Ask a few friends or
relatives what the word מצוה Mitzvah
means. I bet nine times out
of ten they will tell you it means a good
deed. They're not entirely wrong depending on
what language you're speaking. In Yiddish, a
Mitzvah is indeed a good deed as in
"Yesterday, I did a really good Mitzvah; I
visited my Aunt Minnie and took her out to
lunch" or "the Boy Scouts are committed to
doing a lot of Mitzvahs - good deeds." That's
if you're talking Yiddish.
If you're asking what is a מצוה Mitzvah
with a Hebrew accent, Mitzvah doesn't mean a
good deed. For example at the age of
thirteen, a young man becomes a Bar Mitzvah.
He doesn't become responsible for good deeds
any more than a young woman when she becomes
a Bat Mitzvah. Or we say that there are 613
מצות Mitzvot (plural of Mitzvah) in
the Torah and we don't mean over six hundred
good deeds. We mean there are 613
commandments in the Torah. A young man
becomes the son of the commandments and a
young woman the daughter of the
commandments. The Hebrew word מצוה
Mitzvah means a commandment. Whenever
we recite a blessing, we say
אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו asher kidshanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu
- who has made us holy by the Mitzvot
and has commanded us." as in to light the
Sabbath candles, to affix a Mezuzah on our
doorpost, to circumcise our sons on the
eighth day of their life, to recite Hallel
on holidays, to read the Megillah of Esther
on Purim.
Our Parsha this week is
called
צו
Tzav. The word Tzav is an
imperative. G-d spoke to Moses saying
Tzav - Command Aaron and his sons
saying..." You can hear the Tzav in
the word Mitzvah. In English we use the same
word, Command as an imperative or verb
and command as a noun.
How do we feel about
commandments? I think we feel a certain
discomfort with them. Do you remember ever
saying to your parents "It's a free
world'? In a free world, we don't want to
be told or commanded what to do and what not
to do. We want to make our
own decisions. It's bad enough we have to
have our tax returns returned by April 15
and we have to stop at a red light when
we're in a rush. We want to keep
commandments to a minimum and our freedom to
a maximum. We like being masters of our own
destiny.
With a choice between commandments in Hebrew
and good deeds in Yiddish, we'll go with the
good deeds every time. Good deeds are less
demanding!
We have another problem
with commandments. If there is a commandment
and I am commanded, then who is commanding
me? Who is the commander? The traditional
answer is of course G-d. G-d is commanding
us to observe Shabbat, study Torah, give
Tzedakah, fast on Yom Kippur, keep Kosher,
and read the Megillah on Purim. I have found
over the years a certain discomfort in the
contemporary mind with this traditional idea
of G-d commanding us to do this, that or the
other thing.
Judaism is more however
than a collection of Mitzvos -
those Yiddish good deeds. I personally do
feel commanded and bound by Mitzvot and I
think there is a way to harmonize the fact
that I live in a free world which values
individual autonomy and I feel a sense of
being commanded. I choose to be commanded. I
make the conscious choice to be permitted to
eat certain foods and feel commanded to
refrain from eating others. I choose to feel
commanded to perform certain acts to
celebrate Shabbat and avoid other acts to
keep it holy. I choose to feel an obligation
to study Torah, support Israel and fast on
Yom Kippur. Who is my commander? In ways I
feel it is G-d. I feel my commander is also
the generations of my people that have
preceded me over the ages. I somehow feel
their collective presence in my life and
their expectation of me to find my way to
keep alive what they have preserved for me
over the ages. The concept of Mitzvah -
commandment is a part of my spiritual
consciousness.
And as far as the Yiddish
Mitzvah - a good deed - don't sell
it short. One of the opening Mishnahs of
Pirkei Avot teaches "The world stands on
three pillars, Torah, service to G-d and
acts of loving kindness." Without those
Mitzvos, those good deeds, those acts
of
loving kindness, the world might not
survive. But what happens when we may not
feel like doing those acts of loving
kindness - performing good deeds. Then it is
good to feel commanded and obligated. The
Mitzvah, commandment has been the heart of
Judaism throughout the centuries. It would
do us well to find our way to relate and
integrate it into our lives today.
"And G-d spoke to Moses
saying Command Aaron and his sons...." It
is with these words we begin our Torah
reading this week and with these Mitzvot
that we can enrich our Jewish lives.
