This week’s Torah reading begins with the statement “Vehaya ekev tishme’un”. The literal translation is “Because of your listening to these commandments”, you will merit the blessings which the Torah goes on to enumerate.
The word ekev can also mean “heel”. The commentator Rashi explains that the verse is alluding to the “light” commandments, the seemingly less important mitzvot which people tend to “trample underfoot”.
We all know about the “major” commandments, such as keeping kosher, or fasting on Yom Kippur, things like that. What about the smaller details? Are we as careful?
What about all those charity campaigns? It is great that some causes get such high publicity — but what about the causes nobody hears about? The “little” things which fall by the wayside?
What about the workplace? Obviously, I would never dream of embezzling from my employer. That is clearly immoral and not right. On the other hand, I need to make a quick international personal call — surely nobody will mind. It’s only a few pennies, right? Are we taking advantage of someone else, even in a small, seemingly insignificant manner?
Then there is my relationship with God, my behaviour as a Jew, charged with maintaining high standards in all aspects of my life. Obviously, I would never do anything really terrible, but what about the “small details”? Are they as important to me?
On a deeper level, what is a “minor” mitzvah? Something we think unimportant? Something that does not seem as impactful to ourselves, to others, or to our spiritual growth? Something comparatively easy to perform?
According to the mystics, a mitzvah is not just a “commandment” in the conventional sense of the word. “Mitzvah” comes from the root of the word for tzavtah – a connection, a bond. The performance of a mitzvah connects the finite physical word we inhabit with the infinite spiritual world, creating a bridge between them, a home for the infinite God in this limited, physical world by channelling his infinite spiritual energy into our limited world.
Viewed in this way, with each mitzvah being a direct channel, who is to say which mitzvah is more or less important?
In the Ethics of the Fathers, 2:1, our rabbis instruct us to “be as careful with a minor mitzvah as with a major one, for you cannot know the reward of the mitzvot”.
The Hebrew reads “hevei zahir”. Zahir means to be careful but can, however, also mean to shine or to polish. Our rabbis are teaching us that the performance of a mitzvah should be transformative, it should have a refining, polishing effect on us. And if it fails to do so, we have to ask ourselves why not?
Even a seemingly minor mitzvah should have this effect. Every mitzvah should be transformative and truly life-changing.
