Why is Jewish law known as halacha -- the walking?
Possibly, the term flows from the opening line of this week's Torah reading: If you walk in My laws, and keep watch over My commandments, and do them… (Leviticus 26:3)
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev taught that this verse describes stages in the performance of a mitzvah. Actually doing a mitzvah is only the third stage!
Since "walking in the law" is just the first stage, he says that it must refer to getting the idea of performing a specific mitzvah for the first time. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak imagines that inside of us, there is a lot "walking around" when we consider a mitzvah. There is a battle between inner voices. One calls on us to listen to God's command. Another says: This mitzvah is irrelevant. This mitzvah is inconvenient. As soon as God detects this movement, God is drawn into us, so to speak, and helps us refine our thoughts toward taking on that mitzvah.
Even before we commit to the mitzvah, the step of considering it earns us "the reward for walking." Rabbi Levi Yitzchak says that a person who is "walking" through the first thought about a mitzvah is just like the person who is already observant and "moving" into deeper meanings.
Which specific mitzvah has you moving? Is it a potential new dimension of Shabbat? Noticing a situation when you are prone to gossiping? Moving might be mulling it over, or trying it out. Halacha gives us not just a general way of life, but a specific practice to focus on. Just by focusing, we are walking.
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