What is a mitzvah? Meaning in Judaism and everyday Jewish life
By the My Daily Torah team · Updated
In short
A mitzvah (plural mitzvot) is Hebrew for "commandment," one of the 613 instructions Jewish tradition counts in the Torah. In everyday Jewish and Yiddish-flavored English, it also just means a good deed. So when your grandma says "it's a mitzvah," she means "that's a kind thing to do." Both meanings are right, and they're more connected than they look.
So what does mitzvah actually mean?
The same word means both "commandment" and "nice thing you did." Which one you hear depends on who's talking.
In Hebrew, mitzvah literally means commandment. It's the word the Torah, the Five Books of Moses, uses for the things God asks people to do or not do.
In everyday Jewish speech, shaped a lot by Yiddish, "a mitzvah" is any good deed. Driving a friend to the airport at 5 a.m.? Total mitzvah.
It's also hiding inside a word you already know. Bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah mean "son of the commandment" and "daughter of the commandment." They mark the age (13 for boys, 12 or 13 for girls) when a young person becomes responsible for the mitzvot themselves.
Where does the idea come from?
״כי המצוה הזאת אשר אנכי מצוך היום לא נפלאת הוא ממך ולא רחקה הוא״
“This mitzvah I'm commanding you today isn't too hard for you, and it isn't far away.”
Near the end of the Torah, Moses gives his last big speech to the Israelites before they enter the land without him. In the middle of it, he tells them the mitzvah isn't some impossible, far-off thing.
In the Hebrew, the word for "commanding" in that line comes from the same root as mitzvah. So a mitzvah isn't a rule floating in the air. It's something someone is asking of you.
People come back to this line when Judaism starts to feel intimidating. From the very start, the whole thing was pitched as within reach.
Why 613, and who counted?
״שש מאות ושלש עשרה מצות נאמרו לו למשה, שלש מאות וששים וחמש לאוין כמנין ימות החמה, ומאתים וארבעים ושמונה עשה כנגד איבריו של אדם״
“Moses was given 613 mitzvot: 365 don'ts, one for each day of the solar year, and 248 do's, matching the parts of the human body.”
You've probably heard there are 613 mitzvot. That number comes from the Talmud, the huge ancient record of Jewish debates and stories, where one of the sages counts them up.
The split is 248 positive mitzvot ("do this") and 365 negative ones ("don't do this"). The same passage adds a detail that makes the numbers click.
Read that way, the mitzvot cover every day of the year and every part of you.
Many of the 613 deal with things like the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, priests, courts and farming in the land of Israel. So the ones people meet in daily life are a much smaller set.
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What does doing a mitzvah actually look like?
A lot of the mitzvot people actually do day to day are small and physical, the kind of thing you'd barely notice someone doing.
Lighting candles on Friday evening for Shabbat, the weekly day of rest. Dropping a few dollars in a charity box, which Jewish tradition calls tzedakah. Visiting a friend who's sick. Saying a quick thank-you before you eat.
Many come with a short blessing or a set way of doing them, so there's a rhythm: you pause, you say a line, you do the thing. Others are just about how you treat people.
You don't need to sign up for anything. People do one, then another, at whatever pace makes sense to them.
Why do people still bother?
״שמצוה גוררת מצוה, ועברה גוררת עברה״
“One mitzvah pulls another one along, and one wrong pulls another one along too.”
Pirkei Avot ("Ethics of the Fathers"), a short collection of life advice from the ancient sages, has a theory about this. It's basically about momentum.
Anyone who's started going to the gym, or stopped texting an ex, knows it's true. One good move makes the next one easier, and it works the other way too.
The same book also says to take a small mitzvah as seriously as a big one, since you never know which one really counts. For a lot of people, that's the appeal. It's less about racking up points and more about making a regular Tuesday mean a little more.
How can you try one with zero background?
Start with the everyday meaning. Do one deliberately kind thing today and call it a mitzvah in your head. That small label changes how it feels.
If you want something more traditional, lots of people start with Friday night candles or setting aside a little money for tzedakah each week. Neither needs Hebrew or a synagogue.
Some people pick one mitzvah and stick with it for a month before adding another. That's the "one pulls another along" idea, in real life.
Questions people ask
What is a mitzvah in Hebrew?
Mitzvah is Hebrew for "commandment," and the plural is mitzvot. Jewish tradition counts 613 of them in the Torah: 248 positive (things to do) and 365 negative (things not to do). The word also shows up in bar and bat mitzvah, which mean "son" and "daughter of the commandment."
What does mitzvah mean in Yiddish and Jewish culture?
In Yiddish and Yiddish-flavored English, a mitzvah is any good deed or kind act, not just a formal commandment. If your aunt says "it's a mitzvah to call your grandmother," she means it's a kind thing to do and also just the decent thing to do.
What is a mitzvah project?
A mitzvah project is a volunteer or charity project that many bar and bat mitzvah students take on. Kids might collect food, raise money for a cause they care about, or volunteer somewhere regularly. It marks becoming responsible for mitzvot by actually doing some.
What is a mitzvah tank?
A mitzvah tank is a van used by a Jewish outreach movement to invite passersby to do a mitzvah on the spot, like lighting candles. If you've spent time in New York, you've probably walked past one.
Sources
Every Hebrew line on this page is copied word for word from the source and checked against Sefaria, the free online library of Jewish texts. The English is our own translation.