Korach: Growing the Fringes (Part 2/2)
In Part I of this essay, we explored the words tzitzit and gedilim, offering a possible way of understanding the nuanced difference between these two apparent synonyms. In this second installment, we explore additional words associated with tzitzit by sharpening their etymologies and showing exactly what they literally mean. The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah §18:3) expounds on the juxtaposition of the pericope concerning Korach's rebellion to the pericope related to tzitzit by explaining that Korach argued that a tallit made entirely of techeilet is exempt from the commandment of tzitzit, while Moses argued it is obligated (see Menachot 41b). It is only appropriate therefore to begin this week’s essay with a discussion of a word for tzitzit used specifically in the context of techeilet before we discuss the words tallit and kruspidin.
When outlining the commandment of tzitzit, the Torah prescribes that a single petil of techeilet should be included among the tzitzit string attached to the corners of the four-cornered garment (Num. 15:38). On the word techeilet and what it might mean, see my earlier article “True Blue” (Mar. 2019). The root PEH-TAV-LAMMED from whence petil derives denotes “snug attachment” or “twistedness” (like tzamid patil which saves the contents of a tightly-closed pottery vessel from contracting ritual impurity, see Num. 19:15). When a string is braided or otherwise twisted into existence, its constituent fibers are snugly held in place.
A variant of this word appears in Biblical Hebrew when Judah gave Tamar his petil as a guarantee that he will pay her for services rendered (Gen. 38:18). Some commentators (like Ibn Janach, Rabbi Avraham Maimuni, Rashbam) explain that this refers to his “belt” (by which he snugly closes his pants) or his “cloak” (Radak). But others explain that this petil referred to Judah’s tallit/tzitzit (see Rabbi Moshe HaDarshan’s Bereishit Rabbati to Gen. 38:25 and Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel to Gen. 38:18 in the name of Rashbam, although see Nachmanides to Gen. 38:18 who rejects this). In Mishnaic Hebrew, another inflection petilah is used in reference to a “wick,” which in some ways is just a string that is fastened in place to be used for holding a fire (Shabbat 2:4-5, Beitzah 4:4, Keilim 3:2, see also Sanhedrin 7:2 where petilah seems to refer to a “lead rod”).
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (to Gen. 30:8, Num. 15:38) sees the core meaning of the root PEH-TAV-LAMMED as relating to “separateness.” In the context of tzitzit, the single string of techeilet represents something that is at once attached to the larger tzitzit edifice, but also separated and independent from it because it alone is dyed with techeilet. Rabbi Hirsch adduces this understanding of the root PEH-TAV-LAMMED by comparing it to its phonetic counterparts BET-DALET-LAMMED (havdalah, “separation”), BET-TAV-LAMMED (betulah, “virgin,” i.e., a woman who has been separated out from the normal course of events), BET-TET-LAMMED (batel, “cancelled/nullified” something which has been separated and excluded from the realm of the relevant). Needless to say, these connections are based on the interchangeability of the letters PEH and BET, as well as the interchangeability of the group of letters TAV, TET, and DALET.
The name Naphtali that Rachel gave to the second-born son of her handmaiden Bilhah is explicitly connected to the root PEH-TAV-LAMMED, as Rachel commented that by bringing to Jacob another son, she has now “intertwined” her own fate with the fate of her sister Leah who had already borne several sons to Jacob (Gen. 30:8).
The term tallit (tallis in traditional Ashkenazi pronunciation) first occurs in Rabbinic Hebrew, making its first appearances in the Mishnah (Nedarim 3:5, 4:1, Kiddushin 4:14, Bava Metzia 1:1, Meilah 5:1, 6:4, Keilim 28:7, 29:1-2, Ohalot 8:5, Zavim 4:7). But it is clear from context that rather than referring specifically to the stringed fringes of a four-cornered garment like tzizit does, the word tallit actually refers to the four-cornered garment itself. In fact, another Mishnaic Hebrew word that means something like "wash cloth" is derived from tallit — matlit (Shabbat 24:5, Bava Kamma 10:10, Keilim 10:4, 27:6, 27:12, 28:6, Negaim 11:5-6, Taharot 9:9). Nonetheless, as Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur already noted in his Sefer Tishbi, in rabbinic parlance the word tallit refers to a special four-cornered garment that has tzitzit and is worn during prayer [HaBachur (there) also asserts that the grammatically-correct plural form of the word tallit is taliyot (as does Rabbi Tanchum HaYerushalmi in HaMadrich HaMaspik), not talitot and certainly not the more popular Yiddish misnomer talleisim)
Where does the word tallit come from?
Rabbeinu Bachaya (Kad Ha'Kemach s.v. tzitzit and in his commentary to Num. 15:38) explains that the term tzitzit refers to the fact that when a person wears tzitzit, he ought to be careful to avoid sinning because he is supposed to be cognizant of the fact that Hashem "sees" him (relating to the "peeking" meaning of TZADI-YOD-TZADI discussed in Part I). On the other hand, the term tallit alludes to Hashem as being uplifted and raised above all, just like Daniel described Him as netilat min ara — literally, “lifted from the earth” (Dan. 7:4).
Rabbi Nosson Shapiro (Matzat Shimurin fol. 11b) offers a kabbalistic explanation that sees the word tallit as derived from the Aramaic word talyuta used by Targum Onkelos in reference to a young person coming of age (Gen. 8:21), but exactly what he says is beyond my level of expertise.
Rabbi Nosson of Rome (in Sefer He’Aruch) offers two etymologies for the word tallit: firstly, he cites in the name of Rav Matzliach Gaon that the term tallit refers to the fact that the garment in question is "place upon (on top of)" one's other clothes. According to this, tallit is related to the word natal in the sense of "lifting (see Targum to Gen. 50:13).
Alternatively, he explains tallit as related to the triliteral root TET-LAMMED-LAMMED, tillel in Late Biblical Hebrew (see Neh. 3:15) and Biblical Aramaic (Dan. 4:9). Rabbi Ernest Klein (in his etymological dictionary of Hebrew) also follows this approach of seeing the word tallit as related to telalim meaning “shade/shadow/covering.” That term is cognate with the Hebrew tzel, which means same thing. This cognancy reflects the interchangeability of the letters TZADI and TET. As is his wont, Dr. Alexander Kohut in He’Aruch Ha’Shaleim claims that the word tallit derives from Persian, but this theory has not gained much traction.
David Curwin of the Balashon Blog brings to the fore another theory for the etymology of tallit. He relates in the name of the late Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel that tallit derives from the same Greek etymon as does the Rabbinic Hebrew word itz’tala — they are both borrowed from the Latin stola and Greek στολή (stolē). Indeed, Rashi (to Sanhedrin 44a, see also Bechorot 34b) defines itz’tala as tallit (and Rabbi Tanchum HaYerushalmi in HaMadrich HaMaspik also notes the similarity between those two words). [For more about the word itz’tala, see my earlier essay “Noble Clothes” (Nov. 2024).]
When Targum renders the Biblical Hebrew words tzitzit and gedilim into Aramaic, it uses the term kruspeda (singular) or kruspidin (plural). Rabbi Binyamin Mussafia (in Mussaf He’Aruch) clarifies that this term is actually an Aramaic loanword based on the Greek kraspedon (κράσπεδον). Indeed, kraspedon is actually the standard Köine Greek word for tzitzit in the Christian Bible. The word refers to the “fringe/edge/hem” of a clothing, or even to an embroidered “border.” Essentially, kraspedon refers to the appended extremity or prominent extension added to a core frame. Classicalists have traced the etymology of kraspedon as a portmanteau of the Greek karé (“head/top/peak”) and pédon (“foot/bottom/edge”). As Rabbi Shaul Goldman explains this etymology, the very term kraspedon is meant to imply that the most prominent feature of a four-cornered garment is not at the top nor at its center, but on the fringe strings that protrude outwards from the garment’s bottom/edge. [Dr. Alexander Kohut in He’Aruch Ha’Shaleim rejects the idea that the Targumic word kruspidin is of Greek origin, instead preferring to say that word as deriving from Persian — as he often does.]
Interestingly, there is an Amoraic sage named Rav Kruspedai who is cited four times in the Babylonian Talmud. In one of the more famous passages of the Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 16a), Rav Kruspedai teaches that on Rosh HaShanaha, Hashem opens three books (the Book of the Completely Righteous, the Book of the Completely Wicked, and the Book of the Medium People) to judge people based on their actions. In another passage, Rav Kruspedai teaches that the Rebellious Son can only occur during the three months when the boy is between the ages of thirteen and thirteen and a quarter (Sanhedrin 69a). For more citations, see Keritut 24a and Niddah 46a.
They tell a story about the late Rabbi Avraham Genachovsky, who once found himself riding a public bus when a scantily-clad woman sat next to him. Not wanting to embarrass her directly, yet uncomfortable with the situation caused by her immodest attire, the rabbi simply turned to her and said, “I have kruspidin...” The woman, unfamiliar with the term, mistakenly assumed it was the name of a contagious disease and fled from the seat in panic. In truth, the rabbi had told no lie — kruspidin is the Greek-based Aramaic word used in the Targum for tzitzit, the ritual fringes worn by God-fearing Jews on their four-cornered garments. But the clever ambiguity of his wording allowed the great sage to defuse the situation without confrontation. Rabbi Zev Berlin (son-in-law of Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman) adds that he heard that the incident occurred in a hired van, not a public bus, and that the woman in question not only left her seat in the van but she alighted the van altogether, and Rabbi Genachovsky reimbursed the driver for causing her spot to become empty.
