mitzvos

The Chumash says to keep mitzvos. The Shema says to keep mitzvos. The Navi says to keep mitzvos. The Gemara talks all about mitzvos. As we learn in Tehillim, mitzvos are emunah. They bring us to emunah.

 

Thus, the Satan tries to trick us into dropping them. First there was idol worship, a radical departure from Judaism. Some Jews fell for this while holding on to the other mitzvos, but many succumbed entirely. Then came Xianity which resembled Judaism in some ways. That tricked some more, but for many it was too much of a betrayal of their faith. Then came the haskalah. It didn’t appear to be a strange religion, but of course it was. That took many more. Then came Communism. You could still be an idealist. That took some more. Then came Zionism. You can still be with your people, just exchange those mitzvos for the land and the medinah. That took many more. At one point, all of Borough Park was Mizrachi.

 

So what is to be done with the rest, with those who are staying strong? Ah, dress it up even more. Give them one mitzvah to obsess over and tell them that it represents all the others. It is so much better than the others that you can forget about them. That we call contemporary Yeshivism. They call themselves Litvacks, but they are not Litvacks. The Vilna Gaon was a Litvack. He said, “Just as the prime purpose of a tree is its fruit, so is the study of Torah secondary to its fulfillment. Only the fulfillment of mitzvos qualifies a man as one of the righteous upon whom the world depends.” (Vilna Gaon, Even Sheleimah 5:6) That’s a Litvack. Today we have Yeshivists. So many are stumbling in the final days before Moshiach.