Are Good Deeds A Mitzvah?
By Rabbi Falik Schtroks
Can you answer the following?
A mitzvah is:
a) What you do at a Bar/Bat Mitzva
b) A good deed
c) Doing something Jewish
d) None of the above
Answer: d) None of the above.
There are many good people in this world who do many good things. Of
these, only seven types of imperative behavior are considered a mitzvah for the
peoples of the world, and 613 unique imperatives are a mitzvah for the Jewish
people.
What, then, is a Mitzva?
Good deeds are not only good, without them civilization can not survive.
A mitzvah, however, is an action that connects us to the Almighty.
When one fulfils another's wishes, a sense of closeness is formed.
People form a bond with family and friends by doing what the other is interested
in. The Almighty would like us to bring holiness into the world. This is
accomplished by performing specific activities the Almighty invested with holiness,
listed as the mitzvot.
So, next time you perform a mitzvah such as giving tzedakah, studying
about your Jewishness, choosing kosher food, eating matzah at the seder, hearing
the shofar, affixing a mezzuzah on your doorpost, lighting Shabbat candles,
you are bringing G-d's holiness to the world and you are bonding with G-d
Himself, and G-d loves you for it.
Is Charity Jewish?
By Rabbi Falik Schtroks
Don't call me a heretic, but giving charity to the needy is not the
Jewish thing to do! When a person does more good than required he or she
is being charitable. (So says the dictionary.)
Being other-people conscious–and doing something about it–is part of the very makeup of the Jewish person. Part of the mission of the Jewish People to the world is to teach by example the imperative of community conscientiousness.
Giving of our money, time and energy to the benefit of those in need is not the charitable thing to do–it is simply the right thing to do.
"The right thing" translates into Hebrew as Tzedaka, which, as you now know, is insufficiently translated as "charity."
SHORT AND SWEET
By Rabbi Falik Schtroks
"If I Were a Rich Man I Would Have One Set of Stairs Going Up."
A group of boys challenged each other to climb to the top of a tall
ladder leaning against a roof.
Each of the boys attempted the climb, but soon,
overcome by the fear of heights, they came down. Little Menachem Mendel stood at
the end of the line.
He approached the ladder and climbed all the way to the
top. Menachem Mendel did not know that his grandfather, Rabbi Schneur
Zalman, had been watching the entire time.
"Tell me," the rabbi later asked his grandson, "How is it that you
succeeded in climbing the ladder when all the other boys failed?"
"The other boys," he responded, "all looked down to see how high they had
climbed, and when they thought they had gone too high, they got scared and
came down. I only looked up to see how far I had to go."
In 1828 our young hero became the most influential and revered rabbi in
Russia, Ukraine and beyond. He was known as the Tzemach Tzedek after the title
of his scholarly writings.
Rabbi Falik Schtroks
Center for Judaism
www.centerforjudaism.org
rabbi@centerforjudaism.org
2351 128 St.
Surrey, BC V4A 3W1
Canada
604-542-5454
Cel 604-729-4111
H 604-541-4111
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