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  • From: "Liz Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: mitzvot in Galatians?
  • Date: Sun, 9 Apr 2000 00:47:43 -0400


Dear All,
The word mitzvah (pl. mitzvot) does not mean "good deed."
It means "commandment." God commands (tsivah), the Jew is obligated to obey.
God is the commander, the Jew the commandee.
This relationship between God and the Jew did not change with the
destruction of the temple.
The temple's destruction changed the Jew's understanding of what God
commands. Prior to the destruction, the Jew understood God to
command temple sacrifice. After the destruction, the Jew understands
God not to desire sacrifice, but to desire deeds of loving-kindness,
righteousness, charity. Afterall, if God wanted sacrifice, he would not
have allowed his temple to be destroyed.
The Jew gives charity, not because it is a good deed, or will bring
God into the world, or because it is the right thing to do. The Jew
gives charity for one reason only: because he is commanded to. It is a
mitsvah, a commandment. The Jew gives charity for the same reason
he abstains from eating pork. He is not permitted to distinguish one
commandment from another, or to rank one above the other. Both
are commanded by God. The Jew is equally obligated by both.
Both are mitzvot.

Liz

Lisbeth S. Fried
Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies
New York University
51 Washington Sq. S.
New York, NY 10012

Visiting Scholar
University of Michigan
Department of Near Eastern Studies
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
lizfried AT umich.edu





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