Rabotai (my teachers), we’re in siman (section) yud-alef, in the Aruch HaShulchan (Set Table). I think we’re up to yud-zayin, if I’m not mistaken. Correct.
“Keivan denitba’er deminyan chutei hatzitzit (fringes) bechol kanaf arba’ah kefulim shehem shemonah, ve’im hosif, pasul (invalid).” So there have to be four strings, folded into eight. “Ve’im hachutim einam mechutachim adayin ledalet chutim, yizaher lechatchilah lechotecham ledalet chutim kodem sheyachnisem lanekev.” If you haven’t yet cut the strings into four, you should preferably cut them into four before putting them through the hole. You have to cut them into four before putting them in, rather than putting them in and cutting them afterward. “Ve’achar kach yachnisem bakanaf veyichpelem veyihyu shemonah.” After that, you put them into the corner and fold them, so there are eight.
“Ach im hachnisam kodem shechatachan, ein zeh pasul.” If you put them in before cutting them, that is not invalid. There’s no problem, because you haven’t made the tzitzit yet: “Sheharei adayin ein kan ma’aseh shel tzitzit.” But you should be careful that if you put them through the hole while they’re uncut, you cut them into eight before making the knot and before the kerichot (wrapping). If you put them in uncut, cut them after putting them in, and then make the knots. But if you start making the knots before cutting them, it becomes ta’aseh velo min ha’asui (make it, not from what is already made).
“She’im karach va’afilu chulya (winding unit) achat,” meaning one section of the kerichot, between one knot and another, “vekasher afilu bekesher echad, nifselu,” even if you made only one knot, they become invalid. Even if you cut them afterward, it is because of ta’aseh velo min ha’asui: “sheharei asa’an befasul.” Likewise, even if you didn’t wrap them at all but tied two knots, they have already become invalid because of ta’aseh velo min ha’asui. That’s a very important halachah (Jewish law), which we know. When we bought the strings, we bought them separately, so we don’t have this problem in our case.
“Hashemonah chutim yechalek beyado dalet mitzad zeh vedalet mitzad zeh.” You separate four strings on one side and four on the other side.
Rabbi, just before we go on, so the first case was you're looping it back into the same hole four times? No, the case is you brought the strings in before they were actually cut into eight. So you put them in as four and then you cut it, now it's split into four. Okay, I'm sorry, okay. Okay.
“Veyikshor shenei fe’amim zeh al gav zeh,” and then you make two knots, one on top of the other. “Ve’achar kach yichroch chut ha’aroch saviv hashiv’ah chutim,” and then you take the longer string and wrap it around the other seven. “Ketzat kerichot vekosher shenei fe’amim zeh al gav zeh,” make some wrappings and then another two knots. “Vechozer vechorech vekosher,” and then you make some more wrappings, “ad sheyihyu chamishah kesharim kefulim ve’arba’ah avirim beineihem.” So you have five knots with four spaces in between, and the spaces are filled with wrappings.
“Umidina ein shiur (measure) lahakerichot vehakesharim.” There is no required measure for the wrappings and knots. Even if you wrap most of the strings, or wrap only one chulya, it is kesherah (valid). But if you wrap the whole string, it is pesulah (invalid), because there is no petil (string) left. You have to leave a little string hanging. For the hidur (beautification) of the mitzvah (commandment), the gedil (braided section) should be one-third and the petil two-thirds, as we already learned. The gedil should be four gudalim (thumb-breadths). We said that each godel is about two centimeters, so it should be about eight centimeters. The petil should be eight gudalim. That is the hidur of the mitzvah. So basically it is six centimeters and eight centimeters. That gives you one-third and two-thirds. Altogether, it is twelve: you divide the twelve into one-third and two-thirds, four and eight. Four gudalim and eight gudalim. That is the way they do it.
“Ufasak keRabbeinu Tam” (Rabbi Jacob ben Meir), as explained in se’if yud-alef. “Vehaminhag (custom) lichroch bechulya rishonah zayin kerichot shelemim, uvashniyah chet, uvashlishit yud-alef uvirevi'it yud-gimel.” The measure of the kerichot is seven, eight, eleven, and thirteen. Seven in the first, eight in the second, eleven in the third, and thirteen in the fourth. That is the measure: seven, eight, eleven, thirteen. “Keminyan Hashem Echad” (God is One). Seven, eight, eleven, and thirteen is thirty-nine. Thirty-nine is gematriya (Hebrew numerology) of Hashem Echad: twenty-six plus thirteen.
“Venachon shebein kesher l’kesher yihiyeh rochav agudal.” Between each knot, the space should measure an agudal. “Veshekol hachulyot yihiyeh meshaveh,” and each chulya should be equal. In the first one, which has seven, and the last one, which has thirteen, you should space the seven so it is the same size as the thirteen. You want the spaces to be equal. “Velachen b’chulya alef yarchikem me’at, uvarvi’it y’karvem harbeh, k’dei l’hashvotam.” So, in the first chulya you space them a little, and in the fourth you bring them close together, to make them equal.
“Venahagu yafeh sheyesh shekosh’rim kol chut b’sofo l’ma’an lo yitparek hash’zirah, v’ein zeh k’mosif al hakesharim. V’yesh makpidim mishum mosif, v’ein osim zeh. V’chen anu nohagim, ki shelanu sh’zurim yafeh v’lo mitparkim.” The custom was to tie each string at its end so the twisting wouldn’t come apart. This does not count as adding to the knots. Some people are concerned that it does count as adding, and don’t do it. We follow that practice, because our strings are twisted well and don’t come apart.
So we’ve learned a lot here, Rabotai. He says the proper way to put on the tzitziyot is seven, eight, eleven, thirteen. He also says that each one should be equal in length: the seven should be equal to the thirteen. That means you should space out the seven and bring the thirteen close together, so they’ll be the same measure. Then he says the custom was to put a knot at the bottom so they wouldn’t unravel, but he says that was only in the old days. Today the tzitziyot are made well, so there’s no need for a knot at the bottom.
Let’s open the Mishnah Berurah. We’re at seven, eight, eleven, thirteen. That’s the minhag. Let’s see if that’s our minhag. There’s another one here, too: ten, five, six, five. Oh, so you did Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei (the four-letter Name). That’s a different custom. Most Sefaradim (Sephardic Jews) do seven, eight, eleven, thirteen. Look at the Maran (our master), Rabotai. Halachah yud-bet is correct. This is the halachah we need to follow today: halachah yud-bet.
“Minyan chutei hatzitziyot b’chol kanaf, arba’ah k’fulim, shehem sh’monah. V’im hosif, pasul. V’vadai.” Only four strings, which become eight. If you put in more, it is invalid. “Yachtoch rashei hachutim ha’arba’ah.” Cut the four strings first. “Veyitbacham b’kanaf veyichpelem, ve’az yihyu shemonah.” You put them into the corner and fold them, and then there are eight. Very good. Yud-gimmel: “Yizaher lachtoch rashei hachutim la’asotam shemonah kodem sheyichroch.” Be careful to cut the strings so they become eight before making the knots.
If you made even one chulya, and even one knot, and then cut them, they are pasul because of ta’aseh velo min ha’asui: “sheyesh alav p’sul asiyah.” You understand again? You have strings that aren’t cut yet. You put them in and start making the knots, and then you cut them to make four into eight. When you put them in, there were four; now you cut them to make eight. You probably have a picture there. What page? Forty-nine, this one, number seven. You have four, you put them in, and then once they’re halfway through, you cut them. They’re looped in like a circle. They haven’t been cut yet. How does he get them through if they’re a circle? Anyway, I guess he folded them. You fold them, make a loop, and put it through the hole. But it’s closed, so then you cut it afterward to make it into two.
The picture says the four strands are threaded through the hole in the tallit katan (prayer shawl) so that half their length is on this side. That’s true: half and half, no problem. Let’s see if there’s another picture. Then you make a knot; no problem. It’s showing you how to make the knots. Yishtabach Shemo (may His name be praised). Rabotai, we’re going to learn how to make tzitzit now. We have a live professor here. We’re going to learn how to make tzitziyot.
Let’s go to the next halachah, Rabotai. “Yikach arba’ah” — this is the way you make tzitziyot. This is halachah yud-daled, the key halachah to learn today. I wish we would have brought. Okay, we’ll bring for Sunday, bli neder, strings, cheap strings. Do you have cheap strings, Jacky? I have the right ones, with the longer Sephardic strings. Could you bring a couple of pairs so we can practice on Sunday and learn how to make tzitziyot? I had that shirt, too, so maybe we should bring garments as well. We want to make the hole. He’s going to teach us how to do it, but I think everybody should learn how to make tzitziyot. Then we’ll learn the kavanot (intentions), and we’ll be able to make tzitziyot with kavanot. That’ll be a great thing. I’ll work on the kavanot, and you work on the materials. I’ll prepare the kavanot, and you prepare the raw materials. Let’s try it for Sunday. Sunday is a good day to do show and tell.
He says here, yud-daled: “Yikkach arba’ah chutin mitzad zeh ve’arba’ah mitzad zeh.” So you have four strings. You put them through the hole, and now you have four on one side and four on the other. What do you do? “Veyikshor shenei fe’amim zeh al gav zeh.” One knot, and then two knots. Follow the pictures, Rabotai. Page fifty. Exactly, Benno. It shows you grasping each group of four strands in one hand and tying the two groups together with an overhand knot, then making a second overhand knot on top. That’s what it looks like here. You start with a double knot. It’s on page fifty-one, picture D. Avi, are you good? D? That’s the double knot there, right?
Do we know why there are these double knots? Every time there is a reason for them. I guess a double knot is a knot, and a single knot is not a knot. But the Rabbi already told us: these five knots and eight strings make thirteen, and tzitzit equals six hundred. It’s for the number. But you know what the Rabbi told us, too? There are ten knots altogether, one for each of the sefirot (divine emanations). I’m not into Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). I don’t know about sefirot. Don’t confuse me with sefirot.
“Yikkach arba’ah chutin mitzad zeh ve’arba’ah mitzad zeh veyikshor shenei fe’amim zeh al gav zeh, ve’achar yichroch chut ha’aroch seviv hashiv’ah ketzat kerichot.” Then you take the long string and start wrapping it around the other seven. The picture shows the longest strand being used to form seven loops around the other strands. You’re taking B. You’re going to make seven spirals. If you hold it in the seven, eight, eleven, thirteen pattern, you make seven first. Then, after the seven, what do you do? Two knots again. Exactly: “vechosher shenei fe’amim zeh al gav zeh.” Then you make another double knot.
If you look at pages fifty-four and fifty-five, it teaches you how to do the spiral, the seven and the eight. But he’s teaching something else here: how to make the chulyot. We’re making a staircase. Correct. You see, we’re making chulyot too, Rabotai; we’re not only making seven circles, seven wrappings. We’re making a staircase. That’s in seventy-five A, and the other one is B and C. The custom of Sephardic Jews is to tie the long strand into a knot after each loop: take the longest strand and twist it one full circle around the seven other strands, then slip the end of the strand through the loop you just made. Then you go around again and slip it through the loop. You’re creating a chulya. That’s it. We have to learn how to make tzitziyot.
I taught this many years ago at Mark Sultan. We did it properly. Let’s say this is the long one. Do you go over it like this or under? Under? No, on top. Avi? On top? Let’s see. Hold the seven here. You need to make it large, so you have to hold it and then pull. That’s it. Not exactly? Like this? That’s it; pull. Look at page fifty-four and pull it tighter, because if it’s thick, it won’t work. That’s the rest. Exactly. We’re learning how to make tzitzit. Baruch Hashem. Once we learn how to do it, we should make our own tzitziyot. Why pay the guy on the corner fifteen dollars to do it? What’s Jack going to do then? Three bucks. Everybody should make them. Then we can be careful about all the halachot we learned: making it two-thirds and one-third, being careful with the kavanot, doing it properly, and splitting it correctly. Why rely on other people?
Let’s read the Shulchan Aruch again, Rabotai. Two-thirds, what? Two-thirds, one-third. You cut at the end, right? Very good; we said you could do that. To make it two-thirds, we learned you can cut it at the end with something that isn’t metal, with plastic. Baruch Hashem, you guys are learning, finally. Ceramic scissors. Perfect. That’s the only way to do it. Or your teeth. Okay, Rabotai, let’s read yud-daled again, from beginning to end.
“Yikach arba’ah chutin mitzad zeh ve’arba’ah mitzad zeh, veyikshor shenei fe’amim zeh al gav zeh, ve’achar kach yichroch chut ha’aroch saviv hashiv’ah ketzat kerichot, vechosher shenei fe’amim zeh al gav zeh, vechozer vechorech, vechen ya’aseh ad sheyashlim lachamishah kesharim kefulim, ve’arba’ah avirim beneihem mele’im kerichot.” There is no measure for how many spirals you have to make, only that all the spirals and knots together should measure four agudalim, which would be eight centimeters, “veha’anaf shemonah agudalim.” Basically, you want one-third and two-thirds. If the tzitzit is longer, there is permission to lengthen the rest of the anaf.
“Venohagim lichroch be’avir rishon sheva kerichot, the first one seven, uvasheni tesha.” Oh, the Shulchan Aruch says seven, nine, eleven, and thirteen: seven, nine, eleven, thirteen, for a total of forty, “kaminyan Hashem Echad,” which comes to thirty-nine, plus the name of Hashem, with the kollel. “Ve’im Hashem hem mem.” That’s the chiddush (new point) of the Maran.
“Venahagu la’asot besof kol chut kesher, kedei sheya’amid betzitzito.” The custom is to make a knot at the bottom so it doesn’t unravel. But today we don’t do that, as we said, because our tzitziyot are made strong, so we don’t have to worry about it. Now we have to see which shittah (view) we follow. Look at the Mishnah Berurah. “Uvakavanot Sha’ar HaKavanot” it says seven, eight, eleven, thirteen. The Maran said seven, nine, eleven, thirteen, and in the kavanot, Rabbenu HaAri says seven, eight, eleven, thirteen. That’s what we do. Okay, David.
“Vechen …” Hey, David, haje ma hema? She needs yeshu’ot; we’re praying for Sarah bat Zakiya. “Katuv basheni shemonah, vechen hiskimu acharonim, desheva ushmonah.” Seven and eight is fifteen, which equals Yud-Keh. Then eleven: seven, eight, and eleven is twenty-six, and thirteen is echad, so Hashem Echad. Then thirteen has the gematriya of echad. This is Hashem Echad.
“Uvatzitzit shel Rabbi Shelomo Molcho hayah be’avir rishon yod kerichot, ve’achar kach heh, keshem Havayah.” That’s like the tzitzit of the Ben Ish Chai: Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei, ten, five, six, five. So there are different shittot here, but we’ll see that the haArizal held seven, eight, eleven, thirteen. That’s what you should always put: seven, eight, eleven, and thirteen. Yishtabach Shemo, Rabotai.
Some people do two knots, then a space, two knots, then a space. I don’t understand. Two knots, seven, two knots, eight? No, instead of the seven, they make two, leave a big space, then make another two and leave another big space. You see them hanging like that? The long ones, you mean? The Ashkenazim? I don’t know. What is it, then? I don’t know, Ben. They’re bringing us the customs from—No, because someone from Chabad showed me that every three they leave a space. Yes, they don’t do seven in a row; they do a few, then a space. He’s right. We’ll see that when we learn how to do it.
Page 153, Rabotai. Open up Yalkut Yosef (Joseph’s Anthology), page 153. “Minyan hachutin,” yishtabach Shemo. Wow, a lot today. We’ll go around the table; I’ll start. “Minyan chutei hatzitziyot bechol kanaf arba’ah … shehem shemonah.” It’s four that become eight. “Venilmad mimah shekatuv gedilim ta’aseh lach, velamdu Chazal (the Sages) gedil mashma shtei chutin.” A gedil is two strings; gedilim means four. Therefore, gedilim means four, and the four become eight. “Umatil arba’ah chutin banekev shebichnaf hatallit,” you put them in the hole, “ve’al yedei zeh nichpalim arba’ah chutin mitzad zeh ve’arba’ah chutin mitzad zeh, vena’asim shemonah chutin.” You put them through, and that makes four strings on each side, for a total of eight.
“Venilmad mimah shekatuv petil, ke’ein petilah, shehu kaful.” That’s what we learned: it becomes doubled. No problem. “Bechavod Chalfon, asur. Asur lehosif al minyan petilei hatzitzit, ve’im asah chen, posel posel hatallit.” You can’t have more than eight. “Veyeshe omrim she’af over al bal tosif.” Bal tosif. “Vehu hadin im gara miminyan arba’ah chutin, posel hatallit. Veyeshe omrim she’over al bal tigra.” It has to be four strings, Rabotai: four that become eight, not seven and not nine.
Daled-bet, Chaim. “Mitoch hanekev tochavin arba’ah chutin nifradim. Im rotzeh lakachat chut echad aroch, vetochavo letoch hanekev arba pe’amim.” This is what you were talking about. You take one long string, put it through the hole, then put it through again, and again, and again. Then you want to cut it. You can do that; it won’t be invalid as long as you haven’t made any knots first. If you make a knot and then cut it, it’s ta’aseh velo min ha’asui. So you can put it through four times, cut it, and now you have four strings.
You take one string and put it through, hold it, and put the same end through again and again. Now you have four loops. You cut the loops, and that’s okay, as long as you didn’t start making the tzitzit yet. Once you start making the tzitzit and then cut it, it’s invalid. Since you haven’t made it yet, you can do it.
Let’s go back to daled-bet. Chaim, read it again. “Mitoch hanekev tochavin arba’ah chutin nifradim. Im rotzeh lakachat chut echad aroch, vetochavo letoch hanekev arba pe’amim, ve’achar kach lachtoch halula’ot. Halula’ot, shenotzeru, kedei sheyihyu arba’ah chutin mitzad zeh ve’arba’ah chutin mitzad zeh.” The loops are formed so there will be four strings on each side. “Ein la’asot ken lechattechilah.” You shouldn’t do this ideally. Rather, you should cut the long string before pushing it through, so you have four strings right away.
“Ve’im shachach, o shelo hayah yode’a din zeh, vechatach et halula’ot le’achar shedachaf hachut ha’aroch, ein zeh me’akev.” As we learned, if you put it through and then cut it, bedi’avad (after the fact) it’s okay, and you may recite the berachah over it. But don’t make any knots. Be careful to make this cut before making the knots. If you wrapped even one chulya and made two knots, it’s invalid because of ta’aseh velo min ha’asui. Chazak uvaruch.
Next one. Jacky, do you have a task? Amen. Finish your tea; take your time. Tea time at 8:20? I thought tea time was at 3:00. Okay, bechavod. Mem-bet. “Yesh hitzrichu sheyachtoch sheyidchof”—this is a big one. “Sheyidchof kol arba’ah hachutin bevat achat banekev.” Which means you’re supposed to take all four and put them through at the same time, not one at a time. Why? “Ki im yitnem banekev zeh achar zeh, im ken, techivat hachutim harishonim hayu befisul.” The first strings were invalid. When you put in the first one, it’s pasul because there’s only one string. It remains pasul until the fourth one goes in and makes it kasher (valid). You don’t want to make it pasul and then make it kasher; you want to make it kasher in one shot.
“Umah sheyukasher behosafat hachutin ha’acharonim hu bifisul.” The point is that when you add the fourth string, you’ve added it to something that was already invalid. But he says, “Ulam lahalachah nir’eh, shebedi’avad, o bish’at hadechak, yesh lehakel, she’ein bazeh mishum ta’aseh velo min ha’asui.” For good reason, as Mark said: I didn’t start making the tzitzit yet. The tzitzit doesn’t start until you actually make the knots. What’s the other side? I guess there’s a side to say it already starts when you put it through.
Baruch Hashem, there’s a new chumrah (stringency), Rabotai. David, please add it to the list: when you buy tzitzit in the store, ask whether the person put them in all at once or one after another. Lech teda. You undo it, and when you put it through the hole, you have to put all four in. Fold the hole, you get it in there. Here’s a tip: use a bobby pin. Put all the strings in the bobby pin, put the pin through the hole, and pull it through. Very good. Tricks of the trade. Remember that chumrah. That’s called Beno Mem Gimmel.
“Veyachnis banekev arba’ah chutim veyotzi’am mitzido hasheni.” Put the four strings through the hole and pull them out the other side, so there are four on each side. “Ve’achar kach min hachutim yihyeh aroch yoter, venikra shamash (attendant strand).” One of the strings should be longer, and it’s called the shamash. That’s the working string. “Kedei shebo yichroch hakerichot shel hagadil,” so you use it to wrap the gedil. “Veyisha’er bein shi’ur shenem asar gedilim.” At the end, as we said, you want four and eight. If the whole thing is twelve, you divide it into one-third and two-thirds: four and eight. We’re learning that one long string is called the shamash.
“Achar kach yitpos beyado achat arba’ah chutim shebetzad echad, uveyado hasheniyah arba’ah chutim shebetzad hasheni, veyikshor shenei hachalakim bishnei kesharim, zeh al gav zeh.” That’s a double knot. You take the two groups of strings and make one knot, then another. “Venachon shemiyad keshe’oseh zeh ya’aseh kesher be’anaf sofit mikatzeh achat shel arba’ah chutim, kedei lishmor achar kach sheyihyu arba’at hachutim tamid betzad echad, ad siyum kol hakerichot vehakesharim.” Here’s a trick: you have two knots and two sides. You want to make sure these four stay on one side and these four on the other, for reasons we’ll learn later. You make a knot at the bottom of one group of four. Eywa. So you always know which strings belong together.
You can see it on page fifty-two, picture seventy-three, in the pizmon book. Now I know which four belong together and which four belong to the other side. You may ask, “What difference does it make? There are eight strings. Why should I care which way they go?” You’ll need to know. Let’s say I know these four are here. That means the ends of these strings are here, because they’re four and four. If, chas veshalom, one string gets ripped, my tzitzit will still be kasher because I know the other half is here. If another string gets ripped, I know the other half is here, so I’m still okay. But if I’m not careful to keep track, these could be the same string, and then I’m missing a whole string. So knowing exactly where the strings are helps if something happens. If nothing happens to the tallit, it doesn’t matter. It’s a precaution in case something happens.
So it’s not so simple when someone comes to me and says, “Rabbi, two strings here are ripped. Is it kasher?” I can’t answer unless I know how he made the tzitzit. If he kept all the sides together, I can say it’s valid because the other side is there. But if he wasn’t careful, I don’t know; maybe these are the same string. So it’s a hard question to answer if you don’t know. If two strings get ripped, throw it away, because we don’t know how to answer that question. No, we cut it and put on a new tzitzit? You do it again. I throw away so much tzitzit katan. Now I know to do it myself. Can we do it? Yes, exactly.
You don’t have to throw the beged (garment) away. Because we don’t know how to make tzitziyot, as Mano is saying, the tzitziyot become pasul, and you’d be throwing away a perfectly good beged because the strings are no good. Why throw away the beged? Put it in the wash, clean it, cut off the strings, and buy new strings. Especially if you have a beged that’s comfortable and the right size. Baruch Hashem.
“Yesh lachkor kashrut hilchatit lematzav bo nikra’im shene chutim mehashmonah.” He doesn’t want to get into the halachah now; he says we’ll learn it next week, in yud-bet. “Uvesiyum kol hakrichot vehakesharim yatir kesher.” After you finish all the wrappings and knots, undo the knot at the bottom. You don’t want to leave that knot there.
Moshe, you’re up. Taf. “Le’achar mikkan loke’ach hachut ha’aroch vechorech saviv she’ar hachutim sheva pe’amim. Ule’achar mikkan kosher arba’ah chutim shebetzad echad im arba’ah chutim shebetzad hasheni bishne kesharim zeh al gabeh zeh.” Then you make a double knot. Seven wrappings, then a double knot. “Ule’achar mikkan shuv chorech et hachut ha’aroch shemonah pe’amim saviv she’ar hachutim, veshuv kosher shene kesharim zeh al gabeh zeh, veshuv chorech hachut ha’aroch echad-asar pe’amim, vechosher shene kesharim zeh al gabeh zeh, veshuv chorech hachut ha’aroch sheloshah-asar pe’amim, vechosher shene kesharim zeh al gabeh zeh.”
“Nimtza sheyeshnam chamishah kesharim kefulim ve’arba’ah revachim benehem, mele’im krichot, sheloshim vetesha krichot. Sheva, shemonah, echad-asar.” Seven, eight, eleven, and thirteen add up to thirty-nine. “Shechaf-vav olim minyan Hashem, ve’od sheloshah-asar minyan echad, harei sheloshim vetesha keminyan Hashem Echad.” The twenty-six is the number of Hashem, and the additional thirteen is echad, so together they are thirty-nine, the number of Hashem Echad.
What if someone did it quickly and made eight, eight? It’s not me’akev. Even if you did one krichah, as long as you have one spiral, it’s kasher. This is the proper way, but it doesn’t matter if he did seven, nine by mistake, or seven, six. It’s valid.
The other night I went to a Holocaust program in the city, and I saw an old man there. I kissed him; it was amazing. He saw me, and I knew him. He used to pray with us at the Ahi Ezer Torah Center. He’s an old man now. I said, “Hey! Shalom aleichem! Hey!” They never know why I go to this program every year. They say, “You have nothing to do with the Holocaust?” Last year I went to a place that showed a movie about the Jews of Hungary. There were a thousand Ashkenazim, and me and Solly. I like to see these things. I like to learn about it.
Someone said to me, “Rabbi Mansour, I didn’t know you’re Hungarian!” I can’t be! Dam Mansour is Hungarian! This year they said, “Ah, you came, the only Sephardi in the whole place.” A thousand people, and only one Sephardi. But you learn a lot from the Holocaust; amazing things. It’s called Project Witness. Good people behind it.
Anyway, I told the old man, “Do me a favor, give me a berachah,” because I knew he was a Holocaust survivor and a religious man. He said, “Rabbi Mansour, I want to show you something.” He pulled up his sleeve and showed me the numbers. He asked, “Do these numbers mean anything to you?” I told him, “I’m a numbers guy, but on the spot, I can’t.” He said, “The first number, the second number, and the third number have the gematriya of twenty-six. That’s Shem Hashem. And the last number is one and three, which is echad. Gematriya: Hashem Echad.” He said, “That’s what I looked at every day in the Holocaust. Whatever is happening to me, Hashem Echad! Hashem Echad! Even when I get the tzitzit!” He said, “I wasn’t able to wear tzitzit in the Holocaust. Here, this was my tzitzit.” He showed me the numbers and said, “Hashem Echad!”
I can’t tell you how he worked out the numbers. He counted this way and that way, and somehow he got to Hashem Echad. He said, “This was my tzitzit. You wear tefillin on your arm and tzitzit on your strings; I wore my tzitzit on my arm.” That’s a big chiddush. He wore tzitzit on his arm. You’ve never heard of tzitzit like that—not five knots, but different numbers. There’s another chiddush there, and I’ll tell you about it when we get to it.
Moshe, read the bottom part, the significance of the numbers, page 142. “Tzitzit tassels consist of two sections.” Make believe you’re in court, Moshe. This is the bench, Rabotai, and these are the three judges. Come to the bench. “The gedil, which is the section with the strands knotted together, with one strand wound in loops around the others; and the anaf (loose strands), which is the section of strands that hang loosely.” Learn the words, Rabotai. The key is the terminology. The gedil is the wrapped part, and the anaf is the loose strings. You have gedil and anaf. The gedil is the part that you wrap and knot, and the anaf is the loose strings at the end. So you need gedil and anaf, one-third and two-thirds. The gedil is the braid. You make the gedil, and the rest is called the anaf.