Statement: It is well known that there are 613 commandments within the Torah and it is the obligation of each and every Jew to try to fulfill those applicable commandments. As it says in this week’s Torah portion:
[1] You should surely keep the Mitzvos of HaShem your G-d and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you.
And in the very next verse, it states,
[2] And you shall do what is proper and good in the eyes of the L-rd in order that it may be well with you...
Question: What instruction of, “Do what is proper & good...” is different from the first verse where it says: ‘You should surely keep the Mitzvos of HaShem...’? Isn’t “keeping the Mitzvos” already doing “what is proper and good”?
Answer: Rashi answers this by saying: “what is proper & good: This refers to compromising and acting beyond the strict demands of the law.” [3]
The Talmud learns from the above that one should avoid actions if they are not considered right & good, even if they think they are legally entitled to do so. [4] This is what “acting beyond the strict demands of the law” means. Therefore, there are times when one must look to compromise in order to create peace among one another.
It is peculiar that the wording of the Hebrew phrase is lifnim mishurat hadin. Although this is almost always translated as “Beyond the letter of the law”. Literally, however, the word lifnim doesn’t mean “beyond” but rather “within”.
Perhaps Chazal meant to hint at a deeper meaning by using this wording. When we seek to create peace and “go outside” the strict rules of Halacha, we aren’t going “beyond” or “outside” the law per se, but rather we are going “within”. A Jew shouldn’t go outside, or beyond the shura (line) of the law, for that would indicate a departure—a leaving of the law. But rather they go lifnim—within—into the essence of what the goal of a Mitzvah is all about, namely to create peace and connect us to each other. It’s not “reaching beyond”, but rather “reaching within”. Peace is an integral part of Torah as the Talmud says, “The (halachos of the) entire Torah was given for the sake of peace.” [5]
Lesson: In Tanya, it says “The second, uniquely Jewish, soul is truly a part of G‑d above.” [6]
When it comes to strengthening our bonds to HaShem through the performance of Mitzvos, we don’t need to reach beyond ourselves, but rather inwards—into the G-dly essence of who we truly are, for that is what Torah and doing Mitzvos is all about.
