Mitzvah Therapy
Each Mitzvah has infinite value and power. A Mitzvah is enhanced by the quality of the act. Yet, the quantity of Mitzvah performances is even more significant.
Twelve Percent
One of the salient features of this week’s Torah portion of Ki Seitzei is that it contains 74 Mitzvos (Commandments), about twelve percent of the total 613 Mitzvos. This is more than any of the other fifty-two Torah portions. The sheer quantity of Mitzvos that we read about is indicative of the need to fortify ourselves with the benefits that accrue from Mitzvah observance.
In truth, even one Mitzvah has importance, and its power cannot be overestimated. The Talmud states—and Maimonides codifies this in his world of Jewish law—that even one Mitzvah can upset the balance between good and evil in favor of the good. This lone Mitzvah—any Mitzvah—can tip the scales in favor of saving the person who performs the Mitzvah and it can also save the entire world from calamity.
This, the Talmud, bases on the need for everyone to imagine that the good and evil in this world are evenly balanced. Thus, even what appears to be one “feather” of a Mitzvah (in Talmudic parlance “a light Mitzvah”) is capable of saving the world.
Nevertheless, this week’s Parsha introduces us to the notion of not being satisfied with the quality of the Mitzvos we perform. We must also become Mitzvah collectors; amassing as many Mitzvos in as short a time possible. Quantity is also quality.
We can now appreciate the name of this week’s parsha “Ki Seitzei, which translates as: “If you will go out.” The context here is going out to war against our enemies.
The fact that the parsha with the most Mitzvos is about fighting against our enemies indicates that Mitzvah power is the most effective weapon against the spiritual obstacles that lie in our path. In the literal sense the parsha deals with an external enemy. However, it can also be interpreted as an internal force with which we struggle to maintain our moral and spiritual equilibrium. In this battle for the supremacy of good over evil the quantity of our Mitzvos assumes greater importance.
It is interesting that the name of our parsha does not include the word war or enemy. It just refers to the idea of “going out.” Whenever we go out of our spiritual comfort zone we are vulnerable. And as long as we increase the number of Mitzvos we are protected.
Stock-Taking
It is no therefore no coincidence that this Mitzvah laden section of the Torah—with its implied message of emphasizing quantity and not just quality in the performance of Mitzvos—is read in the month of Elul. Elul actually has a dual function. It is the month of stock taking and introspection for the past year, as well as the month of preparation for the future year.
The first and most obvious lesson we can learn from the occurrence of Ki Seitzei in the month of Elul, is that Mitzvos too possess the dual feature that parallels Elul. The way we rectify the shortcomings of the past year is through Mitzvos, and the way we prepare for a new year is also through Mitzvos.
On one hand a Mitzvah, our sages teach us, refines and purifies the one who performs it. Every time we perform a G-d given commandment we dig through the layers of imperfection that do not allow us to express the pure Divine energy of our souls.
To be sure, Mitzvah performance without some measure of sincere reflection falls short of the demands of Elul. During this auspicious month we must devote time to do some honest soul searching and return to G-d in our hearts.
There is also no question that in the month of Elul, we must devote more time to prayer. The only way, however, that our efforts at purifying ourselves can be successful is when we employ the right instruments to “bore” beneath the surface of our hardened hearts. The Mitzvos are these instruments.
Paving the Way for a Better Year
Now, insofar as the preparation for the future is concerned, Mitzvos pave the way for a new and better year. The word Mitzvah, in addition to its basic meaning— “commandment”—also means to connect with G-d, the Source of the commandment.
If Rosh Hashanah is about making new connections, the means to accomplish this must be through the Mitzvos; the G-d given, and thus, the only real way of making those connections.
To be sure, we usher in a new year by making resolutions, and by expressing our innermost emotions of dedication to G-d.
Moreover, on Rosh Hashanah we “coronate” G-d as our King, by submitting ourselves to Him and accepting His sovereignty. But, in order to make the commitment solid and enduring, we must prepare ourselves by doing Mitzvos, and particularly the Mitzvah of Tzedakah. The Mitzvah creates an enduring connection between ourselves—finite human beings—and the Infinite Creator.
The End of the Torah
This week’s parsha appears near the conclusion of the Five Books of Moses. It is part of Moses’ last address to the Jewish people before his passing and their entry into the Promised Land. As the end of the Torah, this parsha can also be understood as the inspiration for us in these last moments of our existence in exile and the preparation for our entry into the Promised Land—the Messianic Age.
We are presently living in historic times. By all accounts, all of the Biblical and Talmudic predictions for the Messianic Age have come to fruition. The only thing missing is the actual Redemption. The Rebbe informed us that we are now standing on the very threshold of the Age of Redemption. We are at the end of the journey that took us through thousands of years of travail and sacrifice and are ready to begin the new age of peace and tranquility.
Our historic locus parallels the location of the parsha, which is in close proximity to the Torah’s conclusion. There the Torah describes the Jewish people standing on the threshold of their entry into the Land of Israel. In terms of the annual cycle we are also in the month of Elul, which is the threshold of the New Year. We are in a threefold “end” process: The end of the Torah, the end of the year and the end of exile.
And the analogy of Elul to the Messianic Age can be extended further. Just as Elul serves a dual function; of rectifying the past as well as preparing for the future, similarly, the threshold of the Age of Redemption serves a dual purpose:
We now have the capacity to alter the past and to bring the world to a state of refinement. Whatever was missed by our forebears can now be rectified. We have the power through our Mitzvos and unique challenges to not only make the world today a better world, but in the process, we can help to redeem and elevate the past as well.
Simultaneously, we are now in the unique position of being able to prepare ourselves and the entire world for the Redemption.
And as it is true that both objectives of the month of Elul—rectification of the past year and preparation for the future year—can and must be achieved by way of the Mitzvos, which singularly refine the world, even as they pave the way for the future, similarly, the way to achieve the dual function of bringing Redemption to the past and preparing ourselves for a glorious future is through “obsessively” engaging in Mitzvah actions. This obsession translates in the quantity of Mitzvos and not just their quality.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Ki Seitzei by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
