Obligations of the Body, the Holy Tongue, and Gratuitous Love: 7 Jewish Concepts Everyone Should Know

1. Meat and Milk

As part of the laws of kosher, it is forbidden to consume meat and dairy products that have been cooked together. This prohibition includes not only eating these mixtures but also deriving any benefit from meat and milk that were cooked together, in addition to the prohibition of cooking meat and milk together.

2. Ahavat Chinam (Gratuitous Love)

Ahavat chinam is a concept that first appeared in rabbinic literature in the 20th century as the opposite of gratuitous hatred (sinat chinam), which the Talmud identifies as the cause for the destruction of the Second Temple.

The concept first appears in the teachings of Rabbi Yechezkel of Kozmir, who said: "Just as the destruction of the Temple came through sinat chinam, so too we must repair this through ahavat chinam, where every Jew loves their fellow freely."

The concept became widely known through Rav Kook's use of it in his book Orot Hakodesh: "If we were destroyed and the world was destroyed with us through sinat chinam, we shall be rebuilt and the world will be rebuilt with us through ahavat chinam..."

3. Lashon Hakodesh (The Holy Tongue)

Lashon Hakodesh is a term for the Hebrew language, which is the language spoken by our forefathers, the language in which the Torah was given to Moshe, and which was used throughout generations for Torah study, prayer, halachic rulings, Jewish books and poems, and as a spoken language for all aspects of life.

Our Sages, refer to the language of the Torah as "lashon hakodesh." In the Midrash Bereishit Rabbah it is said: "'She [Chava] shall be called woman, for she was taken from man [Adam]' (Bereishit 2:23), from here we learn that the Torah was given in lashon hakodesh. Rabbi Pinchas and Rabbi Chilkiya in the name of Rabbi Simon said: Just as the Torah was given in lashon hakodesh, so too was the world created in lashon hakodesh."

In the Tosefta it is said: "A small child who knows how to speak, his father teaches him 'Shema,' Torah, and lashon hakodesh." 

4. A Mitzvah Enabled by Transgression

A mitzvah enabled by transgression (mitzvah haba'ah b'aveirah) is a Talmudic concept that refers to a mitzvah that was fulfilled by a preceding transgression. In practice, fulfilling a mitzvah by violating a transgression is not considered a mitzvah at all.

The concept is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud in several places, including:

• In Tractate Bava Kamma, regarding reciting a blessing over the mitzvah of challah made from stolen grain, based on the verse "One who blesses a thief, blasphemes Hashem."
• In Tractate Sukkah, in the context of the prohibition against using a stolen lulav for the mitzvah of the four species on Sukkot. The prohibition against fulfilling a mitzvah with a stolen lulav is derived from the verse in the book of Malachi: "You bring what was stolen, the lame and the sick; when you bring such an offering, will I accept it from your hand? says Hashem" (Malachi 1:13).

5. Calculating the End

"Calculating the end" (Chishuv Haketz) refers to calculating the end of exile and the beginning of redemption, the Messianic era, resurrection of the dead, or the end of days.

Throughout the generations, Amoraim and rabbis have criticized attempts to calculate the end due to failed predictions that weakened faith in the coming of the Messiah.

The Rambam, in his Epistle to Yemen, states: "You should know that in truth it is not possible for any person to ever know the end."

The Maharal of Prague explained: "Know that everything the Sages said regarding the end, they were not declaring that it would definitely happen at that time and hour, but rather they revealed to us a time that was suitable and appropriate for the end to come. Until that time, it is not appropriate for the end to come at all, until that time which is prepared. But they did not mean to say that the time and end will definitely be at that time, for this is impossible as has been explained, since the end is among the hidden things which cannot be revealed with clarity." (Netzach Yisrael 44)

6. Obligations of the Body

"Obligations of the body" (chovot haguf) are commandments that a person is obligated to fulfill regardless of his geographic location (i.e., they apply both in Israel and the diaspora). These commandments can be contrasted with 'obligations of the land' (or in the language of the Mishnah "commandments dependent on the land"), which are only binding in the Land of Israel.

Most of the 613 commandments are chovot haguf, such as honoring parents, putting on tefillin, and observing Shabbat. There are even negative commandments that belong to this category, such as the prohibition against forbidden relationships, refraining from eating non-kosher animals, and others.

7. Merit of our Forefathers

The "merit of our forefathers" (zechut avot) is a concept that indicates that Hashem benefits the Jewish people on account of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, even when 'the children,' the Jewish people, do not deserve it.

Although the concept originally referred to the three patriarchs, 'Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov,' sometimes the term 'zechut avot' refers to recent generations, whose good deeds have merited their descendants.

As a case in point, consider the Ramban's commentary to the book of Shemot: "'This is My remembrance for all generations' - refers back to the God of Avraham, the God of Yitzchak, and the God of Yaakov, for He will never forget the covenant of the forefathers, and throughout all generations when they mention the God of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, He will hear and answer them..."