About Rabbi Jack Abramowitz
Rabbi Jack Abramowitz served as Director of Programs for NCSY before becoming Associate Director of the Pepa and Rabbi Joseph Karasick Department of Synagogue Services. Rabbi Abramowitz holds degrees in Jewish studies, communications and Higher Education Administration. Among his accomplishments, he authored NCSY's Torah on One Foot series of educational pamphlets and created negiah.org, the first abstinence web site for Jewish teens. Rabbi Abramowitz is the author of The Shnayim Mikra Companion on Torah, The Nach Yomi Companion volumes 1 and 2 on the books of the Prophets and the Writings, and The Tzniyus Book.

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Taryag: A Mitzvah a Day

Questions? Contact us at taryag@ou.org

PARSHAT Re'eh
MITZVAH COUNTER
Mitzvos to date: 455
Positives:191
Negatives:264
That can be performed today:196
Plus those that can be performed only in Israel:20

455. Take Away None: The prohibition against detracting from the mitzvos


…and you shall not detract from it. (Deuteronomy 13:1)

Just as we may not add on to the mitzvos, we may not detract from them. In the same way that the previous mitzvah meant that we may not add on to any mitzvah that has a particular number involved, this mitzvah means not to reduce such things. For example, the four species taken on Succos include three hadassim (myrtle branches) and two aravos (willow branches) – not four and three, nor two and one. Both increasing and decreasing are equally prohibited.

The Talmud in Rosh Hashana (28b) raises an interesting predicament. Let’s say that blood from an offering that requires one sprinkling gets mixed with blood from an offering that requires four sprinklings. To sprinkle four times violates b’al tosif (adding on) for the former but sprinkling once violates lo sigra (detracting) for the latter. So how should one proceed? In such a case, it’s preferable to sprinkle once then stop. To sprinkle four times would violate b’al tosif actively but to sprinkle once violates lo sigra passively. In such a forced choice, a “sin of omission” is better than a “sin of commission.”

The reason for this mitzvah is the same as for the prohibition against adding on to the Torah: we in no way have any ability to write a better Book than God. For us to re-write the mitzvos that He gave us is a tremendous chutzpah.

This mitzvah applies in all times and places. It is discussed in the Talmud in the tractates of Sanhedrin (88b-89a) and Rosh Hashana (28b). It is codified in the Shulchan Aruch in Orach Chaim 128. This mitzvah is #314 of the 365 negative mitzvos in the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvos and #160 of the 194 mitzvos that can be observed today as listed in the Sefer HaMitzvos HaKatzar of the Chofetz Chaim.



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