Programs & Services
Chabad Mitzvah Campaigns
The Lubavitcher Rebbe began a Ten - Point Mitzvah Campaign for Jewish Awareness and Observance.
“Mitzva: means “commandment”. A mitzvah is one of the 613 Divine instructions to the Jew contained in the Torah. The word also means “connection” a deed that connects the human being who performs it with G‑d who commanded it.
Before the Rebbe’s “mitzvah campaign”, a mitzvah was a private deed, performed by the “religious” Jew at home or in the synagogue. So it was only natural that the Rebbe’s mitzvah campaign, initiated in the late 60’s and early 70’s raised many an eyebrow: “Tefillin on a hippie?” “What’s the point of doing one mitzvah on the way to lunch in a non-kosher restaurant” Mitzvot were then seen as the details that made up a religious Jew’s lifestyle-pointless when not part of the whole package.
The Rebbe saw things differently. As a connection between man and G‑d, as a bridge between Creator and creation, a mitzvah is a deed of cosmic significance, a deed of infinite value unto itself. Citing Maimonides, the Rebbe repeated time and again: a single person performing a single mitzvah, could be the deed that tips the scales and brings redemption to the entire world and all of creation.
So the Rebbe issued a call to every Jew: Even if you are not fully committed to a Torah life, do something. Begin with a mitzvah – any mitzvah; its value will not be diminished by the fact that there are others which you are not prepared to do.
The Rebbe also suggested ten possible “beginner’s” mitzvoth – precepts which, because of their centrality to the Torah’s guide to life, are ideally suited for a first experience of the Mitzvah connection.
Chabad Neshama is out there for each individual of our community to preserve and keep Jewish continuity alive.
Feel free to call us at the Neshama Center 718-946-9833 for your own personal needs.
