Mitzvah "mitzvah" (some "mitzvot" are given reasons in the Torah). In its secondary meaning, Hebrew "mitzvah", as with English "commandment", refers to a moral deed performed within a religious duty. As such, the term "mitzvah" has also come to express an individual act of human kindness in keeping with the law. The expression includes a sense of heartfelt sentiment beyond mere legal duty, as "you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). The tertiary meaning of "mitzvah" also refers to the fulfillment of a "mitzvah". The feminine noun ' () occurs over 180 times in the Masoretic Text of the
Who is a Jew? are given male names and that biblical characters are always referenced by their fathers' names. However, a minority of modern Karaites believe that Jewish identity requires that both parents be Jewish, and not only the father. The divergence of views has become an issue because Orthodox and Conservative communities do not recognize a person as Jewish if only their father is Jewish. For the person to be accepted as Jewish by an Orthodox or Conservative community (for example, on an occasion of their bar/bat mitzvah or marriage), they require a formal conversion (in accordance with halakhic standards). Orthodox Judaism has