Patrick Comerford
Mitzvah Day is the UK’s largest faith-led day of social action and Mitzvah Day 2024 is tomorrow (24 November 2024), when over 55,000 people are expected to come together to give their time, to make a difference to the community.
The organisers introduce people to social action, to their neighbours and to local charities, setting up projects that address real needs. Although Mitzvah Day is Jewish-led, it brings together people of all faiths and backgrounds to volunteer side-by-side, building long-standing, genuine relationships.
The Jewish belief in afterlife is more nuanced than the beliefs found among many Christians, so that I have heard people ask what is the purpose of the the restrictions and self-sacrifice observed in pious Jewish life.
Of course Judaism believes in an afterlife. This is part of the debate that takes place in the Gospel reading I was reflecting on earlier this morning. But in Jewish thinking, the afterlife is not a reward, it is a gift.
In Judaism, it is good to do good because good is good, and not because there are any anticipated, expected or promised rewards at the end of life. The rules of religious life are, in some ways, training for living a fuller, more interesting, more human life, full of compaassion and a sense of both community and mutuality.
Jews often say that the reward of fulfilling a mitzvah is the opportunity to fulfill another mitzvah. In living this way, many Jews believe they are helping to make this a better world, not just for themselves but for everybody.
The real translation of the halakhah (הֲלָכָה), the entire system of Jewish law, is the ‘Way’, or ‘the way of walking’. The word is derived from the root that means ‘to behave’, also ‘to go’ or ‘to walk’. Halakha not only guides religious practices and beliefs, it also guides numerous aspects of day-to-day life. It is the ‘Way to Live.’
Torah study is counted among the 613 mitzvot (commandments), from the verse in Deuteronomy: ‘And you shall teach it to your children,’ upon which the Talmud comments that ‘Study is necessary in order to teach.’
In Tales of Hasidim, Martin Buber (1878-1965) recalls an old tale where a rabbi was asked by one of his students ‘Why did God create atheists?’
After a long pause, the rabbi finally responded with a soft but sincere voice. ‘God created atheists.’ he said, ‘to teach us the most important lesson of them all – the lesson of true compassion. You see, when an atheist performs an act of charity, visits someone who is sick, helps someone in need, and cares for the world, he is not doing so because of some religious teaching. He does not believe that God commanded him to perform this act. In fact, he does not believe in God at all, so his actions are based on his sense of morality. Look at the kindness he bestows on others simply because he feels it to be right.’
‘When someone reaches out to you for help. You should never say ‘I’ll pray that God will help you.’ Instead, for that moment, you should become an atheist – imagine there is no God who could help, and say ‘I will help you’.’
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