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** The Mitzvah Project ** The main purpose of The Mitzvah Project is to promote and establish World Peace now and forever. We have a number of goals that we want to accomplish, and we ask that you participate with us. The Mitzvah Project is designed to answer questions and stimulate positive thoughts and actions about what God expects and wants from us. We sincerely believe that we can solve the world’s problems if we clarify them first, ask for God’s help, and then do what the Bible teaches us to do. We ask you to help us to fulfill God’s plan for Creation by observing His mitzvahs correctly, with the proper intention. We ask that all human beings show tolerance, kindness, love, and understanding toward one another. We are working diligently to rectify the sins that have taken place in history beginning with Adam and Eve. The Mitzvah Project does not claim to be the final word regarding the laws and explanations of the Bible, and nothing can take the place of reading it for yourself. This is only one way for learning to take place, and it is meant to serve as a catalyst for further discussion and study. We openly acknowledge that there are many opinions regarding how the Bible is interpreted, and we ask that you keep an open mind. The Mitzvah Project touches on issues that are critical to our survival as a human race. We ask that you communicate with us and others honestly, carefully, and with respect. We must all work together, in the spirit of the great fundamental principle and Golden Rule to "Love your fellow as yourself", or "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Thank you in advance for taking the time to read about The Mitzvah Project. We will do our best to carefully explain what a mitzvah is, and what it should mean to you. Mitzvah’s are for everyone, so do as many as you can! You will see that the majority of the mitzvahs are things that we are to stay away from. We will make the world a better place for ourselves, our families, our friends, and for all the righteous people of the world. Studying the Oral and Written Torahs are the fundamental building blocks for learning about God. "The Midrash Says" series of books from Bnay Yacov Publications are absolutely essential for getting the real explanation and meaning of the Torah. They also have a series for children called "The Little Midrash Says". All the real "meat" of the Bible are found in these books. If you want to know what really happened to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Abraham, Sarah and their family after them, Moses and the Children of Israel, and the other great figures in the Bible, you should read these books. Please see our recommended reading list, as there other fine Midrash books as well. We recommend the ArtScroll series of prayer books and the Stone Edition Chumash. A chumash contains the Written Torah and HafTorahs with their respective commentaries. Of course you should also use the chumash and prayer books in whatever synagogue you attend if you go to one. The Mitzvah Project is meant for beginners and Torah scholars alike. We have purposely used a large type style for those of you who have trouble seeing small print. We cannot teach you the entire Bible here on this web site. We can help you get started on the proper and correct path of being a good person, and making the world a better place for yourself, your family, and the rest of the human race. Please purchase the books if you can, or perhaps you can check them out of the library or possibly borrow them. Please read the information we have placed in each section carefully, and review it from time to time. Reading the section about The 613 Mitzvot only once is not really enough. Please do your best to observe the mitzvahs, as the choice between blessing and curse is up to you. Keep in mind at all times that our actions speak much louder than our words. Learning and studying are great, however performance is what is really necessary in order to achieve a goal in life. We cannot sit back and think that other people will handle the negative situations that are happening in the world for us. Silence is not golden when there are things that must be done, and now is the time. The great Rabbi Hillel is quoted in the Pirkei Avot or Pirke Avos (The Ethics or Wisdom of the Fathers) as saying: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?". The following quote is found in the Midrash and other sources, and is often written incorrectly. While we will not copy our sources exactly, the correct explanation is basically in the following paragraphs. A non-Jewish person once appeared before the Great Rabbi and Sage Shammai and asked him, "Convert me to Judaism on the condition that I be taught the entire Torah while standing on one foot!" Shammai regarded his words as a denigration of the Torah, because it is basically impossible to completely understand all the aspects of the Written and Oral Torahs in an entire lifetime, and certainly not while standing on one foot. He therefore chased the man out of the Bais Hamidrash (House of Study) with the yardstick he held in his hand. The man then went to the Bais Hamidrash of Rabbi Hillel and made the same request. Hillel accepted him as a convert and said to him, "Now listen very carefully - this is the Torah in a nutshell: WHATEVER IS HATEFUL TO YOU, DON'T DO TO ANOTHER! All the rest of the Torah explains this principle. Now go and study the implications and ramifications of this principle!" Hillel only mentioned the negative aspect of it because he was afraid that a novice to Judaism might find it too hard to take it upon himself immediately. Rabbi Akiva is actually the one who taught that the basic fundamental law and mitzvah of the Torah is to "Love your fellow as yourself." We see from this mitzvah (Found in Leviticus 19:18) that as a result of following it properly we fulfill most of the other commandments as well. A person who truly loves his fellow human being will not commit a sin against HaShem either. According to Ramban, the Torah does not demand that a person love another with the same feelings of love that they have for themselves. This would be an impossible requirement. The mitzvah actually requires us to act toward others as we would or should act towards ourselves. We should help others personally or financially in time of need, do them favors, give them good advice, treat them and their property respectfully, and participate in their happiness and grief. We must not cheat or take advantage of another. We must not pain them verbally or spread evil reports about them. We must speak positively and respectfully of others. We must not envy others, and we should share in their happiness and good fortune as if it were our own. In order to fulfill this mitzvah properly, and with the proper intent, we should remove from our hearts all the barriers of jealousy and hate against others. The more of our time, efforts, talents, and money we invest in promoting the well being of others, the more we will come to like them. This mitzvah also teaches every husband and wife to love each other as themselves, as well as their children and relatives, and to treat each other with respect and dignity. Ramban is an acronym for Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman or "Nachmanides", who lived in Gerona, Spain between 1194 and 1270 CE. The verse in the Torah to love your fellow is followed by the words, "I am HaShem". There is a saying in the Minchas Chinuch, "May we be among those who love HaShem and our fellow Jews, for in truth, the two are one - The Almighty and the Children of Israel belong together; therefore by loving them, we love Him." We must realize that even our "private sins" hurt not only ourselves but all of the Jewish People, and subsequently the rest of the world as well. For this reason we are also forbidden to speak harshly about Israel as a whole. While we know that some people in Israel are unkind and rude, we cannot say that everyone there is like that. Moses and other great people were harshly punished by God for slandering the Children of Israel. While we are all God's children, and He loves us all, HaShem has a special love for the descendants of Jacob. For those of you who don't remember or who never learned, God made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give them the Land of Canaan. God later gave Jacob the additional name of Israel, after he wrestled with an angel and won. There are many commentaries regarding which angel this was, however most agree that this was an evil angel, probably Satan himself. The main thing is that Jacob won the battle, however we still have to struggle against evil every day. The Midrash explains that everyday life is like a battlefield, and we must wage war against our own evil inclination or "yaitzer hara" in Hebrew, at all times. The Chofetz Chaim was a Great Rabbi who lived between 1838 and 1933. His name is taken from one of his works about the Torah, and he was known as a very saintly and kind man. His real name was Rabbi Yisrael Meir HaKohen, and he was a Jewish Priest from the town of Radin. He used to say, "The evil inclination doesn't mind if a Jew fasts, prays, and gives charity all day long - provided he doesn't study Torah." The name Israel has many meanings, and this name is explained in many ways. Besides the obvious explanation of "He who wrestled with an angel", the word "Yisra" in Hebrew means "to prevail", and in this sense the word "El" means "the Divine", meaning over the angel. The name Israel can also mean "The Head of God" or "A Champion for God". This is taken from the Hebrew word "Rosh" meaning "head", and "El" meaning God. The Y in the words Yisrael and Yaacov refer to the first letter of The Four-Letter Name of God in Hebrew which is YHVH. Please see the section regarding The Names of God for a greater understanding of this. The word "Saroos" in Hebrew also denotes superiority, because Jacob prevailed and was superior to the angel. The commentaries are in the Midrash and Chumash, or you may want to check with your local Rabbi. The name Israel has many meanings, and you should investigate this for yourselves. Studying the Torah and the rest of the Bible is a great mitzvah, and one that you can do easily. You should read at least a few verses every day. The Mitzvah Project does not expect that you become completely observant of The 613 Mitzvot all at once. This would be quite a feat. However we do feel it is within everyone's ability to spend at least 15 minutes a day learning, praying, observing mitzvahs, and thanking God for all the wonderful blessings He has bestowed upon us. Since there are 24 hours in a day, this is only about 1% of our daily routine. Of course this is just a beginning. The Torah will draw you in once you begin to read it. Don't become discouraged if you can't understand certain concepts right away. In order to learn you must ask questions, and that is what we and the other sources of information are here for. We must caution you at this point that there are people who think they understand the Torah, and they can teach you the wrong things. It is absolutely forbidden to teach something that is incorrect. Be very careful about listening to others who think they know the truth, and in reality are far from it. For this reason we ask newcomers to share information carefully with others. It is important to check things out for yourself. Please do your best to teach other people carefully, so that they can understand things properly. You can check out our recommended reading list, and buy or borrow accurate books. There are many Rabbi's and great scholars who don't believe that the Written Torah was dictated by God to Moses, and that he subsequently wrote in down on parchment. Some say that the Written Torah (The first five books of the Bible) were written by Ezra and Nechemiah many centuries later than Moses, after the Jews returned from their exile in Babylon. We don't agree with this, and we cannot find any reference to this in the Bible at all. The Oral Torah was also given to Moses and the Children of Israel during their wanderings in the desert over approximately a forty year period. The Oral Torah was not meant to be written down, and was taught orally. The Written Torah really can't be understood properly without this. Originally the people did keep written notes and some of the explanations on paper, then as the Jewish People began to be dispersed it was formally written down. It was written down by such great leaders as Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi (Judah the Prince) in what is known as the Mishnah in 190 CE. "Mishnah" in Hebrew means "explanation", and the details of the Written Law are found in this book. The Mishnah was later explained in even further detail in what is known as the Gemara or "Talmud". This was written by the great Sages including Rabbi Yochanan in the Jerusalem Talmud around 200 CE, and Rav Ashi and Ravina in the Babylonian Talmud around 500 CE. The books are extremely complicated, and generally only studied in yeshivas (Jewish schools) by dedicated students who spend all day and night with very learned Rabbi's and Torah scholars. Some of the commentaries conflict with each other, and of course sometimes there is more than one answer regarding certain situations. We recommend the Midrash books because they contain much of the Talmud in easy to read and understand explanations and stories. The Talmud contains more of the "Midrash Halachah" or legal teachings, and the Midrash contains more of the "Midrash Aggadah" or ethical teachings. We don't want to cause a problem with those Rabbi's and teachers who deny that the Oral Law as well as the Written Law was given to Moses. We simply don't agree, and we would like to see where they get their information from so that we can check it out for ourselves. You should do the same. We want World Peace, and we want it NOW! The main reason The Mitzvah Project exists is because while some people disagree about how the Written and Oral Torahs came into our possession, everyone who is knowledgeable about it agrees that there are 613 Mitzvot. This is why we have concentrated our efforts on this aspect of the Bible. Naturally not everyone agrees on which ones should be included in the count, however the differences are very slight. Everyone agrees there are 613 of them, and this is why we have started here. You surely have heard the joke about how difficult it is to get Jewish people to agree on anything. While we find this to be distressing, we do feel that plenty of good Jewish humor is important in life. Jewish people can be very funny and entertaining when they want to be. We want learning the Bible and observing mitzvahs to be fun. We ask you to pitch in and make the world a better place for everyone. The Pirkei Avot (Wisdom of the Fathers) explains that the world rests on three indispensable pillars. Abraham represents the first pillar which is kindness. The Hebrew word is "Chesed", which also represents love and grace. Abraham was always looking to be a good host and was always kind to strangers who needed food and shelter. We all can do more in this regard. Isaac represents the Temple Services and strengthening our faith and trust in God. The Hebrew word is "Gevurah", and this also means power, judgement, and justice. Isaac was placed upon the Altar on Mount Moriah, and in place of the offerings that were brought to HaShem we now use the power of prayer. Jacob represents Torah, the third pillar of the world. The name Jacob represents the physical world we live in, and the need to actively perform mitzvahs. The name Jacob generally represents "Emes" or "Emet", which in Hebrew means truth. We need to always seek out and speak the truth, however we must be careful not to speak lashon hara or hurt another's feelings. The name Israel represents the spiritual side of Jacob, and is referred to as "Tiferes" or "Tiferet". This Hebrew word represents beauty, and is also used together with the word "Rachaman" or "Rachamim" which means compassion, harmony, and HaShem. The Torah and the 613 Commandments contained in it is crucial for Israel's success in carrying out its mission of teaching all the nations about HaShem, and establishing World Peace. Jacob represents following the Torah, and without it Israel (God forbid) will fail. According to the ArtScroll Stone Edition Chumash, as well as other sources, history bears this out all too tragically. No matter where in the world Jews invest in synagogues and charities, but not in institutions of Torah study, they assimilated and nearly disappeared. Only when and where Jews remain loyal to the Torah, mitzvahs, and the legacy of Jacob/Israel do they remain strong. It is all very simple, do the right things and we get the blessings. Do the wrong things and disaster strikes. This is fundamental in life, we must put forth effort and improve the world for ourselves, for our children and families, and ultimately for each other. Please tell your family and friends about us. We want peace to be a reality and not just a dream. Everyone who participates in The Mitzvah Project is a big winner. There are not any losers here. Please visit our web site often, and we will do our best to keep you informed about new developments and activities in the wonderful world of mitzvahs. Please see our other sections, and our recommended reading list of books and other web sites for you to learn from. We will leave you with the expression "Baruch HaShem", which in Hebrew means "Bless The Name", "Bless God", or "Thank God". Please use the expression often, as we have much to be thankful for. We know you will enjoy observing the mitzvahs, and the wonderful feeling you will get from knowing you are fulfilling God's Will. Our "connection" to God and to each other is our greatest asset, let's use it wisely. Shalom (Peace) to you and yours, now and forever.
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Send mail to Jay@TheMitzvahProject.org with questions or comments about this web site.
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