Mitzvot, how many we do and how we think of ourselves in relation to others

At Friday night dinner during the Shabbaton we had a discussion about how we refer to our own practice, especially when around someone that we perceive as full observant or "much more observant" than we are.


I'm always fascinated by how Jews determine who is "really observant". It seems to hinge almost exclusively on being shomer shabbos and kosher in and out of the home (and assumption made based on those 2 facts and how the person is dressed). So people regularly at the shabbatons talk to me about how they are not "really" observant. I assume that everyone knows that there are 613 mitzvot and that no one person can do all of them. One of my favorite sayings from the late Lubuvitcher Rebbe is that "there are Jews that do mitzvot and Jews that do more mitzvot". There is no such thing as a Jew that does no mitzvot. And frankly, I've never met a Jew that did all the mitzvot they are obligated in perfectly. Most of us are doing our best and all of us have mitzvot we are, or need to be, working on. I regularly refer to some mitzvot as "I'm not there yet" even if at this point in time it is so low down on my priority list that it does not get a bullet point.


I'm afraid over dinner I got on my hobby horse and gave a lecture on using new/different terminology. One can refer to themselves as traditionally observant or one can refer to themselves as non-traditionally observant. According to the Chafetz Chayim, in the book "The Consice Book of Mitzvoth" the mitzvot that can be observed today include 77 positive mitzvot, 194 negative mitzvot, and 26 mitzvot contingent upon the land of Israel. Quite a number of the mitzvot include human interaction with other humans. I suspect if most of us went through the list of mitzvot we would find that we keep more than we thought we did. Hence, just because one is not orthodox that does not mean one is non-observant it simply means one is non-traditionally observant.


So what do you all think? I'd love to hear thoughts.



Written by Malka Esther Lennhoff