Torah Basics: What's The Point of The 620 Mitzvoth (8 Minutes)

1:41That's the point of all the mitzvot. The reason we have all 620 mitzvot—613 biblical and 7 rabbinic, totaling 620— is not because Hashem needs you to do the mitzvot. It's because that is what He created you for. In order for you to connect to Him, you do it through the mitzvot. In order to occupy your mind with Torah, you have to do the mitzvot. Because if you just read Torah as if it's only for scholarly reasons, or to become a scholar, or to appear on the history channel to tell people what happened 3,000 years ago, that's not connecting to Hashem. That's just reading a book and observing what it says. You're not making a meaningful connection to the divine. But connecting to the Almighty 24 hours a day by minimizing yourself and realizing that you're a servant of Hashem, realizing that the only reason you exist is because of Hashem, making yourself a vessel of His Torah by publicizing His Torah, and making yourself a servant of Hashem.

3:06destroy your house every day, even though you told them not to. I love you, but they rob your bank account. I love you, but they lock you out of the house just because they think it's funny. Do me a favor, don't love me, just don't lock me out of the house. Don't talk to me that way. Have some respect. Have some decency. He gave you, and He's giving you everything. They destroy your house every day, even though you told them not to. I love you, but they rob your bank account. I love you, but they lock you out of the house just because they think it's funny. Do me a favor: don't love me, just don't lock me out of the house. Don't talk to me that way. Have some respect, have some decency. He gave you, and He's giving you everything. And the only reason why you exist is to connect to Him. That's what the mitzvot are for. You aren't put in this world to be a robot, just going to Bet Knesset, three seconds of praying, and you're already out. "Oh, I prayed Mincha, I prayed Mincha, I prayed Arvit, I prayed this, I prayed that." Did you even know where your head was, Bechlal? Did you pray, or did you just say a bunch of words while thinking about the business deal you have to do?

4:33Three hours we eat: first course, second course, third course, fourth course, fifth course—fish, meat, chicken, salads, chocolates, and whatever else we eat. Three hours we're eating. Then, in 30 seconds, we say we're finished. Three hours you're eating, and you can't spend two minutes actually saying Hashem's name the right way? You're chewing for three hours. You can't use that same mouth that's been chewing for three hours to say Birkat HaMazon like a human being? Say it out loud. Make sure everybody says Amen. You can't thank the Almighty for giving you the five-course meal for three minutes, four minutes? Most people, Baruch Hashem, have the privilege of not being sick to the point of not being able to go to the bathroom. We don't realize how much of a privilege it is to go to the bathroom. We don't realize. We go to the bathroom like it's supposed to be, the body's supposed to work that way. Like some idiot told me one day, you know, the body is so inefficient. Oh yeah? Let me see the next time you're constipated. Tell me how inefficient it is. Let me see the next time that you can't go to the bathroom for four days. Tell me how inefficient the body is. Let me see the next time that you see blurry vision and can't see.

6:00Tell me how inefficient the body is. Let me see the next time you find that you have cancer, and it's a cell that's growing for absolutely no reason whatsoever inside your body and killing everything in sight. Tell me what happens then. Tell me how inefficient the body is. Some guy says it's inefficient. We go to the bathroom, everything is fine, everything works, and we're thinking it's no big deal. You say, I'll show you what's up. You thank Hashem for letting everything work, for all the pipes. Everything is functioning, everything came in, everything came out. It doesn't matter if it's ice cream, steak, burgers, or shawarma; everything is converted into blood. Who told it to turn into blood? Everything was turned into blood. Whatever didn't turn into blood came out of the body. Whatever could be used to make you better, to make you healthier, stayed in. Whatever is not good came out. It's a perfectly efficient machine. And you think it's supposed to be that way. You come out of the bathroom and you forget about Hashem. It's supposed to be. You do Asher Yatzar, oh yeah, yeah, I did Asher Yatzar. Not even one second of thought went into it. Yeah, Asher Yatzar finished. Well, you can't think about it for a second?

7:14Why are you doing Asher Yatzar? You're playing with your phone? You're looking at the stock portfolio? You're watching TV? It takes 20 seconds to say Asher Yatzar. Say it like a human being. Say it like someone that loves Hashem. That's appreciating the fact that your body worked. You chewed for three hours. You can't say Birkat HaMazon with some kavanah? That's the thing that we have. We take a lot of things for granted. And it all starts when we don't take the Torah seriously.