We heard this true story from the brother of a young groom who went in to Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky last week to get a blessing before his wedding.
Rabbi Kanievsky raised his eyes in surprise to the groom and asked him, “Why aren’t you wearing tzitzit?”
The young man was perplexed. He was wearing tzitzit under her shirt. “Rabbi, I am wearing them,” he said gently, and again asked for a blessing.
Rabbi Kanievsky blessed him and returned to his studies.
But when the youth walked out, doubts began to assail him. He looked like and was a serious yeshiva student so how could the rabbi even think he wasn’t wearing tzitzit?
He looked for a quiet corner, sat down and began to pull out his tzitzit and begin to count the threads. He quickly realized the amazing truth: unknown to him, the threads of his tzitzit had torn off and were invalid.
Rabbi Kanievsky had been right: with his heightened spiritual sensitivity, he had sensed that the young man standing in front of him was lacking the spirituality that infuses a person when he fulfills the commandment of tzitzit!
