Being that the name of the parsha is צו, which means command, it is appropriate to discuss the meaning of the word mitzvah, because the word mitzvah also comes from the word צו or ציווי, which means command. And therefore, even though not concerning every mitzvah the Torah uses the expression צו, sometimes the Torah says, אמור אל בני ישראל, or דבר אל בני ישראל, speak to the בני ישראל. As Rashi says in the beginning of Parshas Vayikra: לכל דברות, ולכל אמירות, ולכל ציוויים, that sometimes the expression is אמירה, sometimes דיבור, and sometimes ציווי. Nevertheless, all of them are called mitzvah. Even those mitzvot that the Torah uses the לשון אמור, speak to the בני ישראל, and it doesn't say command the בני ישראל, nevertheless, they are also called mitzvah, as we see from the expression, the nusach of the brachah. Before we do a mitzvah, any mitzvah, we make a brachah and we say, ברוך אתה השם אלקינו מלך העולם אשר קידשנו במצותיו וצונו, that you made us holy with your mitzvot and you commanded us to do whatever the mitzvah is. So we see that by every mitzvah we use the expression ציווי. And that is really the meaning of the word mitzvah, that this is a commandment of Hashem. Nevertheless, we find in sefarim that the word mitzvah has another meaning also. It comes from the word צוותא, which means צוותא וחיבור, a connection, because the concept of mitzvot are that through doing the mitzvah, a Jew connects himself kivayachol with Hashem. Now concerning these two פירושים in the word mitzvah: one peshat that means commandment, and the other peshat that means connection, it would seem that they are talking about two different parts of the mitzvah, because the commandment was the commandment of Hashem. The commandment has nothing to do with the person. The person who does the mitzvah fulfills the commandment of Hashem. But the word mitzvah, which means commandment, only stresses Hashem's part of it, the fact that Hashem commanded us to do the mitzvah. The word צוותא, which means connection, is only a thing when the person does the mitzvah. When the Yid fulfills the mitzvah, does what Hashem wants, then he connects himself to Hashem. So it seems like the peshat that mitzvah is from the word commandment is dealing about Hashem's part of it, that he commanded it, and the meaning in the mitzvah from לשון צוותא וחיבור, connection, that refers to the person: when he does the mitzvah, he connects himself to Hashem. But the truth is not so, as we will explain, that this connection that Yidden get to Hashem through the mitzvot is not only when they actually fulfill the mitzvah, but the עצם זאך that Hashem commanded us to do the mitzvah, that itself connects us to Hashem.

And the explanation is as follows: Hashem, who is the creator, and we, who are part of the creation, by itself, without the mitzvot, have no comparison and no connection whatsoever. Even more than that, if we're going to try to compare the metziut, the being of the creatures, of the creation, to the creator, they don't exist at all. As is known the famous mashal, parable, of a great scholar, a great chacham, that his chochmah was so great that his whole metziut, his whole being was only chochmah. That's all he was involved, was only wisdom, nothing more than that. So a simple person who has no connection to wisdom whatsoever, if you compare him to this chacham, in the world, so to speak, of the chacham, he doesn't exist at all. Because anything that's lower than chochmah, in the world of chochmah doesn't exist. For instance, let's use the example of a stone. A stone does not exist, so to speak, in the world of chochmah at all. And the way it doesn't exist is not peshat that chochmah is so much greater than the stone that that chochmah doesn't care about it and it doesn't have any meaning. It doesn't exist so much that you can't even exclude it. When you say that there are two things, and one is much better than the other, much greater than the other, and the other one is nothing compared to this big one, the fact that we're able to exclude it, that itself shows that it's in the same level, but one is greater than the other. But when two things are two different categories whatsoever, you can't even say that one is not the other. For instance, a person cannot even say that a certain chochmah, let's say, a certain idea is so great that you can't touch it with your hands. Why? Because חוש המישוש, the sense of touching, is not at all in the category of chochmah. And therefore, not only can't you touch the chochmah, you can't can't even say that you cannot touch the chochmah. Because when you say that you cannot touch something, this itself shows that it is in the category of being able to be touched, nevertheless you cannot touch it. But chochmah is so much beyond the חוש המישוש, beyond anything which is tangible, that you can't even exclude it by saying that chochmah is not tangible. For instance, there are other things that you cannot touch, but there you could at least exclude it, you could be שולל, you could say they cannot be touched. And these are the three things that the Gemara says in Pesachim דף כו עמוד א that אין בהם משום מעילה, and if a person has use of them, if they belong to הקדש, he is not עובר on the ענין of מעילה. And these three things are קול, that's voice, מראה, which is sight, וריח, and smell. For instance, if a person will hear the voice of the לויים in the בית המקדש where they sing, and he likes it and he has הנאה, he has pleasure from it, he is not עובר on מעילה. Or if he sees something nice that belongs to הקדש, he has הנאה from it, he has pleasure from it, he's not עובר מעילה. Or if he smells something that belongs to הקדש and it has a good smell and he has הנאה from it, he's not עובר מעילה. But these three things, you could say that you cannot touch it. The reason you're not עובר on מעילה, because you're not taking it away, because they're not tangible. But these three things are at least in the category of being tangible, and we exclude it and we say they are not tangible. So we are able to say that קול, if you hear a voice, a voice is not tangible, something you cannot touch. When you see something, the sight, which is really the light, cannot be touched. The smell cannot be touched. But this shows that there is some connection, it is in the category. But a person should say on a metziut of seichel that a certain idea cannot be touched, you can't even say that. Why? Because it is so far away from the חוש המישוש, from anything tangible, that you can't even exclude it. Now, if it's so concerning these two things, let's say, of seichel, of wisdom, and חוש המישוש, and the sense of touching, which means things which are tangible, we're able to say that there is no comparison whatsoever, we call it the ein eruch, there is no comparison whatsoever, not even in a negative way, not even a comparison by excluding it. Now, nevertheless, these two things are both creations. Even seichel is also part of the creation. So in one way, they are both in the category of creation, but since within the category of creation they are two separate categories completely, therefore there is no connection between the two, certainly there is no connection, much more than this, between the Creator and the creation. Which means, therefore, that when we look at the Creator, the creation as if it doesn't exist. As we say that in the level, in the world of seichel a rock doesn't exist, so in the world of the Creator, so to speak kivayachol, using the term world, but means in the level, in the דרגא the way it is מצד הבורא, there is no נברא, there is no creation. And therefore we, as human beings who are part of the creation, are no metziut whatsoever. And that's actually the meaning of the פסוק אין עוד מלבדו, there is nothing but Him. Because the way He is, the other things are not a metziut whatsoever.

So from this we understand that the mere fact that Hashem commanded the creation, commanded us, people, to do certain things, this itself makes a connection between Him and us. Because since we are no metzius whatsoever בהערך to Hashem, comparison to Hashem, so there is no such possibility of Him commanding us when we don't even exist. And therefore, the mere fact that Hashem commanded us to do certain things, this itself makes a kesher, a chibur between us two, between the Creator and the creation. And in this case too, using a mashal, if you have a mashal of a big chacham, and then you have an איש פשוט, a simple person who doesn't have anything to do with seichel, and therefore in the eyes of the big chacham that his whole life and his whole being is only seichel, only understanding, only wisdom, this איש פשוט doesn't exist at all. A person who has nothing to do with seichel doesn't exist. Imagine if this great person would come over to this איש פשוט and say to him, \"Please, I would want you to do something for me.\" So before he would even do it, the mere fact that this great chacham spoke to the איש פשוט and asked him to do something, this itself makes a connection between the great chacham and the איש פשוט. Or using a simpler example, if a great person in the secular world, if the president, for instance, of the United States would ask a simple citizen to do something for him, this itself would make a connection between the two, which otherwise there is no connection whatsoever. So it comes out that not only when the Yid fulfills the mitzvah of Hashem, he connects himself to Hashem, but the commandment itself, the fact that Hashem commanded us to do the mitzvah, which makes us into a metzius, into a being, an existing being, because otherwise, as we said before, we don't even exist in His world, and He speaks to us and commanded us to do a mitzvah, which means He makes us a metzius in His eyes, this itself makes a connection between the two of us. And this is the connection between these two pshatim, as we said in the beginning. One pshat is that mitzvah comes from the word ציווי, which means commandment. The other pshat in the word mitzvah is from the word צוותא וחיבור, which means connection. And we said that it seems as if they're talking about two aspects of the mitzvah. Because the first pshat of mitzvah, which is from the לשון of commandment, is speaking about Hashem commanding us to do the mitzvah. The מצוה מלשון צוותא וחיבור, from meaning connection, that happens at the time when the Yid fulfills the mitzvah. But what we said now is not so. That the word mitzvah, which means צוותא וחיבור, is not only at the time when the Yid fulfills the mitzvah, but it is also just from the fact that Hashem commanded us to do the mitzvah. This itself already makes the connection between us and Him, because otherwise we don't exist, so to speak, as we said before. And the truth is that because the connection comes not only when we do the mitzvah, but from the mere fact that Hashem commanded us to do the mitzvah, it would seem that even if a person does not keep the mitzvah, he chas v'shalom, God forbid, is מורד, revolts against Hashem and doesn't want to keep the mitzvah, nevertheless, there is a connection between this Yid and Hashem by the mere fact that Hashem told him to do the mitzvah. The fact that by him not doing it, it is considered that he is going against the will of Hashem, and he is revolting against Hashem, this itself shows that there is a connection between him and Hashem who gave him to do the mitzvah. Because we see by a goy, when the goy doesn't do the mitzvah, a goy does an aveirah, then we don't say he is going against the will of Hashem. Because a goy has no connection לכתחילה, Hashem never commanded him to do the mitzvah, and therefore, by him not doing it, he is not considered that he is going against Hashem. A Yid, because he was commanded, so Hashem wants him to do it, so Hashem connected Himself to the Yid just by the mere fact that He commanded him, and therefore, when a Yid doesn't do it, he is considered a פושע, he is considered a sinner. As it says in the Midrash Rabbah, in Eicha Rabbah, and the pasuk in איכה, קפיטל א׳ פסוק ח׳, ״חטא חטאה ירושלים״, which means that Jerusalem sinned. So the Midrash says that אומות העולם, אף על פי שחוטאין, אינם כלום. Goyim, even if they sin, it's nothing. Even though we know that the goyim also have the seven mitzvot that they were commanded, but the seven mitzvot that they were commanded is a different category completely. The seven mitzvot are only for ישוב העולם, being that Hashem created a world, and the world was created only בשביל ישראל, only because of the Yidden, that the Yidden should be able to do the mitzvot. So therefore the world has to be a civilized world, and therefore Hashem, when He put the human beings in the world, which is part of the creation for the sake of the Yidden, He wants them to be civilized. So therefore He commanded them to do the seven mitzvot, which is noga to the civilization of the world. And therefore we see that there are many different dinim concerning the seven mitzvot that the goyim have to keep, because their mitzvot is a different category altogether. It's not because Hashem makes them a מציאות and connects Himself to them, and that's why He gave them the mitzvot, but it is because Hashem connects Himself to the Yidden, and He wants everything that surrounds the Yidden should be proper, that's why He gave them the mitzvot. But their mitzvot are not really the connection that they have to Hashem, even though to a certain degree there is something, because after all, Hashem did command them, but the real tzavta vechibur, the real connection that comes about through mitzvot, is only concerning the mitzvot that Hashem gave to the בני ישראל. And therefore, when a Yid doesn't do a mitzvah, or he does an aveirah, he is considered a פושע, he goes against Hashem's will, and Hashem is upset. Similar to a mashal, that when a father sees that his son doesn't act properly, he gets upset. When a person sees someone else do something that's not proper, he doesn't get so upset. The question is why? Because the fact that he is a son, there is a connection between the two, so this person, by not doing what his father wants him to do, this itself expresses the connection that he has to his father, that his father gets angry at him. So a Yid, the fact that he was commanded to do the mitzvah, this itself is the connection, and by him not doing the mitzvah, also expresses the fact that he is connected, in a negative way, but it still shows that he is connected to Hashem, not like להבדיל גוי. And that's one of the explanations in the מאמר חז״ל in Sanhedrin דף מ״ד עמוד א׳ that ישראל אף על פי שחטא ישראל הוא, a Yid, even though he sinned, he's still a Yid. Why? Because the fact that we say that he sinned, this itself shows that he is a Yid. If he wouldn't be a Yid, we wouldn't consider it that he sinned. So this itself shows that he is connected to Hashem, which means that the עצם מצוה, the fact that he is supposed to do the mitzvah, is a connection in itself. Then the next step is, when a Yid actually does it, then the connection is much stronger because he fulfilled it. If chas ve-shalom a Yid doesn't do the mitzvah, then he is fighting that connection, but still it doesn't take away from the fact that he is supposed to do it, and that is the reason why we say he did an aveirah when he didn't, because he is supposed to, and the fact that he is supposed to do it itself is the connection that he has between himself and Hashem. And this is also the reason the Gemara uses the לשון ישראל אף על פי שחטא ישראל הוא, because the word Yisrael is an abbreviation of יש ששים רבוא אותיות לתורה, that there are 600,000 letters to the Torah, as it says in the Megaleh Amukot, אופן קפ״ו. And even though really in the ספר תורה we only have 305,000 letters, not 600,000, so the מפרשים already speak about it, that it doesn't mean just the letters themselves, but it means also the letters with some of the vowels, etc., etc. We don't know exactly the cheshbon, but there is a cheshbon of 600,000 letters to the Torah. So the word Yisrael represents the connection that a Yid has to Torah, which means to the mitzvot that are written in the Torah. And that's what the Gemara means. A Yid, even when he sins, he is still Yisrael, he still has a connection to the Torah, because even if he sinned, he is still מחוייב to do all the mitzvot. And the fact that Hashem wants him to do the mitzvot, and the one that he didn't do, he did an aveirah, which means he went against the will of Hashem, this itself shows on his connection to Hashem. And the fact that we say that he did an aveirah and he's doing something wrong and Hashem is upset, that shows that there is a connection between him and Hashem through the mere ציווי, the mere commanding that Hashem commanded him to do the mitzvah. So we can understand how much more it is when a person actually does the mitzvah, then not only is he connected because Hashem commanded him to do it, but then he connects himself even stronger because he actually fulfills the ציווי that Hashem gave him, similar to a mashal that if this great person asks a very simple person to do him a favor, so we said before the mere fact that he asked him to do it itself makes a connection, but when he actually does the favor, then as we understand, the connection is much stronger and much greater.