I was recently asked about tzitziyot by a reader. What do they mean? Should women wear them?
These are excellent questions, but before I answer them, I’d like to give a brief explanation of where I’m coming from. We have been on this Torah keeping, Hebrew roots journey for 5 1/2 years. In that time, we have been rather isolated. Only my parents and sister’s family and Doug’s mom have joined us for the most part. Until the last three months, we had no local group. So we developed mostly in a vacuum. We read our Bibles a lot, and learned what we could from books and internet teachers. We kept our sources wide and varied to keep balance.
What do tzitziyot mean?
“Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the LORD your God.”
(Num 15:38-41)
Every morning as we get dressed and attach those tassels to our clothes, or put on a garment with them hanging there, we are to remember the commands of YHVH. We are easily distracted by the world and led astray by our own desires and emotions. But those tassels are there as a constant reminder that we belong to YHVH. He brought us out of Egypt, out of the world, and we belong to Him.
As we go about our day, our fingers instinctively play with the threads and twist them a little. We are reminded once again of our purpose. We are to obey YHVH, who saved us from ourselves and our evil inclinations. He is always there with us, helping us to obey Him. Why do we obey? Because His commands bring life, pleasure, bounty, and peace.
When we get a phone call with bad news, or find ourselves in a hospital waiting room, we twirl those tassels as we pray. We are grateful that the God we obey and serve is a God of salvation and deliverance.
When someone in the grocery store asks about our curious looking tassels, we share our faith with them. We tell them about the woman in Luke chapter 8 that grabbed Yahshua’s tzitziyot and found healing. We explain that YHVH knows about our tendency to fiddle and gave us something to fiddle with that reminds us of Him.
As we remove our clothes in the evening in preparation for bed, we look at those tzitziyot once again. We ask ourselves if we kept up our end of the bargain. Did we obey? Did we meditate on His commands? We ask for forgiveness. We ask for continuing help. We place ourselves in His hands as we drift off to sleep.
What a beautiful gift we find in the tzitziyot! YHVH knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows our tendency to forget, and our need for hands on learning. He wants us to follow Him always, for He knows that His commands bring blessings to our lives.
Should women wear tzitziyot?
Do women want to obey YHVH? Do they want the constant reminder to be faithful to their Creator?
If the answer is yes, then women should wear tzitziyot.
I know this answer seems rather simple, but Torah is simple. We complicate things with our opinions, our preconceived ideas, our fear of man. I understand that many people are teaching that the tassels are a man’s garment, but it just isn’t in Scripture! Men and women are created equal, but with different roles. Women are not subservient to men, neither are they dominant over men. The ideal marriage consists of two equal partners working towards the common goal of serving and obeying YHVH and teaching their children to do the same.
I would highly recommend the two following books for more information.
Mama’s Torah
by Batya Wooten
Guardian Angel
by Skip Moen
I wear tzitziyot, my husband wears tzitziyot, and we are slowly working on getting all of our children tzitziyot to wear. Sometimes they have one pinned to their shirt and are so excited to have them. Obeying YHVH is a daily thing and we need all the help we can get. We are grateful for the down to earth, hands on, pictorial nature of Torah. It is so easy to illustrate to our children the commands of YHVH because they are so concrete.
I would encourage each of you to begin wearing tzitziyot if you aren’t already. If you do, how faithful are you at it? I forget sometimes, and I want to see my children wearing them. I need to do better. But tomorrow is fresh with no mistakes in it!
I am also pleased to offer you a teaching tool to help you make tzitziyot a part of your daily life. There are activity pages, a craft, verses, etc. to help you teach your children this wonderful command.
