על כנפי בגדיהם לדרתם (שלח טו:לח)

They shall make tzitzis on the corners of their garments throughout their generations. 

An elderly Yid from Warsaw, around a hundred years old, was asked how he merited אריכת ימים – longevity.  He shared that when he was young, Poland started using trains for passengers to travel from one city to the next. A group of Yidden’s jobs was to lay down tracks on the Warsaw streets for the new trains to pass.

It was a hard task, especially during the scorching summer days when they would work exposed directly under the brutal sun’s rays for many hours.  The workers removed the outer layer of clothing and only wore their thin undershirts to protect their skin.

One day, the Chidushie Harim of Ger zt’’l passed the area where the workers placed down tracks.  He noticed that the Yidden were working without wearing tzitzis, and he said: “Tzitzes are a segulah for אריכת ימים – whoever wears tzitzis will merit to a long life!” The foreign workers ignored the tzaddik’s words, “But I,” said the elderly Yid, “took the tzaddik’s words very seriously and started wearing my tzitzis while working, and since then, I never removed my tzitzis, no matter the circumstances!” He concluded, “and this is my merit for long life!” 

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