The 613th issue of Sh’ma: Mitzvot
Conscience or Commandment?
Leonard Fein
What does “commandment” mean in the absence of belief in a “commander”?
Religious Law: A Partnership Between God and the People
Adam Mintz
A primary purpose of mitzvot is to ground Judaism in reality and to ensure that the Jew recognizes that the strength of the religion lies in its everyday practice.
On the Return Path: A Kavanah and Blessing Before Taking on a New Mitzvah
Lori Lefkovitz
A Kavanah and Blessing before taking on a New Mitzvah
Mitzvah Definitions
Jack Bloom Mitzvah Definitions
Rabbi Jack Bloom shares a list of definitions he assembled from colleagues for the word “mitzvah.”
Out of Poverty
Daniel Sokatch
David K. Shipler, The Working Poor: Invisible in America
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004) $25, 319 pp.
By the time you read this, almost 4,000 low-wage luxury hotel workers in Los Angeles will likely be engaged in a fight for their economic lives. After months of fruitless union contract negotiations, the hotels have declared an [...]
If There’s Flour, Is There Torah?
Susan Fendrick
In 1962, my family nearly left the Jewish community. A booklet was distributed to all of the contributors to the local Allied Jewish Appeal campaign, listing the exact amount of each person’s contribution. There at the very end was the name of our struggling Jewish milkman, and the amount he had given: $1.
My parents [...]
Discussion Guide – Mitzvot
1. How does our observance of mitzvot relate to our relationship with God? Are we covenantal partners with God in the transmission of mitzvot?
2. How do we approach a mitzvah that unsettles our Jewish sensibility?
3. How does Jewish law broaden the scope of personal responsibility?
4. What is the interplay between ethical behavior and the observance of mitzvot? Has the category of ethical ideal lost its power to obligate?
