Awe in Mitzvot

To be honest, my daughter's recent Hollywood and Sinai review at http://www.nishma.org/articles/movies/osage.html got me thinking. We are commanded to perform various mitzvot but, in meeting these obligations, how often do we think about our ability to meet such demands? The very fact that there is a command immediately seems to imply that the ability to meet the requirement is inherent -- but is this necessarily so? Perhaps the real challenge of the command is to meet this requirement of getting ready.

This is perhaps what should really be the essence of the present debate over women and tefillin. While the issue does not exactly parallel this issue of mitzvah, it should cause us to reflect on this very issue. Women are not commanded in the mitzvah. What this should perhaps one to consider is the very challenge of the mitzvah. Men, who are commanded, must push themselves to meet the requirements even if they are not truly able. A woman has no such requirement -- so why push oneself to meet a challenge for which one is not ready. This is not to say that the men are; it just that men have to push themselves to do so. How often do men approach the putting on of tefillin with trepidation and awe in the chance that they really are not able to perform this mitzvah correctly? Do they have the choice not to then perform the mitzvah? No -- but the woman who refrains from putting on tefillin because of the trepidation and awe could remind us of this.

I compare this to the statement of Ramban in arguing that there is not Biblical mitzvah to pray. The Torah simply allows us to pray -- otherwise one would think it highly inappropriate for one to approach God with one's individual requests. Who are you to stand before the Almighty? The Torah thus says its okay -- but only after you recognize the awe-some ness of the matter.

Mitzvot are not like spiritual candy for one to get a spiritual lift. They are serious directives from God to be approached seriously with awe, trepidation and self-introspection of personal ability. This is important to recognize even as we feel we may have no choice but to perform the mitzvah now as best we can -- which we must still do. Be cautious, though, of extending it.

Rabbi Ben Hecht