{"id":98742,"date":"2022-11-20T03:30:18","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T01:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/?p=98742"},"modified":"2022-11-20T03:30:18","modified_gmt":"2022-11-20T01:30:18","slug":"mitzvot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/mitzvot\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitzvot"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe orders of Hashem are upright, bringing joy to the heart; the command of Hashem is clear, enlightening the eyes\u201d <\/em><\/strong>(Tehillim<\/em> 19:9)<\/p>\n

The Maharal<\/em> (Tiferet Yisrael<\/em>, Introduction<\/em>) explains that the Torah guides a person along the proper path. With Torah, one walks securely, and does not grope in the dark. The pasuk (ibid. 11) states, \u201cThey (the mitzvot) are more desirable than gold, than even much fine gold.\u201d Each mitzvah contains two essential aspects:<\/p>\n

It is physically beneficial, as is self-understood. All the mitzvot help to perfect a person until he is complete. And it is intellectually effective. Man\u2019s intellect obligates him to do mitzvot. This is what is meant by the above pasuk. The deep, inner Divine meaning in mitzvot is what makes them so cherished, above gold. Precious metals are beautiful to the eye, whereas the mitzvot are beloved by the mind.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says (Midrash Tanchuma<\/em>, Parashat Vayigash<\/em>), \u201cHakadosh Baruch Hu told our nation: Honor the mitzvot, for they are My agents, and a person\u2019s agent is like the person himself. If you honor them, it is as if you honored Me, and if you scorn them, it is as if you scorned Me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou shall safeguard the matzot\u201d (Shemot<\/em> 12:17). Rabbi Yoshiyah states, \u201cDo not read matzot (\u05de\u05b7\u05e6\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea), but mitzvot (\u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea). Just as we are adjured to prevent the matzot from becoming sour, so are we adjured to do mitzvot before they spoil. One should hurry to do a mitzvah that comes his way (Mechilta<\/em>, Bo<\/em>, Parashah<\/em> 9).<\/p>\n

The Midrash (Sifri<\/em>, Va\u2019etchanan<\/em> 36) relates about a king who tells his wife, \u201cAdorn yourself with all of your jewelry so that you will find favor in my eyes.\u201d So does Hashem tell Am Yisrael, \u201cDecorate yourselves with mitzvot, so that you will be favorable to Me.\u201d This is borne out in the pasuk in Shir Hashirim (6:4), \u201cYou are beautiful, My love, when your deeds are pleasing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire word that I command you\u201d (Devarim<\/em> 13:1). The Midrash (Sifri<\/em>, Re\u2019eh<\/em> 62) says that an easy mitzvah should be as beloved to you as a difficult one.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya says (Avot<\/em> 6:11), \u201cHakadosh Baruch Hu wished to confer merit on Yisrael; therefore, He gave them Torah and mitzvot in abundance, as it says, \u201cHashem desired for the sake of its [Yisrael\u2019s] righteousness, that the Torah be made great and glorious.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Maharal asks (Tiferet Yisrael<\/em> 5) the following: If Hashem wanted to confer merit upon Bnei Yisrael, wouldn\u2019t it have made sense to decrease the amount of mitzvot given to them, thereby reducing their obligations and making it easier to earn Olam Haba<\/em>? Doesn\u2019t an increase in mitzvot pose a greater burden upon them?<\/p>\n

This question is not a question at all. Bnei Yisrael are inherently bound to Torah. Had they been given only a limited number of mitzvot, they would not earn as much merit as they do with the abundance of mitzvot that the Torah offers. Rabbi Chananya is saying that since Hashem wanted to grant Bnei Yisrael much merit, He offered them many mitzvot. Bnei Yisrael are inherently bound to the mitzvot, together with the reward they achieve by performing them. This is a wonderful merit for them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe orders of Hashem are upright, bringing joy to the heart; the command of Hashem is clear, enlightening the eyes\u201d (Tehillim 19:9) The Maharal (Tiferet Yisrael, Introduction) explains that the Torah guides a person along the proper path. With Torah, one walks securely, and does not grope in the dark. The pasuk (ibid. 11) states, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":27297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1086],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mitzvot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}