These mitzvot could be seen as examples of a different kind of an awareness practice in that they don’t really involve an action such as lighting candles or even saying a blessing, but rather require cultivating fundamental beliefs. They could also be considered as particularly important or fundamental commandments. If so, I wondered whether we should add other traditional mitzvot to this category of “constant commandments.”

      One commandment seemed an obvious addition to the category of constant commandments. Remembering the Exodus from Egypt can serve as a model for having an ongoing awareness of an important value – in this case, the value of freedom. Moving from slavery to freedom shaped our experience as a people and is an essential aspect of Judaism. It is an ongoing experience, both for us as individuals and as a society. As the Torah repeats over and over again, we are instructed to treat the stranger and those on the margins of society with compassion because we were strangers and we were slaves in Egypt. We are supposed to remember the slavery and the Exodus every day, not only at Passover. 

      This is a major principle of Judaism. It certainly should be understood as one of the mitzvot of awareness. It also demonstrates how the mitzvot of awareness are supposed to shape how we act in the world. We don’t just intellectually remember the experience of Egypt – this mitzvah is meant to guide how we treat other people, especially the more vulnerable among us. While there isn’t a specific ritual or action attached to it, this commandment encourages an ongoing awareness and a sensitivity that demands we engage in the world to help those in need of assistance or protection. Working for social justice is a constant commandment.

     Are there other such principles by which you want to live your life? How would you bring them to consciousness in a regular (ritual) way in order to make them more present for you?

Adapted from Judaism Disrupted: A Spiritual Manifesto for the 21st Century