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W10. Attending to Both the Lesser & the Weightier Matters of Torah.    [Make a Comment]

We are to attend to both the lesser and the weightier matters of Torah.

This precept is derived from His Word (blessed be He):

Key Scripture

Matthew 23:23-24
Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and P'rushim! You pay your tithes of mint, dill and cumin; but you have neglected the weightier matters of the Torah - justice, mercy, trust. These are the things you should have attended to - without neglecting the others! Blind guides! - straining out a gnat, meanwhile swallowing a camel!

Supportive Scriptures

Hosea 6:6
For what I desire is mercy, not sacrifices, knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Proverbs 21:3
To do what is right and just is more pleasing to ADONAI than sacrifice.

Mark 12:29-33
Yeshua answered, "The most important is, 'Sh'ma Yisra'el, ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad [Hear, O Isra'el, the LORD our God, the LORD is one], and you are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your understanding and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You are to love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other mitzvah greater than these." The Torah-teacher said to him, "Well said, Rabbi; you speak the truth when you say that he is one, and that there is no other besides him; and that loving him with all one's heart, understanding and strength, and loving one's neighbor as oneself, mean more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices."

Luke 11:42
But woe to you P'rushim! You pay your tithes of mint and rue and every garden herb, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You have an obligation to do these things - but without disregarding the others!

Commentary

The key Scripture supporting this Mitzvah is Yeshua's rebuke to the Torah teachers and Pharisees of his time for portraying themselves as righteous by meticulously complying with minor Torah requirements that others could observe them doing, while disregarding weightier requirements of the Torah (e.g. justice, mercy, trust, justice, love, etc.), violations that they could keep hidden. It is a lesson to us that Torah is not to be pursued by observable self-sacrifice and rule-keeping, but rather by searching the depths of God's heart for how He wants us to mirror His image in relating to Him and to our fellow man.

Classical Commentators

This Mitzvah is not addressed by any of the Jewish classical commentators.

NCLA: JMm JFm KMm KFm GMm GFm

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