In a nutshell, Itza Mitzva is a liberal mitzvot study group that I lead once a month with my rabbi in Chicago. The first Wednesday of the month, we head to Matilda, my favorite bar, and tackle a mitzva or issue from a Jewish perspective. We pick the topic - past topics have included kaddish, mikva, kashrut, preparing for High Holy Days, abortion and modern sexual ethics. Itza Mitzva is supported by an ROI grant and was my project in both 2007 and 2009. 

I started Itza Mitzva in 2006 after a well-documented blog fight with CK of Jewlicious. Our fight? Where can Reform Jews learn about mitzvot. I realized most adult Reform Jews didn't take Intro to Judaism like I did, and that my synagogue lacked this opportunity. I asked Rabbi Michael Zedek if he would teach a mitzva study group and we've been meeting ever since. ROI's Speakers Bureau helped to fund my trip to Los Angeles and Long Beach for Jewlicious Festival 6.0, so I could go and teach college students about Itza Mitzva. While I was there I led a session of Itza and then spoke on a panel about DIY (do-it-yourself) learning.

How does Itza work?

1. What mitzva? We bounce around between specific mitzvot, questions of observance, holiday education and bigger issues in society.

2. What does the Torah say? Since I'm blessed with a rabbi to co-lead the group, my responsibility is only organizing and topic-picking. He does the preparation and teaching. If you don't have a rabbi, find where the mitzva is discussed in the Torah and other Jewish texts. 

3. How could it be observed? If your group doesn't know how the mitzva would be observed, it is important to talk about how. How do you put on tefillin? How do you say kaddish? How do you prepare for Passover?

4. Why might or might not a liberal Jew choose to observe this mitzva? Since we are approaching our mitzva study from a Reform perspective, we each decide "Is this meaningful to me?" and then whether to observe it or not. Our rabbi helps us understand why the mitzva may be more or less common among our peers and helps us get to a place where we can make an informed choice about observance.

At Jewlicious 6.0, Rabbi Drew Kaplan joined me as co-leader and we talked about Shabbat. I shared what I could remember from Torah, Rabbi Drew added a bit more to the conversation, and then as a group we talked about how we observe Shabbat, what is meaningful to each of us and what we might do in the future.

On the DIY panel, I talked about how to faciliate Itza Mitzva, why we started the group and why we continue to meet month after month. I also encouraged people to take the idea and run with it.

If you would like to replicate Itza Mitzva in your community, I can send you the official logo and help you get things started. Be in touch with me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Leah Jones is the owner of Natiiv Arts & Media where she is a social media coach for rockers and rabbis. She's also the blogger behind Accidentally Jewish.

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Awesome!
written by David Abitbol , March 21, 2010

And for the record, I wasn't fighting with you! Now I think the next step should be.... web site!

I'm thankful for that online interaction, despite the fact that it began acrimoniously. Your presence and participation at Jewlicious was well received and quite an honor for us. Can't wait to see where Itza Mitzva goes next.

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