live. These tzitzit
seem to be attached to more
casual clothing than one might
expect an Orthodox man to
wear. (I know that these are
assumptions and stereotypes,
but bear with me).

I’ve been trying to figure
out what is compelling Jews
outside the Orthodox commu-
nity to don these fringes. Is it a
fad? A cultural identification?
Or is there a deep spiritual
meaning of wearing tzitzit that
holds a message for contempo-
rary Jews?
The commandment “You
shall make yourself twisted
fringes upon the four corners of
your garment” (22:12) appears
for the second time in the
Torah in this week’s portion,
Ki Tetzei. It’s found in the
book of Deuteronomy, nestled
in a long list of 74 seemingly
disconnected commandments.

Lists of commandments
seem legalistic and severed
from intimacy with God
and each other. How can we
achieve the difficult qualities
of peace and righteousness and
mutual aid that we all treasure
by following a checklist?
Our sages humanized the
life experience of living these
mitzvot by crafting colorful,
engaging Midrashim. From
the Babylonian Talmud, tzitzit
dramatically remind the wearer
daily to resist the impulse to
ignore God’s covenant.

There was once a man who
was very scrupulous about
the precept of tzitzit. One day
he heard of a certain harlot
overseas who took four hundred
gold dinars for her hire. He sent
her four hundred gold dinars
and scheduled a day with her.

When the day arrived he came
and waited at her door, and
her maid went and told her,
“That man who sent you four
Aug. 20
Aug. 27
hundred gold dinars is here and
waiting at the door”; to which
she replied, “Let him come in.”
When he came in she
prepared for him seven beds,
six of silver and one of gold. She
then went up to the top bed and
lay down upon it naked. He too
went up after her in his desire to
sit naked with her, when all of
a sudden the four fringes of his
garment struck him across the
face; whereupon he slipped off
and sat upon the ground. She
also sat upon the ground and
said, “I swear by the Roman
Caesar, I will not let you go
until you tell me what blemish
you saw in me!”
“I swear,” the Jew replied,
“that I have never seen a woman
as beautiful as you. However,
this mitzvah of tzitzit will never
let me forget that I follow the
covenant with God, and must
not be led astray.

“I still will not leave you,”
the prostitute said, “until you
provide me with your name, the
names of your city, rabbi, and
the school in which you study
Torah.” He wrote down all the infor-
mation and handed it to her.

The woman sold all her
possessions. A third of the
Survivor Continued from Page 6
calories a day.

Two years later, Nazi soldiers
ripped Scharf, her sister and
her mother from their beds in
the middle of the night. Scharf
begged the soldiers to take her
instead of her younger sister;
they took both, but sent her
sister to a death camp.

“She thought she was saving
her younger sister,” Jeffrey
Scharf said.

The Nazis sent Scharf to
Gabersdorf. While there,
Scharf refused to read postcards
from her mother, who was in a
death camp.

28 AUGUST 19, 2021
She spoiled me like a grandmother would.”
CARA SCHARF
“She was angry at her mom
for letting this happen,” Jeffrey
Scharf said.

She never saw her mother
again. But the Soviet Army liber-
ated Gabersdorf in 1945, and
Scharf had a second chance at life.

She met her future husband,
Bernard Scharf, in a displaced
persons camp in 1947. He had
fought for the Soviet Army during
the war and defended Stalingrad
money she gave to the govern-
ment (as a payoff so that they
would allow her to convert to
Judaism), a third she handed out
to the poor, and the remaining
third she took with her — along
with the silver and gold beds —
and she proceeded to the school
which the man had named, the
study hall of Rabbi Chiya.

“Rabbi,” she said to Rabbi
Chiya, “I would like to convert
to Judaism.”
“Perhaps,” Rabbi Chiya
responded, “you desire to
convert because you have taken
a liking to a Jewish man?”
The woman pulled out the
piece of paper with the informa-
tion and related to the rabbi the
miracle which transpired with
the tzitzit.

“You may go and claim that
which is rightfully yours [i.e.

the right to convert],” the rabbi
proclaimed. She ended up marrying the
man. Those very beds which
she originally prepared for
him illicitly, she now prepared
for him lawfully. Such was
his reward for meticulously
observing the mitzvah of tzitzit
(Menachot 44a).

What can this teach us?
No, I have not seen any local
people in public. Natalie Scharf
worked as a seamstress and
Bernard Scharf as a furrier.

He eventually opened his own
business and gave his family a
middle-class life.

“They were great parents,”
Jeffrey Scharf said.

And even better grandpar-
ents, according to granddaughter
Cara Scharf, who often slept over
at her grandparents’ house in
Northeast Philadelphia. Natalie
Scharf cooked for her, took her
shopping and brought her to the
pool and beach.

“She spoiled me like a grand-
mother would,” Cara Scharf said. l
during a crucial battle. But after
the war, he fled Joseph Stalin and
communist Russia.

Bernard Scharf had a market-
able skill — furring — and uncles
who would sponsor his immigra-
tion to the United States.

“Furs were very popular after
the war,” Jeffrey Scharf said.

The Scharfs moved to the
U.S. and learned English by jsaffren@jewishexponent.com;
reading signs and listening to 215-832-0740
JEWISH EXPONENT
7:32 p.m.

7:21 p.m.

tzitzit wearers slapped in the
face by magical fringes, but
the impulse to stray from the
compassionate, just and sacred
is as powerful as ever.

If the outward sign of a
physical ritual reminds us to
resist road wrath, pandemic
rage, greed, abusive behavior
toward the environment and
each other and ourselves, and
neglect of those in need, I say:
“Bring it.”
Tzitzit were never intended
to be about fashion. As they
did for the harlot, perhaps they
may transform us with abiding
awareness of the divine. l
Rabbi Gila Colman Ruskin cares
for her 98-year-old mother and her
grandchildren. She creates midrash
from mosaics. The Board of Rabbis
of Greater Philadelphia is proud to
provide diverse perspectives on
Torah commentary for the Jewish
Exponent. The opinions expressed
in this column are the author’s own
and do not reflect the view of the
Board of Rabbis.

Schools Continued from Page 7
For example, New Jersey
and Philadelphia both imple-
mented a mask mandate, which
means that all K-12 students
and staff must wear a mask in
school, regardless of vaccina-
tion status.

Despite the unknowns,
schools are pledging to provide
the safest possible environ-
ment for the children.

“Our families
are committed to protecting each
other,” Groner said. l
Leah Snyderman is an intern for the
Jewish Exponent.

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