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The Zohar does give a bit of a liberal
interpretation of uh of what a mitzvah
is. The Zohar calls the mitzvot a bunch
of advice.
Aitzot, advice. I think that would go
better in today's,
you know, mindset terminology where, you
know, you no one should tell me what to
do, not even Hashem, which is very
ridiculous. I don't don't think I
support such an ideology. But on some
level, the mitzvot are also advice.
Advice. Hashem's giving us great advice.
Who better than Hashem that created us
and the world knows how we should
navigate through the difficulties of
life. So, on some level, the mitzvot are
advice, but that doesn't mean they're
not commandments. They're both. They're
commandments and they're advice.
Think we could appreciate it like this.
The more mature we are, the more we
understand,
and the more responsible we can be, so
then we could look deeper into the
mitzvah as obviously sensible and great
advice how to navigate through what
we're trying to accomplish ourselves.
But when you educate a child, so you're
you have to use a language that's
suitable to the child. The child lacks
an an a sophisticated intellectual
process and ability to understand the
depth of things. So, you have to say,
"This is not allowed. This is bad." So,
when you're speaking to beginner,
beginners, chil- so to speak, chil-
children, and and and and as mankind, we
go through our child stage and our adult
stage, so we have to be very clear about
terms. When you tell a child why she
should avoid something, say, "That's
bad.
It's not allowed. You're not allowed to
go out when it's freezing outside,
snowing, without a a jacket." What do
you mean you're I'm not allowed? Of I
can I can do what I want. It's not that
you It's not that you're not allowed,
it's that it's It would be very
it would be a very poor decision to go
out like this. So, I tell you a child,
"You're not allowed to go out without
your jacket." But I'll tell an adult,
you know, "It's It's cold and you you
really should wear your jacket. And and
an adult will understand and and listen
if he's he's sensible.
So, mitzvot from Hashem are commandments
[clears throat]
in a basic sense, but they're they're
they're also the ultimate advice in how
we can maximize our success
and and accomplish the most we can with
the tools God gave me in the world he
created.
And so, it's only sensible to do the
mitzvot. It's there for my benefit. I
gain.
With this in mind, let's go a bit
deeper. The Zohar calls the mitzvot
limbs of the king.
And this is a beautiful deep analogy
given.
Hashem is infinite, unreachable,
untouchable.
Yet, through his decision
to create a set of mitzvot, which are
his will,
garbed in his wisdom,
he gives us a bridge
to reach him. He gives us a a way to
attach to him, to connect with him.
That's the beauty of a mitzvah.
Um so, in this context, we're saying
that Hashem is this great king. When he
decided to be king of the world, when he
decided to be
our ruler and create us to need him and
to have an ability to connect with him,
he had to provide that bridge that we
can connect to him, and that's through
the mitzvot.
mitzvot, not one, not less. Why? Why
613?
So, the Zohar says that these 613
mitzvot are 613 limbs of the king.
They are 613
accesses, things, directions, avenues
that we can access to connect with the
king.
Why 613? So, in another place in the
Torah, it says we were created in the
divine image. We were created to look
like Hashem, whatever that may Hashem
obviously doesn't have not have an
image. So, this is a spiritual idea. And
again, to just give a taste of of what's
going on from a more Kabbalistic
perspective, Hashem is infinite and and
on that level Hashem has no limbs, not
even by way of analogy.
But, when Hashem decided to become king
of the world, he had to create, so to
speak, these spiritual connectors that
we can connect to. And those are That's
a level where he begins to have these
613 spiritual limbs, which are the
mitzvot.
They correspond, in fact, since we were
created in his divine image, to 613
physical limbs and sinews in our body.
Now, these 613 sin- uh
uh limbs and sinews sinews in our body
also correspond to something because our
body and soul are an exact match for
each other.
Our body is only a physical
manifestation of our spiritual soul,
which is an exact match. You ever play
LEGO or whatever, put the square in the
circle?
Well, that's what some people try to do.
They put the square in the circle, and
it doesn't work. And so, what do they
think? They think they got to be strong,
you know, barbarian stuff. And they
start banging the square in the circle.
It's never going to work. You can't bang
a square in a circle, but
but the circle in the circle, that's the
way Hashem made it to be. That's why our
body and soul are a perfect match.
And how does that match How is that
match maximized? How is that match
accomplished to the fullest is with
these great advice, these 613 great
advi- great great different advice that
Hashem gave us, the mitzvot. Which are,
in fact, the connectors, how we connect
to Hashem. So, through the 613
commandments, we connect body and soul,
and together body and soul connect us
and in fact the entire world to the soul
of the of of the universe, to Hashem
himself,
the our king.
That's how this works.
And that's how we come to a even deeper
appreciation and understanding of the
word mitzvah
in Hebrew cuz we can never translate the
Hebrew mitzvah to an English
commandment. It's us it doesn't have the
same gematria.
>> [laughter]
>> Of course not.
A mitzvah is not really a commandment.
The term commandment in English how we
perceive it and understand with its
connotations is not really what a
mitzvah means. A mitzvah the word
mitzvah is rooted in the word
connection. And so ultimately we see
that the mitzvah is all about a
connection, connection of body and soul,
and a connection of us with Hashem.
