NUM201 Because this commandment reminds us to practice all the others, the Talmud thought that "the observance of this mitzvah (tzitzit) is equivalent to the observance of all the commandments combined" (Menachot 43b). However, we should note that the Rabbis mandated the observance of tzitzit as required only for Jewish men; it seems odd, therefore, that the commandment that "is equivalent to the observance of all the commandments combined" applies to only half of the Jewish people.