Avrohom And The Strings

The Tanchuma says that because Avrohom told the King of Sedom he wouldn’t take anything from him “mchut v’ad sruch naal” (14:23) we merited to receive the mitzvah of techelas and chaletzas naal (see Meshech Chachma that elaborates on this connection to chalizta.)  The merit of chut is to receive the string of techelas and the merit of naal is to receive chaleztas naal.  The Gemorah in Chulin 89a says that the reward for sruch is to receive teffilin (Rashi explains that both sruch and retzuah are the same thing so we merit the retzuaos of tefillin.)  Obviously Avrohom didn’t merit to receive these mitzvot just because he used the magic words, there must be some connection between his actions and these mitzvot, what is it?  Are these just random mitzvot which match the words that Avrohom said or is there some common denominator here? Rashi in Noach (9:23) says that because Shem covered Noach, therefore he merited that his children would receive the mitzvah of tzitzis.  The Levush asks if that’s the case why does Avrohom need additional merit to receive the mitzvah if Shem already merited it?  He answers by distinguishing between Shem who merited the mitzvah of tzitzis and Avrohom who merited the mitzvah of techelas.  What is the difference, why does Avrohom merit to receive the string of techelas and Shem merit the white strings? [As an aside, it sounds from Rashi there that the garment becomes part of the mitzvah for he says that Shem merited tallis of tzitzis and that’s what makes it parallel to the story where Shem covered his father with a garment.]

The midrash says that Chanoch was a shoemaker and every stitch he put in the shoe he was meyached yechududim.  The simple interpretation of the Chazal is that even in basic, ordinary actions Chanoch had lofty intentions.  However, what is the significance that he was a shoemaker, why do we need to know what profession he had?  The shoe represents the chumrious of this world.  It is the part of the body furthest from the brain and is the most course.  (That’s why now we are in the heels of the times of Mashiach, we are very distant from any feelings of true spirituality vda”l.)  What Chazal are trying to convey to us is that Chanoch was able to connect the chumri of this world with Hashem.  When one uses a string to tie something, s/he is joining two things together.  Chanoch was connecting everything in this world with Hashem, everything was used and done for a lofty purpose.  However, Chanoch was acting on the micro level.  Avrohom was acting in this vein but in a macro level, he wanted the world to recognize their connection to Hashem.  The midrash (39:3) has a derash on the possuk (Shir Hashirim 8:8) “achos lanu ketana” instead of translating achos as sister, translate it as acha, to mend a rip.  The midrash says that Avrohom repaired the world like one who mends a rip.  The world was being “ripped” away from Hashem as the midrash (19:7) says through the sins of every generation Hashem became distanced from the world.  Chanoch tied shoes but Avrohom was tying the strings of the world (see Netziv on the possuk here.)

The common denominator between all these mitzvot is that they all are prime examples of tying the “strings of the world” with Hashem.  The white strings of the tzitzis represent the or memaleh kol almin, it’s the or makif protecting a person.  The techelas string is the or pnemi inside the tzitzis.  Techelas comes from the root word of kol, everything, it is the inner light inside of everything. (see Mictav Me’Eliyahu volume 5 in his explanation of techelas.)  [It works especially well according to Rambam that there are 7 white strings representing the totality of teva and the eighth string is techelas meaning the inner dimension of the seven.]    Techeles is the Godly light that exists in everything in the world.  It is a reminder that we can connect the light of God to the world.  Shem was a tzitzis man, he served Hashem, learned Torah etc. but he lacked the techelas, his avodah didn’t affect the world.  Avrohom introduced the techelas, he understood that one’s avodah must bring kedusha to the world.  Teffilin is like the word naftula elokim neftalti, it means connection (see Rashi Vayetzeh 30:8.)  When wearing teffilin we are connecting Hashem into the world (that’s why all mitzvot are hukash to teffilin (Kiddushin 35a) for it is a prime example of a mitzvah from the language of tzavsah, the connection to Hashem that comes about from a mitzvah.)  The mitzvah of chalitza is to untie the connection that still exists between the dead brother and this world via the yavum.  The untying of the shoe represents the untying of the brother’s connection to the world.  Because Avrohom was uniting the world with Hashem, therefore he merited to receive these mitzvot which are connecting (or untying) a connection with the world.