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From: teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Re: Humanistic Judaism
Message-ID: <1344@aecom.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 1-Apr-85 13:39:38 EST
Article-I.D.: aecom.1344
Posted: Mon Apr  1 13:39:38 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 3-Apr-85 07:58:09 EST
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Organization: Albert Einstein Coll. of Med., NY
Lines: 26

> 
> There are not as many mitzvot as you might think that involve either
> the fear or the love of Hashem.  Of the many mitzvot, most are written
> in a form that do not deal with Hashem at all.  For instance, do not
> murder, do not kill, do not build an altar of cut stone, do not wear
> shatnez, ... A person today is considered a good Jew is he/she observes
> about twenty mitzvot (the rest are not applicable because we are not
> in Israel or the temple is not standing).  Does the motivation for
> observance matter?
> 

	I think the number of practicable mitzvot is closer to 200 than 20.
 I haven't counted them recently but if you want I could ( the actual number 
 would depend on whose Sefer Hamitzvot I use [ either Rambam or Smag ]).


> I also dislike the connotation that the Torah talks of fearing Hashem.
> It also talks of loving him (V'Ahavta et Adoshem Elokekhah - And you 
> should love the L-rd your G-d).  I was taught that we first fear him for
> that is natural and then as we grow we can learn to love him, for that
> too is natural.

	But this does not mean that fearing G-D is unimportant.


			Eliyahu Teitz.