ספר: ויקרא
פרק: י"ט
פסוק: ל"ז
"ושמרתם את-כל-חקתי ואת-כל-משפטי ועשיתם אתם אני י-ה-ו-ה:"
"You shall faithfully observe all My laws and all My rules: I am the Lord."
Of all the מצוות, why did I choose this one? One so broad that almost anything could be said about it. Well, I believe I just answered my own question. And since we are able to use this מצוה to talk about anything, I would like to talk about how this affects Reform Judaism.
Reform Judaism is known for, (I guess for lack of a better word), reforming Judaism. But here lies a great problem. Reform Jews do still believe in the 613 commandments given to us (and accepted by us) from god; and how each one has something to learned from. But what happens when a Reform Jew comes across a פסוק in the תורה like the one stated above? Do they just read past it pretending it never happened?
This מצוה gives no room for choosing which מצוות one should do. It clearly states that we are supposed to do all of the commandments set forth by the Almighty. Yet, what do we see? We see Jews all around the world choosing which מצוות they want to do. Yes, it is understandable that we cannot perform the מצוה of sacrificing a lamb due to the destruction of the בית המקדש, but the ones which we can perform, well why do we not see Jews doing them?
I personally believe this מצוה is stating that one should- no, must- carry out the commandments given by god. And not just do them because he or she was told to by some all powerful being, however, do them out of faith. After all, you shall faithfully observe all his laws.
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| Calvin and Hobbes |
I chose the above photo because it tells us of some of the commandments we do telling us not do certain things. One example (which Calvin mentions in the above comic) is the מצוה of not killing another person. Another, fraud (embezzlement). And then he even mentions not stealing. Those are three מצוות he mentions in only one sentence!
Nice job, Max! The picture you hose is very thought provoking. The little boy is making an excuse for something he did wrong. He told his dad that at least he wasn't harming anyone or doing anything illegal. However, that ay be like saying that he may have broken one commandment, but at least he didn't kill anyone. The boy in this comic was doing something similar to what you said in your response. He is picking and choosing which commandments he wants to follow and which to skip over. This is an extremely appropriate picture for this law.
ReplyDeleteI found your post very thought provoking, Max. I, too, often wonder about the selectivity in the reform tradition when it comes to observance. At the same time, I do not think that every single person was made to fulfill all mitzvot. I think that so many were given to us so that we are always striving to be better people. Now, our societies impress more commandments upon us, and we are challenged to do the right thing in different ways. As the world changed, many mitzvot became obsolete. I interpret this pasuk as a challenge to be the best people we can be, not as a literal commandment to find time for each of the 613.
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