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The Need for Mitzvot

There was once a blind rabbi who said he would make a party for the rabbis if they could tell him that he was exempt from mitzvot due to his disability. Not that he wanted to get out of performing the mitzvot. On the contrary, he intended to keep all the commandments but he wished to get credit for doing them as a volunteer. It would seem logical to assume that a volunteer has a higher status in performing mitzvot than one who is commanded. After all, those who are commanded have no choice but to perform. The volunteer does so out of the goodness of his or her
heart.

If this is the case, the question is, why do we celebrate  Shavuot? Shavuot commemorates the day we became commanded in mitzvot. If it is
better to be a volunteer than commanded, why all the hoopla about receiving the commandments? It would have been better to have remained uncommanded. Throughout the ages, some who have opposed our religion argued that Avraham had the ideal religion of volunteerism and that the
Israelites at Sinai only needed commandments because of their stiff-necked nature. Surely we cannot accept this characterization.

But in the end the blind rabbi we mentioned in the Talmud changed his mind. He decided he would make a party for anyone who would show him that he was obligated, "for it is greater to be commanded and to observe than not to be commanded and observe." For example, what do you find more difficult to do, to volunteer for a civic project or to pay local taxes? Clearly, when something is an obligation, the evil inclination begins play his tricks. "You don't need to do that now. Do it later," says the evil inclination. "Who are they to tell you what to do?"  We celebrate today that we have a chance to perform despite it being commanded.

Furthermore, some Jewish philosophers have   argued, the value of having a set law  rather than one voluntarily performed by all is that with law there is conformity and community. It would be very nice if everyone could uncover the ultimate law on their own, but it might lead to each one doing "what is straight in his eyes." By receiving the Torah as a community, we were granted  the possibility of becoming a holy nation as a people and not just an odd collection of some good doers. That's what we celebrate this holiday.

While it may be true that Avraham was able to intuit all the mitzvot on his own, this would not usually be the case. Most people when left to their own devices would interpret the law fairly subjectively at least in some cases. We celebrate on Shavuot having an objective gauge of right and wrong. Mind you, much is still left open for interpretation, but the Torah at least gives us the guideposts for our morality.  

Another approach is expressed in one of the morning Psalms. "Never has He done so for any other nation, and He has not informed them of mitzvot, Haleluyah!"  The Torah is a gift. Maybe we could have figured out how to be holy on our own (though I doubt it), but the Torah is a gift, to know what is right, and not to have my whole moral realm depend on my whim or my hunch.

Ultimately, we must do the mitzvot out of a sense of obligation but also out of a sense of volunteerism and  choice. The distinction between volunteerism and commandedness is a false or misleading one. Yes, G-d gave us the Torah and imposed it on us, but we also accepted it. Not for nothing do we read the book of Ruth on Shavuot. In the final analysis, G-d can give all He wants, but if I don't accept it as Ruth did, then it will not be my inheritance. We thank G-d on Shavuot for the opportunity to be commanded, to be a holy nation, to avoid relativism, and for the opportunity  to overcome our evil inclinations. We also thank G-d for the opportunity to say "I do", to accept the commandments, and  to say "we will do and we will obey." Chag Sameach, good Yom Tov.