The Concept of Mitzvot

What is Mitzvot? It's from the Hebrew, a tradition within Judaism that means to do good deeds. Along with it goes the idea of beautifying the Commandments, and the Word of God. By performing the mitzvot, the observant worshipper is in fact beautifying the Word, adding to Creation, and making life better for someone else, thereby making life better for all. Mitzvot is strongly rooted in 'doing justice.' This is a wonderful concept, something we all should study and act upon.

How does one do justice? First, identify the issue--ask, what is the injustice? Intuitively and instinctively most of us know the difference between right and wrong. Accordingly, it should be easy then to know when something is just plain wrong. Yet this is often hard. Why? Maybe we are co-opted by the injustice, perhaps we receive a benefit from it. Could this cause us to wear blinders at times? What else could explain the severe disparity between the haves and have-nots, between the northern hemisphere countries and the southern hemisphere countries? Why does nation war against nation? Why does starvation persist into the 21st century? Well, we identify the issue, name the injustice, and then pray for guidance as to how to approach the matter.

Then we discern--what is God calling us to do in this situation, in the face of this injustice? We publicize it, we organize around it, we take positive and constructive action. We do it out of love, and by acting in such a way, we have taken the concept of mitzvot and broadened it. We're not just doing good deeds and beautifying the Word of God, we're changing the world too! I believe this is what the Biblical narrative calls us to do. Good deeds on a small scale, or good deeds on the large scale, either way, it's for the common good. This is how people of faith live out their faith.