Itza Mitzva Collaborator Check-In

In my next life, I’ll get paid to have great ideas that other people can execute. It’s the imagining of something new and amazing that I love, not always the creating… which might be why my novel is getting dusty and why despite many people jumping up and saying “Hell yeah! I wanna help!” that Itza Mitzva is a bit stalled.

If you remember, I applied for and received a grant from ROI120 to support Itza Mitzva. Itza is our local liberal mitzva study group. Itza recognizes that liberal Jews take informed choice seriously. We don’t want to opt-out of mitzvot because of ignorance, but because we studied it and decided “this is not meaningful to me.”

Going back through blog posts and Facebook comments, I found hands raised to write worksheets on a number of mitzvot and concepts. What does writing an Itza Mitzva worksheet entail?

What would you do?

1. Pick a mitzva to research and write the one sheeter for (front and back of one page)

2. Find the place in the Torah or Talmud where the mitzvah originates.

3. If there is a mishna or story about the mitzva, add that too.

4. Gather some ways this mitzva is observed from very traditionally to loosely.

5. Find some liberal commentary on the mitzva.

6. Create 4-5 questions that could be used to lead a discussion on the mitzva.

What mitzvot or concepts have been spoken for?

1. putting a mezuzah on the doorposts of one’s house

2. learning Torah

3. resting on Shabbat

4. saying the blessing after the meal

5. Kosher vs. non-kosher meat

6. baking challah

That’s only 6 and means there are another 600 that can be written about. Of course, the grant is only for $2000 and I have budgeted $20 per mitzva, so we clearly can’t cover all 613. Doesn’t mean we can’t get a good start working through the list. Also, the mitzva you write about can be a modern mitzva–that’s cool, too.

Want to be involved? Please join the Facebook group for Itza Mitzva Collaborators.