Shalom, what is the word Mitzvah mean? If you ask many Jews, they will say it is a good deed. Well, technically, there are many Mitzvah that are good deeds, but the one word Mitzvah does not mean good deed, the word Mitzvah means commandment. It is not the ten good deeds that we are talking about in the 10 commandments, as 10 commandments. Suggesting that there is a commander, commanding, the commandeer used to do the commandments, and there are a hundreds of them.
The Orthodox believes there are 613, and every time they make a list, the Rabbis come up with 613. Problem is that the various Rabbis have various lists, so they are 613, although, many of them are retirement. Now, if that number seems to intimidating though, that seems the holy temple was destroyed 2000 years ago, and the fact that we, most Jews do not live in Israel today, there are only about 300 commandments that we actually have to consider ourselves with.
And, if you are a very good person in your mind by the Jewish laws between the human beings, you observe the Sabbath, the dietary rules and daily prayer in the holidays; we have most of them covered. Now, the commandments are divided basically into two categories, the Do Is and the Do Nots. A Do would be, love thy neighbor as thyself, or honor thy mother and father, and Do Not would be like, do not murder.
We are also divided into two different categories of between man and human being, and God, which is (foreign language). And, between the human being and its fellow (foreign language). So, commandments are, means vote, we vote at our commandments. Again, many are good deeds but that is not the definition of Mitzvah. It is a chose I obligated to follow the Mitzvah system that is the essence of Judaism.
I am worried about how we can best lived as way in this world, through the way articulated for us in the commandments.
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