[Avodah] Mitzva or Hechsher Mitzva

[Danny Schoemann]

>From a discussion on Areivim as to whether one should go to the
trouble of buying Tevel so as to fulfill the Mitzvah of taking
Terumoth and Ma'asroth.

> Do you kosher your own meat and poultry?  I certainly do not,
> yet it is a mitzva.

No it's not - and there's no Brocho when doing so. It's forbidden to
eat blood, so you somehow have to remove it from the meat before
eating it.
Maybe it's a Hechsher Mitzva.

> According to your logic one should become familiar with
> doing this so that one can do the mitzvah.

I still remember my Mom doing it 35 years ago in Johannesburg - and
I've studied the Halachos since it comes up every time I read through
the Kitzur (Siman 36), and I believe that all Jews should know how to
do it since it's the subject of a Siman in Shulchan Oruch.

> Most people do not make their own tzitzis. Again a mitzvah, I presume.

Again, a Hechsher Mitzva, if you're referring to tying them.
Again, all males should know how to do this, as above.

As to making the thread L'Shem Mitzvas Tzitzith; I don't know if it's
a Hechsher Mitzva; it's rather removed from the Mitzva.

I'm also unsure about the status of baking Matzos.

Building a Suka is interesting since making it pretty is "Ze Keli
V'anveihu" so spending time on the finishing touches may be a Mitzva.


> They do not write the parshios in their tefillin. A Mitzva, no?

No - Hechsher Mitzva.
Yes, all male Jews should learn Hilchos Safrus; the Kitzur wrote a
separate Sefer on it.

Writing a Sefer Torah is a Mitzva - yet people seem to prefer to
outsource it, if they do it at all. And even then they do it "in
memory of" and donate it to a shul, and risk missing the Mitzva.

Seems that Hechsher Mitzva is a rather large area; I wouldn't be
surprised if people have written books about it.

- Danny