613 Mitzvahs

Here is a good one… the term mitzvah has also come to express an act of human kindness.   In the Jewish Religion, it is a commandment of a good deed and we are asked to fulfill 613 Mitzvot in our lifetime.

My wife, Paula, was in a grocery store last year.  She was standing in line behind a woman in the check-out line.  She had watched this woman for quite some time struggle to get around the store with an identical set of five year old twin girls, one with cerebral palsy, a baby under one, and a hyperactive boy about 7.  The woman was doing her best to gather her groceries, diapers, and paper products while pushing the cart with the baby in it, keeping track of the boy, and pulling one of the twins in a wheelchair while the other one walked along side.  After a short time, the boy's grocery store meter ran out.  He couldn’t contain himself anymore and he started to act up.  The woman calmly moved toward the checkout counter just ahead of Paula.

As the clerk rang up the order and the woman gathered her money and food stamps, she realized that she didn't have enough to pay for her groceries and started to tell the clerk what she had to leave behind.  People in the back of the line were getting frustrated and anxious about how long she was taking to decide. Paula signaled to the clerk silently that she would pay for the woman’s groceries.  The clerk said simply that he made a mistake, took some of the money and food stamps the woman offered, and gave her all of the food and products she needed.   The woman was so thankful and occupied with her four children, she did not realize what was happening.    Another person helped to bag the items and offered to push the cart out to her car so she could better manage the twins.  He gently lifted the seven year old into the cart and gave him “a ride” to the parking lot.  Paula paid for the items along with her groceries without the mother ever knowing a stranger made it possible for her to take her groceries home.  

This story has stuck with me and shows how one small deed can make a huge difference in the lives of others - whether it is a phone call, a visit, giving up your seat on a bus, or a gift.   One of the key ingredients to a happy life is performing these acts of kindness.  Maybe this is why Mitzvot is at the core of the Jewish faith.

How will you make someone's life better this week?  What will your "acts of human kindness" be? 

Shalom