הַנִּסָּיוֹן הֶרְאָה, אֲשֶׁר כְּשֶׁמְּמַעְטִים בַּחֲקִירוֹת, וְעוֹבְדִים בְּסֵדֶר וּבְתוֹקֶף, עַל פִּי הַנְּעִימוּת שֶׁל תּוֹרָה, יָמִין מְקָרֶבֶת וּשְׂמֹאל דּוֹחָה, אֲזַי פּוֹעֲלִים בְּוַדַּאי, וּבִּפְרָט בָּעִנְיָנִים הָעִיקָּרִים מֵעִקְּרֵי הַדָּת.

Experience has shown that when one limits his speculation [about what to do] and works instead in a structured and determined way, [but simultaneously] according to the Torah’s pleasant ways — “the right hand draws near, while the left hand parries”1 — he will certainly have an effect [on others]. This is particularly true with regard to [communicating] the fundamental principles of our faith.2

Delving Deeply

When the Rebbe launched the ten mitzvah-outreach campaigns (“the mivtza’im”) and especially, when the “mitzvah tanks” (trailers equipped with Jewish educational media) brought these campaigns to the streets of hundreds of major cities around the world, many individuals raised their voices in protest. “Judaism places a heavy emphasis on intellectuality,” they exclaimed. “A person must know what he is doing before he puts on tefillin. First, teach people about G‑d, the Torah, and the particular mitzvah they are being asked to fulfill. After they have gained an intellectual understanding of the practice, they can be invited to fulfill it.”

Refuting this argument, the Rebbe explained that the very Giving of the Torah at Sinai was contingent upon the Jewish people’s declaring Naaseh venishma — “We will do and we will listen,”3 which revealed their willingness to obey before they understood. Moreover, he asserted that the mitzvah campaign, whose goal was more practical than theoretical, would bring many thousands of Jews back to Jewish practice. The years that followed have borne out the truth of the Rebbe’s assertion. As many readers will testify, there are countless individuals around the world whose first step to Jewish practice and study began with an encounter at a Lubavitch mitzvah-mobile.