Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, in his book It’s a Mitzvah!, tells us: “The language of Judaism is its mitzvot, the commandments through which a Jew makes the world a more sacred, more sensitive, more just, and more compassionate place. Some mitzvot seem to focus primarily on ritual, like the laws of Kashrut or Shabbat, while others focus more on ethical considerations, such as caring for the elderly or visiting the sick.”

The Encyclopaedia Judaica Jerusalem, in its article on the 613 commandments, groups them into 31 categories, 18 positive and 13 negative. Using the same logic and applying it to the list of 271 current commandments from the Sefer Hamitzvoth HaKatzar by the Chofetz Chaim, we could roughly group them as follows:

First of all, the largest group is the ethical commandments, with about 90 mitzvot. This includes, among others, honoring your father and mother, loving all Jews as you love yourself, loving the stranger who lives among you, helping the poor, paying employees their wages promptly, returning stolen or lost property to its owner, not swearing falsely, not lying, not killing any human being, not cheating in business, not coveting anything from your neighbor, not insulting your neighbor with words, not making widows and orphans suffer, not lending money with interest, not speaking ill of others, not shaming your companion, not cheating when measuring or weighing something, not taking revenge, trying to save someone in danger, rising before an elder, and not oppressing the righteous foreigner (ger tzedek) with words.

The second group, with more than 30 mitzvot, pertains to holidays: Shabbat, Pesach, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. It dictates the days when work should not be done, what we should eat in each case, counting the Omer, etc.

Next are the commandments that prohibit idolatry and witchcraft, with more than 25, the rules related to food and agriculture with almost the same number of mitzvot, prohibited sexual relations with over 20, belief in God and prayer also with around 20, those related to judges, trials, and witnesses with nearly 15, those related to the Kohanim with about 10, marriage with 8, personal grooming also with 8, care for animals with 10, and others that are more difficult to group, such as not forgetting Amalek. The mitzvot of learning Torah, teaching it, gathering with Torah scholars and their disciples, and honoring them are particularly significant due to the emphasis placed on study.

It is said that a religious person is one who fulfills the mitzvot. Some mitzvot are highly visible, like observing the holidays and eating kosher. Others, like those related to idolatry or prohibited sexual relations, are followed by almost everyone. But ethical mitzvot, those that are Bein Adam Lechavero (between a person and his neighbor), the ones that cannot be easily verified if someone transgresses them, are less visible. So the question is: How religious are you?

By Marcos Gojman
Bibliography: The works cited in the text.