What is mitzvoth? Getting up off a chair and doing it, performing a sacred duty, doing what Torah wants you to do, there are mitzvoth responsibilities and not, what are the rules, what should I do, what is a mitzvah? Blowing a shofar is a mitzvah. Chanting Torah is a mitzvah, there are things to do and not to do. There are general rules and operating principles. We have 14 general rules. It is a mitzvah to listen to a Rabbi. How are we able to find out what G-d wants us to do. There are 613 mitzvoth that are possible to perform. G-d created the world and He created human beings in order to perform the 613 mitzvoth. This is our mission, this is our purpose in life as G-d created us to do. We have abilities: to see, to hear, to reason, we need to use our skills, to use our 248 limbs to do these mitzvoth. When we do a mitzvah we have brought holiness into this world. There are daily mitzvoth, annual mitzvoth, there are mitzvoth we can do all the time. This is the way to get up Jacob's Ladder, to do actions to glorify G-d. Put on tefillin, wear a tallit, when there is something we should not do, don't do it.
The mitzvah of blowing a shofar, a ram's horn, slick and shiny, firm in our grip and tight on our lips, a trumpet of nature, a call of the wild, curving and turning, spitting out a breath to ease out a strong sound, polishing it afterwards, covering it in a velvet casing. A beautiful bright blue velvet casing, soft to the touch, gentle and smooth, caressing it and carrying it, blown on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, a delight to the ears, a real mitzvah.
Wearing Tefillin, a mitzvah. Thick firm tough leather straps, polished shiny on one side, cut into straight straps firmly with one stroke of a knife, no jaggedness, dark brownish-black straps, dark leather boxes, holiness inside the box, script written of the Shema, centeredness, focused-ness, purposefulness, a leather box on your upper arm and on your forehead. Transmitters like electronic phones from Earth to the Heavens, to communicate with G-d.
Wearing Tallit, a mitzvah. Buying the perfect tallit or handcrafting it, finding the right colors: all white or white with blue stripes, swinging it over your shoulders from the right to the left, over the head, leaving it on your head for a moment to say the tallit blessing, covering your face and having privacy, kissing its neckline, just between you and G-d, safe and secure in this tent, and then swung over the neck and gently laid in place on your upper body. A tallit, a garment of gloriousness, a garment of prayer, a vestment of the Priests'. Tzitzit on its ends, dangling, dripping like honey from the cloth, the knots all counted and in place.
Mitzvoth are sacred actions to connect with G-d the Almighty.
The mitzvah of blowing a shofar, a ram's horn, slick and shiny, firm in our grip and tight on our lips, a trumpet of nature, a call of the wild, curving and turning, spitting out a breath to ease out a strong sound, polishing it afterwards, covering it in a velvet casing. A beautiful bright blue velvet casing, soft to the touch, gentle and smooth, caressing it and carrying it, blown on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, a delight to the ears, a real mitzvah.
Wearing Tefillin, a mitzvah. Thick firm tough leather straps, polished shiny on one side, cut into straight straps firmly with one stroke of a knife, no jaggedness, dark brownish-black straps, dark leather boxes, holiness inside the box, script written of the Shema, centeredness, focused-ness, purposefulness, a leather box on your upper arm and on your forehead. Transmitters like electronic phones from Earth to the Heavens, to communicate with G-d.
Wearing Tallit, a mitzvah. Buying the perfect tallit or handcrafting it, finding the right colors: all white or white with blue stripes, swinging it over your shoulders from the right to the left, over the head, leaving it on your head for a moment to say the tallit blessing, covering your face and having privacy, kissing its neckline, just between you and G-d, safe and secure in this tent, and then swung over the neck and gently laid in place on your upper body. A tallit, a garment of gloriousness, a garment of prayer, a vestment of the Priests'. Tzitzit on its ends, dangling, dripping like honey from the cloth, the knots all counted and in place.
Mitzvoth are sacred actions to connect with G-d the Almighty.
No comments:
Post a Comment