the weekly mitzvah

This week I went to Rosh Hashanah services with my dad. I try to go with him for one of the two days while my mom usually stays home and cooks up some amazing Jewish food. Normally, this yearly trip to the motherland consists of a huge meal, some family spats and about 12 minutes spent praying while everyone around me is whispering and checking out what everyone else is wearing. The other 3 hours I am actually in synagogue I traditionally catch up with people I've known since I am little but hardly ever see. This year was slightly different.

This time I actually sat in the sanctuary for longer than the traditional 12 minutes and listened to the Rabbi's sermon. I often find these sermons to be preachy and long and they usually come back to how we should all love Israel and move there and give money, etc... Surprisingly, the sermon this year was a little different. Don't get me wrong, there was plenty of Israel propaganda. But mixed in this year was a message about life's purpose. The Rabbi (a very young guy about 32 or so) talked what a mitzvah is. Growing up, I was always taught that a mitzvah is defined as a good deed. My parent's Rabbi, however, proposed a new definition for mitzvah - purpose. The Rabbi's hypothesis was that a mitzvah performed each day should be geared towards understanding your life's purpose, whatever that may be. The Rabbi differentiated this "life purpose" from "life goals" and cautioned against confusing the two.

I was really struck by his point. I often equate my "life purpose" with my "life goals" - i.e. success at work, happy at home, etc. In fact, however, I think I need to start differentiating between purpose and goals. Then, hopefully by working toward my purpose it will make it easier to reach my goals.

I have been reflecting a lot about what the Rabbi said and have decided to incorporate this into my daily living. For now, I am going to start simply with a purpose of extra kindness and tolerance to others - those I know and those I don't. And I don't mean just generally saying I'll be nicer, but instead, making a concerted effort to perform at least one act of kindness each week. I started this week by taking a few extra seconds to give some money to my favorite street performer who entertains me most mornings on my commute to work (who knew I loved the accordion so much). And what was I rewarded with? A huge smile, a sincere thanks and a great feeling which has already last for about two hours. I like this already.