Shelach: Growing the Fringes (Part 1/2)
The end of Parashat Shelach talks about a very special mitzvah that is dear to Jews across the world — the commandment of tzitzit requires a male Jew to attach four strings to the four corners of one’s four-cornered garment (Num. 15:37–41). That passage is read twice daily as part of the Kriyat Shema and in that context it uses the word tzitzit three times. In this two-part essay, we explore the different words used for tzitzit, with Part I focusing on the word tzitzit itself and its synonym gedilim, while Part II will focus on other words like petil, tallit, and kruspidin.
As mentioned above, the word tzitzit (or tzitzis as typically pronounced in the Ashkenazi tradition) word appears thrice when outing the commandment of tzitzit (Num. 15:38–39). But that word appears one more time in the Bible, namely in the Book of Ezekiel in references to the hair that juts out from the side of one’s head (Ezek. 8:3). The classical Hebrew lexicographers of the triliteralist persuasion trace the Biblical Hebrew word tzitzit to the three-letter root TZADI-YOD-TZADI. That root yields several other meanings in Biblical Hebrew, including “growing/sprouting,” “peeking/peering,” “branch/wing/fin,” and “forehead plate” (like a sort of decorative metallic bandana, as in the Kohen Gadol’s tzitz). Indeed, Rashi (to Num. 15:38) connects tzitzit to both the hair that juts out from the side of one’s head and to the “peeking/peering” meaning.
Likewise, Rashi (to Jer. 48:9) writes that anything that juts out or sticks out from a person or animal’s body is called a tzitz, an explanation that can be used to bridge the various meanings of the root TZADI-YOD-TZADI. Likewise, Malbim (in Sefer HaCarmel) defines tzitz as something that protrudes or otherwise sticks out from the main body in a way that makes them very visible. In the very same way, the tzitzit strings protrude from the main garment and that makes them all the more visible. In Mishnaic Hebrew, the vestigial foreskin tissue that remains on the male member after one has completed a circumcision is referred as tzitzin (Shabbat 19:6) because such clings-on appear to protrude from the main organ.
In both Yeriot Shlomo and Cheshek Shlomo, Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim traces the word tzitzit to the monoliteral root TZADI. This understanding is also implied by Menachem Ibn Saruk in Machebret Menachem, albeit he does not specifically list the word tzitzit as a declension of that root. The way Rabbi Pappenheim explains it, the core meaning of that single letter is "exiting/outwardness." He lists a whole slew of words as related to this core root, but for our purposes it is sufficient to note that he has two different ways of connecting tzitzit to that core root. In Yeriot Shlomo, Rabbi Pappenheim explains that TZADI gives way to the idea of “growth/sprouting” because mid-process a sapling can be showing some outward signs of growing, while still not being fully germinated. From this, he explains that the “peeking/peering” meaning of TZADI(-YOD-TZADI) actually refers to one “squinting” with one’s eyes in order to see better. The conceptual link is that just as a sapling beginning to sprout is only partially visible, so is the eye of a squinting person only partially revealed. As a corollary to this, he explains that the words for tzitzit and the Kohen Gadol’s tzitz derive from "peeking" in the sense that they are highly visible ornaments that people will end up looking at. In his work Cheshek Shlomo, he takes a similar approach that sees tzitzit as something that appears to "exit" from the garment to which it is tied.
In something of a parallel to Rabbi Pappenheim’s explanations, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (to Ex. 28:36) uses his signature system of phonetic etymology to connect the root TZADI-YOD-TZADI to the root SIN-YOD-SIN (sasson, "gladness” which is an outward manifestation of inner happiness) and ZAYIN-YOD-ZAYIN (ziz, the “mammary gland” as an outward manifestation of the inner motherly instinct for providing nourishment). In this way, he explains that tzitz (and, by extension, tzitzit) refers to that which protrudes from an ambient surface in a way that it is made visible to all and sundry. He also notes that this is similar to the "growth" meaning of TZADI-YOD-TZADI by which a plant flourishes outwardly from its budding seed. [For more about sasson, see “Subtleties of Simcha and Sasson” (July 2016) and for more about ziz, see “Nursing from the Good” (Aug. 2024).]
Interestingly, one of the prominent noblemen of Jerusalem in the generation preceding the destruction of the Second Temple was named Ben Tzitzit (Bereishit Rabbah 42:1, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer ch. 3, Avot D'Rabbi Natan ch. 6:3). Rabbi Nosson of Rome (in Sefer He’Aruch) explains that he was called so because his tzitzit were so long that they would be dragged along on top of pillows and blankets wherever he went. The way I understand it, this means that he was considered so prominent, that wherever he went, he had an entourage that brought along the ancient equivalent of a red carpet, so that his extralong tzitzit will not drag along the floor.
Segueing to an alternate word for tzitzit that appears in the Bible, we now turn our attention to the word gedilim. This term appears in the Bible only once in conjunction with tzizitz: “you shall make for yourself gedilim on the four corners of your clothing” (Deut. 22:12). The word gedilim also appears another time in the Bible in reference to a braided chain of metal (I Kgs. 7:17), but that seemingly has nothing to do with tzitzit (see below).
All the early Hebrew lexicographers (like Ibn Saruk, Ibn Janach, Ibn Parchon, and Radak) trace the word gedil (the singular form of gedilim) to the triliteral root GIMMEL-DALET-LAMMED, which also gives us words like gadol (“big/large,” “great/important,” “grown/expanded”). Ibn Janach defines gedilim as tzitzit, and Radak expands on that definition to define gedilim as free-hanging tzitzit. On the other hand, Ibn Parchon uses the term petil (discussed below in Part II) to define gedilim, while Ibn Saruk actually uses the word chut (literally, “string”) to define it. [For more about the word chut, see “Learning the Ropes” (June 2023).]
Rabbi Hirsch (to Num. 15:38) explains that a braided rope is called a gedil because it is thicker than a single string, so it appears to have “grown” and become “bigger” — ideas which fit with the broader meanings associated with the root GIMMEDL-DALET-LAMMED. Rabbi Hirsch parenthetically notes that the Rabbinic Hebrew gudal (“thumb”) does not refer to the longest finger, but to the thickest finger. [For more about the word gudal, see “Rule of Thumb” (May 2019).] Alternatively, we can connect gedilim to gadol by noticing how the string hanging off the corners of a garment serve to “expand” the edges of the garment as those it has grown wider that the edges of the actual fabric. Such an explanation is offered by Radak’s father, Rabbi Yosef Kimchi (Sefer HaGalui). Or we can see gedilim as a mere extension (“overgrowth”) of the garment, just like the gudal can be viewed as a sort of extension of the hand.
What is the difference between gedilim and tzitzit?
The Talmud (Menachot 39a) states that the tzitzit string tied to the garment’s fringes should be arranged in such a way that one third of the strings’ length should be like a gadil (that is, braided) and two-thirds of its length should be left hanging like a tree branch (anaf). When Radak in his Sefer HaShorashim cites this Talmudic passage, he frames it as a resolution as to why the Torah sometimes uses the word gadil and sometime uses the word tzitzit in reference to the same commandment: One part of the tzitzit string is like a branch (hence the connection to the “branch” meaning of TZADI-YOD-TZADI from whence tzitzit derives), while another part of the tzitzit string is like a gadil. A similar understanding is put forth by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (to Num. 15:38).
I was thinking that perhaps we can take Radak’s understanding a step further and see the exact proportions mentioned in the Talmud as reflected in the Torah’s verbiage: The commandment of tzitzit appears in three verses (Num. 15:38, 15:39, and Deut. 22:12). In two out of those three verses, the Torah employs the term tzitzit (so two-thirds of the string should be like a branch), while in one out of those three, it uses the term gedilim (so one-third should be “braided”).
To be continued…
