Chabad mitzvah campaigns


Chabad mitzvah campaigns, or Mivtzo'im refer to several campaigns launched by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson. From 1967 to 1976, Schneerson said all Jews should observe ten basic "beginner's mitzvot"
. In the years that followed there were campaigns for additional mitzvot as well.

The ten campaigns

  • Tefillin: Men are encouraged to wear the tefillin every morning excluding Shabbat and festivals. Started in 1967.
  • Shabbat Candles: Women and girls are encouraged to light candles 18 minutes before sunset, on Friday afternoon to start the sabbath, and also to start festivals.
  • Mezuzah: Says that every Jewish home should have a mezuzah on its doorposts. Started in the year 1974.
  • Torah Study: Says to study a portion of Torah daily.
  • Tzedakah : Says to give charity daily.
  • Holy Books: Encouraged furnishing homes with as many holy books as possible. At a minimum, a Chumash , the Psalms, and a Prayer Book.
  • Kosher dietary laws: Says to eat only kosher foods. Launched in 1975.
  • Love Your Fellow: Says that Rabbi Akiva's injunction to "Love your fellow as yourself" should be applied by Jews to fellow Jews and that this is among the greatest commandments a Jew can fulfill.
  • Education: Says that every Jewish child should receive a Jewish education.
  • Family Purity: Encourages observance of Jewish menstrual laws.

    Seasonal campaigns

Additionally, Schneerson called for numerous other campaigns, some related to holidays:
Others campaigns applied all year round:
  • the campaign for all Jews to study Chasidic philosophy;
  • the campaign for all Jews to recite before morning prayer the phrase, "I hereby take upon myself to fulfill the positive , 'Love your fellow as yourself,'" and after prayer to recite the verse, "Indeed, the righteous will extol Your Name; the upright will dwell in Your presence."
  • the campaigns in support of large families;
  • the campaign for a Moment of silence in public schools;
  • the campaign that every Jew "purchase" a letter to be inscribed in a Torah scroll;
  • the campaign for all Jews to celebrate their Jewish birthdays with a festive gathering, and to undertake to increase in Torah, prayer, and good deeds in the coming year;
  • the campaign for all Jews to study Torah on topics related to belief in the Moshiach and the Jewish redemption; and many more.
  • the campaign calling on every Jew to reach out to non-Jews to teach and encourage them to adopt the Noahide laws.

    History of Mitzvah Campaigns

Schneerson encapsulated his outreach activity in the slogan of "Uforatzto" "you shall spread out." The origin of this phrase is in God's words to Ya'akov, "You shall spread out to the west, to the east, to the north, and to the south." Schneerson would use it in a borrowed sense to refer to the global scale of the outreach activities that he was calling for.
Schneerson's general outreach activity began already in the early years of leadership, but was accelerated with the call for encouraging these specific practices.

Tefillin campaign

The first Mitzvah Campaign was the Tefillin campaign, an international campaign by Chabad Hasidim to influence all male Jews, regardless of their level of religious observance, to fulfill the mitzvah of Tefillin daily. Schneerson announced this campaign two days before the outbreak of the Six-Day War, on June 3, 1967. After the victory of the Six Day War and the seizure of the Western Wall, Schneerson intensified this call, and his Hasidim gave hundreds of thousands of Jews the opportunity to don tefillin, many for the first time.
The campaign received some opposition at first. Over the course of that summer, some torah observant Jews raised halakhic questions about the propriety of the campaign. In the fall, Schneerson publicly addressed these issues at the farbrengen of parashat bereshit that year, later published in the rabbi's books of Likkutei Sichos. Shortly afterward, the yearly conference of the heads of the World Agudath Israel took place, at which one of the speakers publicly criticized Schneerson and the tefillin campaign. Schneerson responded to this criticism at the farbrengen of parashat toledot that year.
On one occasion Schneerson gave two reasons for his particular choice of campaign, saying, "The first reason is that there is a passage in the Talmudic tractate of Rosh Hashanah which says that once a Jew wears Tefillin on his head—even one time in his life—he falls into a different category as a Jew." Secondly, "When a Jew in Miami sees pictures of Jews at the Western Wall wearing Tefillin, he gets an urge to put on Tefillin himself."

Torah Study campaign

Schneerson would refer to these outreach activities as "the ten Mitzvah Campaigns." He emphasised their importance, saying:
Furthermore, he stressed a joyful approach to outreach:
He also stressed warmth and friendliness:
He taught that the Jewish education and love your fellow Jew campaigns are all-encompassing campaigns, of which all the other campaigns are a subset.