ציצית ד

Based on the tremendously awesome Ma'aseh of the Seven Beggars printed in Sipuray Ma'asiyos — see there on page 96 — regarding the first beggar, who was blind, who came to the groom and bride at the wedding after the chuppah and told them he was giving them a gift for the derashah: that they should be as old as he. "You shall live long lives like mine. You think I am blind — in truth I am not blind at all, only that the entire world does not amount in my eyes to even the blink of an eye. For I am exceedingly old, yet I am still completely yanak [young] and have not yet begun to live at all. Nevertheless, I am exceedingly old." He has an endorsement of this from the Great Eagle. See there all this very well. 3

Let us return to our subject. It is explained there that they said each one should tell an old story — what he remembers from his earliest memory. The first elder among them told that he remembers when they cut the apple from the branch — when they cut his umbilical cord. The second told that he remembers when the candle was burning — what happened during gestation when the candle burned above his head. The third told that he remembers when the body began to be formed. The fourth told that he remembers when they carried the seed to plant the fruit — when the drop was drawn during the union. The fifth told that he remembers the sages who devised the seed — when it was still in the father's brain. The sixth, seventh, and eighth remembered the appearance, the taste, and the fragrance before they were drawn upon the fruit — the aspects of Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshamah. And the infant — the Blind Beggar himself, who tells all this — said he remembers nothing at all, for he is above all of them, remembering even what precedes Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshamah — the aspect of Ayin [Nothingness]. See there all this well. If you wish to gaze with the eye of truth, you will see from afar wonders of Hashem, the like of which has never been heard or seen since the days of the world. 9

This is the aspect of Tefillin. For Tefillin are the aspect of Zikaron [memory/remembrance], as it says: "Ul'zikaron bein einecha" — "And for a remembrance between your eyes" (Shemos 13:9). "Between your eyes" specifically — for the essential Zikaron depends on rectification of the eyes, as understood from the story. This blind one, who was completely blind to the vision of this world, having no interest in gazing at this world at all — until he merited that the entire world did not amount in his eyes to even the blink of an eye — this being the essential rectification of the eyes — he merited the ultimate perfection of memory with no perfection after it. For this blind one remembered more than all of them. Thus the essential Zikaron depends on the eyes. This is also explained in the Torah "Vay'hi mikeitz — Zikaron" (LM I:54), where the essential memory depends on the eyes — and that verse is cited there: "Ul'zikaron bein einecha." 10