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Share(כד) וַיְצַוֵּ֣נוּ יקוק לַעֲשׂוֹת֙ אֶת־כָּל־הַחֻקִּ֣ים הָאֵ֔לֶּה לְיִרְאָ֖ה אֶת־יקוק אֱלֹקֵ֑ינוּ לְט֥וֹב לָ֙נוּ֙ כָּל־הַיָּמִ֔ים לְחַיֹּתֵ֖נוּ כְּהַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּֽה׃
(24) Then the LORD commanded us to observe all these laws, to revere the LORD our God, for our lasting good and for our survival, as is now the case.
מה אכפת להקדוש ברוך הוא שיאכלו ישראל בלא שחיטה שיהא ישראל נוחר ואוכל ושוחט מן הצואר מן הירך תדע שלא נצטוה השחיטה הזו אלא כדי לצרף את ישראל.
Midrash Tanchuma, Parshat Shemini 7
What does God care whether Jews eat meat that has not been ritually slaughtered or whether they tear it apart and eat it, whether they slaughter from the neck or from the thigh?
Know that God only commanded this method of slaughter in order to refine the Jewish people.
Talmud, Avodah Zara 3a:
Rav Chanina said: Greater is one who is commanded and performs than one who is not commanded and performs.
Rav Chanina said: Greater is one who is commanded and performs than one who is not commanded and performs.
גדול המצווה ועושה - פי‘ מפני שהוא דואג תמיד לבטל יצרו ולקיים מצות בוראו.
Tosafot, Ibid
Greater is one who is commanded and performs… The explanation is that someone who is commanded must constantly struggle to overcome his own desires to fulfill the commandments of his Creator.
The Romeo and Juliet effect is a result of parental opposition to a relationship, characterised by an intensificaton of the romantic feelings of those in the relationship.
Rabbi Akiva Tatz, The Thinking Jewish Guide to Life, pg. 105 –
Responding to a command requires overcoming one’s ego.
When you are commanded to act, you are immediately confronted by resistance – your lower self steps in and says, “Don’t tell me what to do!” The ego, the “I,” that deep root of the personality wishes to assert itself, refuses to be subdued. Therefore, in order to fulfill a command you must overcome this inner resistance, and in doing so lies the secret of inner growth – self-control is at the heart of all personal growth. However, when you act spontaneously there is no resistance to overcome and the
action is easy; it is not intrinsically an exercise in self-control and therefore has relatively little growth potential.
Responding to a command requires overcoming one’s ego.
When you are commanded to act, you are immediately confronted by resistance – your lower self steps in and says, “Don’t tell me what to do!” The ego, the “I,” that deep root of the personality wishes to assert itself, refuses to be subdued. Therefore, in order to fulfill a command you must overcome this inner resistance, and in doing so lies the secret of inner growth – self-control is at the heart of all personal growth. However, when you act spontaneously there is no resistance to overcome and the
action is easy; it is not intrinsically an exercise in self-control and therefore has relatively little growth potential.
Rabbi Aaron Moss, “Why is Jewish Law so Petty Minded?” from www.Chabad.org –
Just as details are crucial in the physical world, so too in the spiritual world.
Question: Why does the Jewish religion seem to obsess over insignificant details? How much matzah do we have to eat, which spoon did I use for milk and which for meat, what is the right way to tie my shoelaces? It seems to me that this misses the bigger picture by focusing on minutiae. Is this nitpicking what Jews call spirituality? (I actually already sent you this question over a week ago and didn’t receive a reply. Could it be that you have finally been asked a question that you can’t answer?!)
Answer: I never claimed to have all the answers. There are many questions that are beyond me. But it happens to be that I did answer your question, and you did get the answer. I sent a reply immediately. The fact that you didn’t receive it is itself the answer to your question. You see, I sent you a reply, but I wrote your email address leaving out the “dot” before the “com.” I figured that you should still receive the email, because after all, it is only one little dot missing. I mean come on, it’s not as if I wrote the wrong name or something drastic like that! Would anyone be so nitpicky as to differentiate between “yahoocom” and “yahoo.com?” Isn’t it a bit ridiculous that you didn’t get my email just because of a little dot? No, it’s not ridiculous. Because the dot is not just a dot. It represents something. That dot has meaning far beyond the pixels on the screen that form it. To me it may seem insignificant, but that is simply due to my ignorance of the ways of the internet. All I know is that with the dot, the message gets to the right destination; without it, the message is lost to oblivion. Jewish practices have infinite depth. Each nuance and detail contains a world of symbolism. And every dot counts. When they are performed with precision, a spiritual vibration is emailed throughout the universe, all the way to God’s inbox.
If you want to understand the symbolism of the dot, study I.T. If you want to understand the symbolism of Judaism, study it.
Just as details are crucial in the physical world, so too in the spiritual world.
Question: Why does the Jewish religion seem to obsess over insignificant details? How much matzah do we have to eat, which spoon did I use for milk and which for meat, what is the right way to tie my shoelaces? It seems to me that this misses the bigger picture by focusing on minutiae. Is this nitpicking what Jews call spirituality? (I actually already sent you this question over a week ago and didn’t receive a reply. Could it be that you have finally been asked a question that you can’t answer?!)
Answer: I never claimed to have all the answers. There are many questions that are beyond me. But it happens to be that I did answer your question, and you did get the answer. I sent a reply immediately. The fact that you didn’t receive it is itself the answer to your question. You see, I sent you a reply, but I wrote your email address leaving out the “dot” before the “com.” I figured that you should still receive the email, because after all, it is only one little dot missing. I mean come on, it’s not as if I wrote the wrong name or something drastic like that! Would anyone be so nitpicky as to differentiate between “yahoocom” and “yahoo.com?” Isn’t it a bit ridiculous that you didn’t get my email just because of a little dot? No, it’s not ridiculous. Because the dot is not just a dot. It represents something. That dot has meaning far beyond the pixels on the screen that form it. To me it may seem insignificant, but that is simply due to my ignorance of the ways of the internet. All I know is that with the dot, the message gets to the right destination; without it, the message is lost to oblivion. Jewish practices have infinite depth. Each nuance and detail contains a world of symbolism. And every dot counts. When they are performed with precision, a spiritual vibration is emailed throughout the universe, all the way to God’s inbox.
If you want to understand the symbolism of the dot, study I.T. If you want to understand the symbolism of Judaism, study it.
Perhaps the most direct way to connect to God is to perform a mitzvah – give tzedakah, visit someone who is sick, say Shema, mark the Sabbath. The word “mitzvah” comes from the word “tzavta” which means attachment. When we do a mitzvah, a commandment, we are performing with mind, body and soul ratzon Hashem, God’s will, thereby becoming like God and growing closer to Him. Since God is not physical, closeness is measured spiritually. The more we resemble Him by aligning our will to His will, the closer we become to Him.
aish.com
aish.com
The same is also true regarding doing mitzvot. Rather than viewing them simply as good acts that we do, we should always be recalling to ourselves the way in which G-d Himself is “present” in the mitzvot and how doing them connects us to Him.
During prayer, one must really internalize the fact that G-d is right there, and we are engaged with Him in a personal, face-to-face conversation. In wearing tefillin we are literally binding ourselves in betrothal to Him. By keeping kosher we are ingesting the physical and spiritual fiber which vitalizes us with the sanctity of G-d and which becomes incorporated within us. By keeping Shabbat we enter the glowing abode of G-d and serenely share this time with Him in intimacy. The list goes on and on…
Rabbi Yirmiyahu Ullman - ohr sameach
During prayer, one must really internalize the fact that G-d is right there, and we are engaged with Him in a personal, face-to-face conversation. In wearing tefillin we are literally binding ourselves in betrothal to Him. By keeping kosher we are ingesting the physical and spiritual fiber which vitalizes us with the sanctity of G-d and which becomes incorporated within us. By keeping Shabbat we enter the glowing abode of G-d and serenely share this time with Him in intimacy. The list goes on and on…
Rabbi Yirmiyahu Ullman - ohr sameach