[Sca-cooks] Re: [Sca-cooks]Mitzvah (was "Halal" and "Kosher")

[Daniel Myers]

On Thursday, April 10, 2003, at 07:39 PM, Phlip wrote:

>
> Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...
>
>> Could you explain what "mitzvah" means?? I was under the impression
>> that it
>> was the ritual where a boy becomes a man, bar mitzvah, but I keep on
>> hearing
>> it in reference to lots of things. Does it basicly mean ritual?
>
> Actually, it means a good deed, in a Godly sense  If you perform a
> mitzvah,
> you have performed a good act in accordance with the covenent with
> God, who
> is actually nameless ;-) A boy's bar mitzvah is actually an
> opportunity for
> him to prove he is a man, by reading the Hebrew of the Laws in front
> of a
> minyon (a minimal grouping of 10 male adults) of other (theoretically
> observant )Jews. It shows that he is no longer a child because he has
> performed the act of a man. Many acts can be mitzvahs, but Jews, being
> the
> practical sorts that they are, usually require witnesses.

I've also heard that there can be "bad" mitzvahs - actions that go
against the covenant and delay the perfection of the world and the
coming of the messiah (or some such).

- Doc


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  Edouard Halidai  (Daniel Myers)
  http://www.medievalcookery.com/
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