SAMPLE SLIDES FOR HIDUR MITZVAH

Kitah Hay

Torat Chayyim

This slideshow will play itself – no need to click. Enjoy!

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WHAT IS HIDUR MITZVAH?

Hidur Mitzvah is the idea that our when we do mitzvot, we should do them in the best way possible.

The Rabbis based this idea on one verse from the Torah…

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THE BASIS FOR HIDUR MITZVAH

�י ז� ת� ע� ר� מ� ז� �ה ו� י־ י� ה� �י� יו� � ה ל� � �ישוע� ל�The Lord is my strength and my song,

and has become my salvation.

  �ה י� ז� ל� �הו א� ו� אנ� י ו� � לה� י א! � נ� אב� � מ� ר$מ� א% ו�הו׃

This is my God whom I will praise,

the God of my ancestors whom I will glorify!

This comes from the part of the Torah called the Song of the Sea

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THE BASIS FOR HIDUR MITZVAH

הו נ� � מ� ר$מ� א% ו�And I will glorify God

א% הור�מ�ו� נ� � ר$םמ�glorified

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THE BASIS FOR HIDUR MITZVAH

The Rabbis learned from this sentence that Jews are supposed to glorify God.

They said that one way to do this is through hidur mitzvah – enhancing our mitzvot.

Why do you think the Rabbis made this connection? Does it make sense to you?

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DISAGREEMENT - מ6ח4לו1ק/ת

A makhloket about Hidur Mitzvah:

Does it count as…one mitzvah or

two mitzvot?

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DISAGREEMENT - מ6ח4לו1ק/ת

Opinion 1:

Making one’s mitzvah better is still part of the same mitzvah…

so Hidur Mitzvah counts as one mitzvah only.

Maimonides agrees with this opinion.

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DISAGREEMENT - מ6ח4לו1ק/ת

Opinion 2:

Making one’s mitzvah better counts as a second, separate mitzvah.

Several authorities are of this opinion, Yakov ben Asher, Joseph Karo, and Moses Isserles .

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