About The
Mitzvah Campaigns

The hallmark of the Rebbe’s mitzvah campaigns is their very public nature. Indeed, many other Jewish leaders struggled to understand the Rebbe’s approach, and the mitzvah campaigns generated heated opposition. How was it appropriate to send tender yeshivah students to the streets to offer random people the opportunity to do a mitzvah? Wasn’t that putting their own education at risk? And wasn’t it dangerous or, at the very least, off-putting, to approach people who were not necessarily receptive?

For people who are somewhat shy or inhibited, approaching strangers and asking them, “Are you Jewish?” can be uncomfortable. But the Rebbe addresses this inhibition as well. One commandment in Israel was to establish “cities of refuge” for people who committed negligent homicide, where they would be protected from the vengeance of the victim’s family. In chassidic teachings, the concept of cities of refuge represents the entire idea of teshuvah, return to G-d. When we’ve done wrong, we need to retreat to a refuge for the soul where we can meditate and make amends. As part of the commandment to establish cities of refuge, there was also an obligation to post signs all along the road pointing the way to the city of refuge. Similarly, in our day, all of us have an obligation to serve as living “road signs” to help others find the way to spiritual refuge.

True, it can be awkward to literally stand at a roadside offering people Shabbat candles or tefillin. It would be far easier to retreat into our own comfort zone. But when we truly care for another person and understand the value of a mitzvah for that individual and for the entire world, it becomes easier to brave our own fears and self-consciousness in order to help others.

The True Power of a Mitzvah

Arguably, none of us are aware of the true impact of our mitzvot, because it will not be revealed to us until Moshiach comes.

When we do a mitzvah, do we need to be consciously aware that we’re doing a mitzvah? For example, if someone is a vegetarian and happens to consume only kosher products, do they get credit for keeping kosher? According to one view, the answer is yes. As long as you did a good deed (or refrained from doing a bad deed), your mitzvot will still have a powerful impact on the universe, bringing healing and harmony to all of creation. As another example, if a coin falls out of your pocket and a poor person finds it and benefits from it, you still get the credit for doing a mitzvah. Arguably, none of us are aware of the true impact of our mitzvot, because it will not be revealed to us until Moshiach comes. Each mitzvah that we do fuses the physical with the spiritual and draws Divine light into this world, but we don’t see it. We don’t sense it. Through study of Chassidut, we are given just a hint of the magnificence of each good deed.  

When the Rebbe introduced the mitzvah campaigns, the connection of doing mitzvot and bringing Moshiach was implied, but never made explicit. In 1991, the Rebbe announced a fundamental change. All along we’ve been working to promote Torah and mitzvot while focusing on the meaning and impact of each mitzvah for itself. Until now, we have done mitzvot to prepare and refine the world for the coming of Moshiach. But now the work of refinement is done. Our work now is to prepare ourselves to actually receive Moshiach. During all these generations, we’ve been drawing peace, harmony and light into the world through our mitzvot, but we were oblivious to those effects. Now the time has come for us to be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor and to experience the promised era of peace and tranquility in the time of Moshiach.