Mitzvot

Yeshayahu Leibowitz: Religion Is a Goal unto Itself

"Unitive" and "restorative" impulses propel the religious life of the Jewish mystic.

The rabbinic sages and later philosophers and mystics offered many ways to categorize the mitzvot and explain their significance.

For Jewish religious thinkers in our time, the question "why observe mitzvot?" has become a central and critical concern. Some answers echo earlier periods, some are new.

There are 613, not just 10, commandments, or mitzvot.

Mitzvot separate us from the profane and surround us with holiness.