Rashi in the beginning of Parshas Eikev here brings a Chazal that says "If one keeps the easy Mitzvos that one (tends to) tread on with their heel" then G-D will reward them with his Covenant and kindness. (Translation based on Artscroll.) Is there a list of these Commandments that Chazal are referring to that someone can provide? Sources please.
-
related question judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/2290/…– EarlAug 7, 2017 at 17:28
-
dectorah.blogspot.com/2006/08/…– rosendsAug 7, 2017 at 17:40
-
1Pirkei Avot says that we don't really know which are the "easy" and "hard" ones as we don't know the reward for mitzvoth. So, I surmise that the Torah is referring to each person's individual evaluation. Each person will place different mitzvoth in that "heel" category. Maybe that's the message Moshe is stating?– DanFAug 7, 2017 at 17:53
2 Answers
Daas Zikeinim of the Tosafos on that passuk quote chazzal who give Shiluach Hakan as the example of the easy mitzvah.
Interestingly the D.Z. goes on to explain 'walking on the mitzvah' quite literally. They say the person ignores the mitzvah to send away the mother bird and tramples the nest.
They add on another mitzvah that literally can be trampled when one is not careful and that is Tzitzis when they drag on the floor.
Rambam in Avos 2 1 gives examples of what he calls easy mitzvos. Simchas regel and learning Lashon Hakodesh.
-
Interesting, I would like to look up the DZ later. Regarding Simchas Haregel, it's quoted from the Vilna Goan but don't know where it's brought that being happy on Yom Tov for 7 days straight is an extremely hard mitzvah to keep, so not sure if he holds like that Rambam.– EarlAug 7, 2017 at 20:39
-
-
-
thank you, I looked up the DZ. I accepted this answer for now but wondering whether there is a list of any more easy Mitzvos.– EarlAug 8, 2017 at 1:45
Rav Hirsch states that this is a matter of carrying out all the mitzvos as a national unit and therefore all the mitzvos are in the category of mishpat
As such, as the duty we owe to what is right, for which no thanks and no reward can be claimed, are they to be carried out. But they all correspond so deeply to the nature and purpose of things and men, and they are all so much in harmony with each other, that by their being faithfullt carried out by the nation, a condition of the richest blessings of a national existence on earth emerges. This result which was not what was striven for, but which comes automatically by itself is called עקב, literally heel. It is that which follows obedience, not what went before, not what obedience had in eye.
Rav Hirsch explains that this is what Rashi had in mind when he speaks of the easy mitzvos. It is a matter of treating every mitzva as both the easiest and the most important. Rav Hirsch also points out that evry person will tend to overlook some mitzvos at various times or to think that something seems so trivial that he might as well say Why would Hashem nitpick on such a trivial detail. Everyone might think this because of the way the current society deals with something (so what that might be changes with society).
we are not to weigh the separate mitzvos in our minds to consider which Mitzva would probably expect a larger reward so that we pay particular attention to that one. The paths of Torah form an ever widening circle in which they overlap each other and lose themselves one in the other. We cannot foresee the results of fulfilling any Mitzva. They interlock one to the other, and far reaching results arise from what is apparently the smallest and seems to us the least important Mitzva. That is why all Mitzvos without distinction should be performed with equal conscious faithfulness, all be of equal importance to us, all only to be done in the feeling of its being our duty without giving a though to what we might consider deserving a greater or lesser reward.
Rav Hirsch adds
to give our attention just to that which, according to the changing circumstances of the times, seems to be trivial and petty and tends to be left behind