Hey y’all!

Today in this blog post I am going to be talking about 3 important mitzvahs/commandments to me, as we are learning about important responsibilities/mitvahs/commandments that you are taking on once you enter your Jewish adult life. So let’s take a look:

Not to leave a beast, that has fallen down beneath its burden, unaided (Deut. 22:4) (CCN183). See Love and Brotherhood. לֹא־תִרְאֶה֩ אֶת־חֲמ֨וֹר אָחִ֜יךָ א֤וֹ שׁוֹרוֹ֙ נֹפְלִ֣ים בַּדֶּ֔רֶךְ וְהִתְעַלַּמְתָּ֖ מֵהֶ֑ם הָקֵ֥ם תָּקִ֖ים עִמּֽוֹ׃ {ס} This mitzvah is in Deuteromony 22:4. The meaning of this mitzvah is First off, this in modern english means not to leave a animal who is hurt, unaided. This means if you were to lets say hit a deer while driving. Would you:

1. Keep on driving

or

1. Get out and help it

The Torah says that you should do option b, because you have injured an animal and you are responsible for helping it. 

Another situation would be: you see a bird that has fallen from a tree and it is a baby bird. Would you: bring it to a vet OR do nothing? To do this Mitzvah you should help it. Because that is th kind thing to do. This is important because animals are living things too. They have feelings and just like when you get injured and it hurts, they get injured and it hurts them too. In Judaism, life is just as important as following the traditions. Animals are people and they just always be cared for just as much as people are cared for. This will impact my life and others’ lives because this mitzvah will not only impact my life but will impact animals lives. Animals have family, some have kids and if they die their whole family will be affected. This will affect my life because I LOVE all animals except for bees/wasps and spiders and they should not die. I cry when I think about my dog dying, but if hes injured I want to get him help even if it means putting him down, but if he is injured, I will help him. THAT is how it will affect my life.

Not to refrain from maintaining a poor man and giving him what he needs (Deut. 15:7) (CCN62). See Tzedakah: Charity. כִּֽי־יִהְיֶה֩ בְךָ֨ אֶבְי֜וֹן מֵאַחַ֤ד אַחֶ֙יךָ֙ בְּאַחַ֣ד שְׁעָרֶ֔יךָ בְּאַ֨רְצְךָ֔ אֲשֶׁר־יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ נֹתֵ֣ן לָ֑ךְ לֹ֧א תְאַמֵּ֣ץ אֶת־לְבָבְךָ֗ וְלֹ֤א תִקְפֹּץ֙ אֶת־יָ֣דְךָ֔ מֵאָחִ֖יךָ הָאֶבְיֽוֹן׃

This commandment comes from Deuteronomy 15:7. The meaning of this mitzvah is: to help the poor when they need help. This is Tzedakah. These people are most likely going through a hard time. And they are humans too. They should get the help they need.

I think this mitzvah is important because: I believe that no one should half to live this way and they should be able to get what they need. No one should have to suffer because they don’t have enough money. Most people who are poor can not buy food, so if you hear about a soup kitchen you should volunteer. Most people say sure I will do it for money but trust me money can’t buy happiness. I have volunteered at a soup kitchen with my friend and we had a blast. It was SOO fun to relax and be a server instead of getting served. It was also fun because I knew I was helping people and making people so happy.

This mitzvah can impact my life and the lives of others because: This will impact the life of other people including the people who are suffering poverty. Any small thing can help them, even giving them a bag of chips. This will affect my life because I will know I have done something good and made somebody smile. 🙂

Not to leave something that might cause hurt (Deut. 22:8) (CCN190). See Love and Brotherhood. כִּ֤י תִבְנֶה֙ בַּ֣יִת חָדָ֔שׁ וְעָשִׂ֥יתָ מַעֲקֶ֖ה לְגַגֶּ֑ךָ וְלֹֽא־תָשִׂ֤ים דָּמִים֙ בְּבֵיתֶ֔ךָ כִּֽי־יִפֹּ֥ל הַנֹּפֵ֖ל מִמֶּֽנּוּ. This mitzvah is from Deuteronomy 22:8. The meaning of this mitzvah is not to leave anything sharp or painful, or that might hurt someone in public. An example is if you spilled water in public you should do something about like find a custodian or if you’re taking the spill into your responsibility, which you should, you should clean it up. I think this mitzvah is important because people getting hurt is a bad thing already but is sucks to be the person who hurts them. This is also for everybody’s safety. Wouldn’t it be annoying if YOU slipped on the water you spilled. This mitzvah can impact my life and the lives of others because no one will get hurt is you do not put anything in the public that can cause pain, or hurt someone.

Here is a picture I made:

In this collage we have three sections. The section with the “no signs” like no glass, no sharp stuff and caution water is for the mitzvah “Not to leave something that might cause hurt (Deut. 22:8) (CCN190). See Love and Brotherhood. כִּ֤י תִבְנֶה֙ בַּ֣יִת חָדָ֔שׁ וְעָשִׂ֥יתָ מַעֲקֶ֖ה לְגַגֶּ֑ךָ וְלֹֽא־תָשִׂ֤ים דָּמִים֙ בְּבֵיתֶ֔ךָ כִּֽי־יִפֹּ֥ל הַנֹּפֵ֖ל מִמֶּֽנּוּ. I put them on because those are sort of like things you should be looking out for or things that could cause hurt. “

In another section with people giving money to the poor people and helping them is my section for “Not to refrain from maintaining a poor man and giving him what he needs (Deut. 15:7) (CCN62). See Tzedakah: Charity. כִּֽי־יִהְיֶה֩ בְךָ֨ אֶבְי֜וֹן מֵאַחַ֤ד אַחֶ֙יךָ֙ בְּאַחַ֣ד שְׁעָרֶ֔יךָ בְּאַ֨רְצְךָ֔ אֲשֶׁר־יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ נֹתֵ֣ן לָ֑ךְ לֹ֧א תְאַמֵּ֣ץ אֶת־לְבָבְךָ֗ וְלֹ֤א תִקְפֹּץ֙ אֶת־יָ֣דְךָ֔ מֵאָחִ֖יךָ הָאֶבְיֽוֹן׃” because you should always help someone.

The last section is with people helping animals and this follows the commandment: Not to leave a beast, that has fallen down beneath its burden, unaided (Deut. 22:4) (CCN183). See Love and Brotherhood. לֹא־תִרְאֶה֩ אֶת־חֲמ֨וֹר אָחִ֜יךָ א֤וֹ שׁוֹרוֹ֙ נֹפְלִ֣ים בַּדֶּ֔רֶךְ וְהִתְעַלַּמְתָּ֖ מֵהֶ֑ם הָקֵ֥ם תָּקִ֖ים עִמּֽוֹ׃ {ס}. These pictures resemble that because in one of the pictures shows someone calling for help once they hit an animal. The other one is withe a hand holding a paw and that shows that we and animals are people and we should equally care for each other. 

Special mentions to:

https://www.jewfaq.org/613_commandments – for the commandments

https://www.sefaria.org/texts –  for the Hebrew texts

Special thanks to:

Mr. Wash for helping me with this project!

Thank you for reading 😉

Starielle

Hello everyone! 

This blog post will be about My Mishpacha Project in Jewish Studies. I should probably tell what mishpacha means. Mishpacha means family.

This project was about exploring your family history, and learning the meaning of your name. As for we’re / learning about naming a child. For this assignment we had to interview some of our family members. Some of the questions included: 

How did our family end up in Canada?

Were there any specific reasons tied to Jewish history or persecution that prompted our family to move?

Why did our family choose Canada?

I interviewed my dad, mom and my zady. I really liked this project because I like learning history and my family history has really appealed to me. I really enjoyed this project because it slayed!

I learnt about some fun and interesting facts of how my family ended up in Canada. I learnt that my  great-grandfather was one of the first Jews in Corner Brook Newfoundland. I learnt that my family hid in a cargo train to get to Canada and that my my other great zady had a soup house attached to his house.

This project was interesting because I like learning about my family history and how they arrived in Canada.

I don’t think that if I were to do this project again I would have anything to improve. I was quite satisfied with my work. There is one thing that I forgot to clearly put in was if my family researched my name before they gave it to me and they did, if I were to do it again I would remember to try to insert  that piece of information in more clearly. 

And now my project:

Mishpacha Project

Peace  out:

Starielle