This week’s Torah portion is Ki Tetze and continues a repetition of the mitzvot by which Israel is commanded to live. It contains 74 mitzvot.  Jewish teachers have continually looked for an underlying rationale for the observance of the mitzvot. A commentary entitled Devarim Rabbah 6:3 gives us an insight. “Rabbi Pinchas ben Hama said: Wherever you go and whatever you do, pious deeds will accompany you. When you build a new house, ‘make a parapet for your roof’ (Deuteronomy 22:8). When you make a door, ‘write [the commandments] upon your doorposts’ (Deuteronomy 6:9). When you put on new clothing, don’t ‘wear cloth that combines wool and linen’ (Deuteronomy 19:27). When you cut your hair, don’t’ ‘round the corners of you head’ (Leviticus 19:27). When you plough your field, do not, ‘plow with an ox and an ass together’ (Deuteronomy 22:20). When you reap your harvest, and have forgotten a sheaf, don’t pick it up. Leave it for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow (Deuteronomy 24:19).”

The mitzvot are commandments and are commanded in order to imbue each common, mundane, human action with a sense of holiness. The mitzvot give us an opportunity to see and to seek out holiness in the everyday. It is our mission to take advantage of the opportunities presented to us.