Today’s little homily!
Having a study summer obviously this year….
Studying the Rabbi’s today, came across this…
Nice rabbinical condensations of necessary basic ongoing practices:
Out of the 613 Mitzvot mentioned in the Torah, there are six mitzvot which the Sefer Hachinuch calls “constant mitzvot”: “We have six mitzvot which are perpetual and constant, applicable at all times, all the days of our lives”.
To know (the word for intimacy) God, and that he created all things.
Not to have any god(s) beside God (lit. in his face).
To know God’s Oneness.
To fear or reverence God.
To love God.
Not to pursue the passions of your heart and stray after your eyes.
That last one, certainly would bother our current cultural directives. It implies discerning between spiritual passions and “fleshly” ones. The prioritizing of the pursuit of personal happiness at the cost of others, is critiqued here, and also gets at the true nature of desire and passion. What do we really want and need.
 Good study anyways, having fun mulling over and chewing on the thoughts of the rabbis today! Truth comes in many packages as one saint said.
 Not quite as condensed as Jesus’ list (Love God with your whole being, and love others!), but pretty compressed basics in life.
I’m enjoying learning this Summer—it’s the little things of daily growth, increasing embodied knowledge and a capacity to love more fervently and wisely, which are making me happy this Summer. Shall we each continue to grow on….in our love of God and our resulting love for one another! And not be distracted or strayed aside by lesser pursuits.