A Thought on Parshas Emor

"...u'shemartem v'asis'em..." "...and you shall observe them and do them..." (22:31) The Torah offers this familiar phrase - we need to keep the mitzvos, and perform them - and we stop and wonder what the difference is between observing and doing, keeping and performing. If the commandments are commanded to us, then obviously we are supposed to do them. What does it mean to "observe" them if not to keep or practice them in action? It sounds almost synonymous and thus has an appearance of redundancy. Rabbeinu Avigdor begins with a practical or instructional midrashic thought. The "observing" of mitzvos refers to the study and learning which must precede implementation. The Torah wants us to perform or act but also requires that we have broader knowledge of what we are supposed to do. The degree of consciousness involved in performing an act, including a fuller awareness of the law and its rules and parameters, makes for a more meaningful involvement in the act. This is what it means to observe and keep a commandment. Rabbeinu Avigdor then goes a step further. If one is not involved in the study of a deed then he cannot really become involved in the performance of the deed! Action presupposes a level of understanding of what we do. Otherwise it is ritual behavior but not necessarily a comprehensive expression of our entire self from mind to heart to soul and then to body. Doing something in ignorance does not lessen the effect of the act i.e. the money still ends up in the charity box, the challah still gets digested, the candles are still lit and the fringes still hang from the corners of the garment. However, the act itself - its process and the experience of the one going through those motions - is not accompanied by a fuller and richer sense of spiritual acuity. The spirit, the feelings, the mind - all of those are dimensions of experience and if they are not stimulated or activated, our act is somehow in a different league than if one enacts that same deed with heightened awareness and informed consciousness. This is, according to Rabbeinu Avigdor, the essence of our verse declaring "you need to do it but first comes the subjective preparation for what you will do." Observe, study, internalize the process of performing a sacred act, and then it will become a holy experience. This, he adds, is the source for the famous declaration made by our Sages in Avos (2:5) - ain bor yar'ae chait v'lo am ha'aretz chasid! An ignorant person can not really know how to be afraid of doing wrong; an uninformed person cannot really achieve piety. Learning is about inspiration. Inspiration is the precursor to turning religious behavior into spiritual conduct. Good Shabbos. D Fox