Tazri’a: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik on marriage, mizvot and a Jew’s relationship to God

Abstract

There are, however, selected mitzvot where the act and the fulfillment are separate from one another, the classic example being prayer. Here the act (ma 'aseh) is the recital of words found in fixed texts; it is external, public and demonstrable. The fulfillment (kiyyum), by contrast, is "in the heart." Prayer is, after all, "service of the heart" (Ta'anit 2a); it is internal, private and personal. If one merely recites words, one has not fulfilled the mitzvah. This is also the case with regard to the recital of the Shema where the ma 'aseh or act consists in the verbal declaration of a fixed text, like prayer, while the kiyyum or fulfillment is "accepting upon oneself the yoke of the kingdom of heaven," a deeply inner personal experience. Similar, as well, are the mitzvot of blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah and repentance where the act and the fulfillment are separate from one another. (from Introduction)