Asymmetrical Information

I'm not an observant Jew, but I'll take a stab at it. Literally a mitzvah is a commandment, so following any of the six-hundred-something halakhic rules that are commanded of the Jews is a mitzvah. Non-Jews aren't so commanded, so for them following things like the prayers over food aren't mitzvah. Figuratively, though, it means any good deed.

So there are lots of good deeds that aren't literally mitzvah, while all good deeds are figuratively mitzvah. Or that's my understanding.

Well, I try.

The term 'Bar Mitzvah' would indicate Bars are a good thing. I think we all can agree on that, no?

Granted, the closest thing I come to anything jewish are kosher pickles so my comment may not be valid.

I am not a Jewish Person nor do I play one on T.V. But,

A good deed that required a Jew to break Jewish law couldn't be a mitzvah. Say on Saturday, the Sabbath, a neighbor asks you to help fix his car. Doing so would be a good deed -- and even a mitzvah any other day of the week. But to work, and especially to "fire up" the engine, on the Sabbath, could not be.

On the other hand, to go next door that same Saturday carrying a heavy wooden ladder to climb up and rescue a widowed neighbor's cat stuck in a tree ... that MIGHT be a mitzvah. Helping save lives, even in animals, is generally an allowed exception. Consult your local rabbi.

Givng a tramp a bacon sandwich?

Interesting question. I don't know either.

I think pouncer's first example is not clearcut. My vague understanding is that "practical" good deeds take priority. So saving a life, including your own, by the way, is more important than keeping the Sabbath. This even means that certain things that are ordinarily mitzvahs can become sins. For example, it is forbidden to fast on Yom Kippur if so doing would endanger your health. This is obviously a common-sense rule intended to prevent overzealousness.

I don't know whether this principle extends to helping someone fix a car, or is reserved for extreme emergencies.

All this is based on dim memories of early instruction, so if I'm wrong, go easy on me.

Oh, come on. A mitzvah is a religious commandment. A mitzvah is _not_ a good deed. There's some overlap, but they are _not_ the same.
Examples:

* refraining from eating traife (unkosher food) is a mitzvah, but hardly anyone would call it a good deed. (BTW, I keep kosher). Same thing for observing shatnez (the prohibition against mixing wool and linen).

* playing baseball or tossing a football with your kid is a good deed, but it's not a religious obligation, so it's not a mitzvah. (Irrespective of whether it's done on Shabbos or Yom Tov.)

"Why did you go to the comment board? Why didn't you come to me first?" (said with cotton in mouth and a bad Brando impersonation).

Surely there's a commandment about taking care of your children that would cover playing football with them. But doing it on me is unacceptable.

Obviously, if we take the flabby interpretation - good deed - then the question is silly. Are there good deeds that are not good deeds? More interesting is whether there are good deeds that violate the commandments, like dsquared's bacon sandwich. More precisely, whether there are acts that would be regarded by people other than observant Jews as good deeds that violate the commandments. My guess is no, because I suspect there are clever, thumb-waving, interpretations that make it so.

I am Jewish (not Christian) myself, but it seems to me that most of the collection of Jesus' sayings in the new testament point to exactly this distinction. Some of the work on the history of Jesus deals with him as a counter-culture figure in Judaism try to say that it was not enough to fulfill your religious obligations (your mitzvot) but that you also had to be a good person. I think it is clear that the term mitzvah means 'obligation' and nothing more. The connotation we have that a mitzvah is also a good dead comes from the fact that many (if not most) of the mitzvot in Judaism deal with ethical matters. You could say it like this 'All prescriptive religions consist of a set of prohibitions and obligations, also known as mitzvot and sin'. Perhaps the more interesting observation is that Judaism tends to build its religion about obligations, while Christianity focuses more (though certainly not exclusively) on prohibitions. At least that is my impression.

Bernard YT,

Giving a bacon sandwich to a hungry non-Jewish beggar would fall under the mitzvot of feeding the hungry and tzedakah (in the sense of "charity"). Giving a bacon sandwich to a Jew would _not_ be a mitzvah, because he is forbidden to eat it. There is an exception if he is in a life-threatening situation and there is no other remedy, but that seems unlikely.

I am not aware of any mitzvah to "take care of your children." The mitzvah goes in the opposite direction (Kibud av v'aim, honor thy father and thy mother). On the other hand, one cannot be a mentsch if one does not take care of one's children.

I repeat: a mitzvah is the fulfillment of a religious commandment, either positive or negative. Some mitvot are generally considered good deeds (e.g., don't murder); many others are generally considered morally neutral (e.g., shatnez) ; others are considered silly (wearing tzitzit); and some are considered downright obnoxious. (I'm thinking of laws of mikvah and against male homosexuality.)

Joshua Macy nailed it on the first post.

I found this link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitzvot on Mildred's post - http://64.235.242.204/~janeg/cgi-bin/MT/mt-tb.cgi?__mode=view&entry_id=4694.

Joshua Macy, and the others that said the same thing, seems to have it right.

Art,

Yes. I understand. But am puzzled. You categorize mitzvot as "good," "neutral," (I include "silly" here) and "obnoxious."

Presumably the reason to observe the neutral mitzvot, even though they may be inconvenient, is that they are divine commands. But what about the obnoxious ones? They are divine commands also. So how can one justify failure to observe them?

I'm really not playing games here. I am very secular, despite, believe it or not, pretty intense religious education at an early age. My notions of Judaism include the idea that we are required to argue, to question, to challenge. Does this, in your mind, justify refusal to obey certain commandments?

I'm no j00, but, a student of religion. Depending upon how much you want to get into it, I'd say, yes. Various Rabbis have, at times, developed various schema for the determination of "penitence."
Specifically, I'm thinking of Luria's conception of Tiqqun (rectification), and the various ways he assigned tiqqunim to specific transgressive acts. As far as I know, these tiqqunim were not mitzvot, generally. (Example, disrespecting parents was punished by being lashed X number of times, etc. While respecting parents is a mitzvot, the tiqqun is not.) Luria also was a proponent of taking into account intentionality in religious practice, as opposed to the law alone.
As far as how this relates to modern Judaism, I can't speak directly, but would say yes.

Random "good deeds" are definitely a subset of mitzvot.
For instance, actively being a good parent would be considered a mitzvah. But I'm not sure playing football would be considered by most people to be good enough to be considered by itself a "good deed" by most people.

Maor,

Can you cite any authority to support your statement that "Random 'good deeds' are definitely a subset of mitzvot" ? Or, perhaps, give a non-trivial example? For example, I think we can agree that donating blood is a good deed, but I'm not aware that there is any religious obligation to do so.

Art

The FP was right a mitzvah (pl mitzvot) is a comandment. They include the ten comandments; honoring your parents, observing the sabbath, and not murdering, or stealing and hundreds of others positive (give to the poor) and negative (don't commit incest). Some of them are good deeds (e.g. give to the poor), some of them are law observation (e.g. murder) some of them are ritual (don't eat pork) and some are trivial (do not wear garments made of a mixture of wool and flax).

The number 613 is often given, but it is a bit of a kludge and there are other numbers. Many mitzvot relate to the sacrifical cult, are suspended and cannot be observed until the Messiah comes and rebuilds the Temple. Many Mitzvot only apply to the conduct of agriculture in the Land of Israel.

In addition to Mitzvot, Judaism recognizes another class of actions: Gemilut Chesed (pl Chesedim), acts of loving kindness. There may be no firm dividing line between Mitzvot and Gemilut Chesedim. We perform such acts becuase we are made in the divine image. Gen 1.27 And Ha-Shem is compassionate, gracious and abounding in love. Ex 34:7

Perhaps a story will illustrate:

Rabbi Beroka of Hoza was walking through the marketplace with Elijah. He asked the Prophet: "who in this market has a place in the world to come?"

Elijah pointed to two oddly dressed men. The rabbi asked them who they were and what they did. They answered:

"We are clowns, rabbi. We go to weddings and make merry with the guests. When we see sad people, we cheer them up. When we see men quarrel we distract them with our tricks and make them laugh so they forget their quarrel"

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