We are sinful not merely because we
have eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, but also because we have not yet eaten of
the Tree of Life.” Franz
Kafka
Mitzvah lies at the core of
Judaism. Mitzvah is our attitude to
life; our interrelationship with all things animate and inanimate. I do not think there is any more oft misunderstood
concept than this.
Mitzvot are the hands of life. Mitzvah is the way the Jew reaches out into
the universe and understands it. There
are 613 different ways to express Mitzvah, each one a definite action. Some examples:
YWe
put on a Tallit, wrapping our torso in its fabric as we utter the blessing.
YNo
one needy must be passed without doing tzedaka.
Some need money.
Some need food. Many need a kind word.
YThe
food that we eat must be balanced so that meat and dairy are not
inadvertently
mixed. Meat is death. Milk is life.
They are not to be
consumed together.
YCandles
must be lit as the sun sets every Shabbas to bring light and deep
warmth into our home.
YThe
sick must be healed.
YSlaves
must be redeemed.
YJewish
homes must have mezuzahs on their door.
The list moves on.
Each mitzvah is a commandment to use our hands.
If Mitzvah represents our hands,
then learning is our heart. The two need
work in tandem with one another. When
our knowledge does not increase, our capacity to learn and retain knowledge
diminishes. The brain is a muscle that
needs a good workout often. Yet,
knowledge without action is like preparing a meal and never tasting it. That is why Mitzvah is such a critical
concept. Just as I opined that the brain
must be exercised, so too we expand our physical horizons with movement
forward. Is there anything worse than hearing the comment, “I’d never do
that?” Or, “that’s for fanatics?” Or, “I
tried that and it doesn’t work?” Without
expanding the movement of our hands (read: Mitzvah) we fall pray to atrophy of
action. We begin to make comments like
those.
With both the heart and hands
moving in unison, we fully grasp life.
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