In the Torah there is a mitzvah not to add to the commandments. [That is don't add and don't subtract. That excludes groups that add mitzvot and say "Yes keep the mitzvot but in order for you to come your Tikun {soul correction} you need to do this added mitzvah." Even though the added mizvah is not one of the commandments in the Five Books of Moses. Eg belief in some tzadik is not one of the commandments of the Torah.
But to emphasize one particular mizvah is something we do find in Chazal [the words of the Sages].
And the Torah itself does in fact have one particular mizvah that it considers to be the most important one -not to worship any other god besides the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Thus worship of any tzadik would seem to be excluded.
Another problem with making up new mizvot is the law of Conservation of Morality. People by nature have only a certain amount of energy they can spend on being moral, It is like the law of conservation of Energy. If one adds rituals and mizvot, there is no energy left for real obligations.
And once people are strict in food preparation or other rituals then when it comes to actual obligations they feel they are already good enough people and don't have to worry about these other obligations.
Thus we find that the most immoral people are ultra religious. This is because they have no energy left to be decent human beings after spending all their mental energy and time on rituals.
Therefore we find in Litvak yeshivas the emphasis is on "learning Torah," and avoiding Bitul Torah so that one knows his real obligations.
What the Torah is essentially doing is to limit the number of possible things you can do to make your life better. When the Torah says don't add to the commandments it is saying in essence that there is no conceivable ritual you could add to make things better. The reason is that no matter what you would add it would be by definition going against the express command of the Torah not to add. So it might promise great reward but it is a lie. And that is in fact what I think about all cults. They promise things they can not deliver.
But to emphasize one particular mizvah is something we do find in Chazal [the words of the Sages].
And the Torah itself does in fact have one particular mizvah that it considers to be the most important one -not to worship any other god besides the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Thus worship of any tzadik would seem to be excluded.
Another problem with making up new mizvot is the law of Conservation of Morality. People by nature have only a certain amount of energy they can spend on being moral, It is like the law of conservation of Energy. If one adds rituals and mizvot, there is no energy left for real obligations.
And once people are strict in food preparation or other rituals then when it comes to actual obligations they feel they are already good enough people and don't have to worry about these other obligations.
Thus we find that the most immoral people are ultra religious. This is because they have no energy left to be decent human beings after spending all their mental energy and time on rituals.
Therefore we find in Litvak yeshivas the emphasis is on "learning Torah," and avoiding Bitul Torah so that one knows his real obligations.
What the Torah is essentially doing is to limit the number of possible things you can do to make your life better. When the Torah says don't add to the commandments it is saying in essence that there is no conceivable ritual you could add to make things better. The reason is that no matter what you would add it would be by definition going against the express command of the Torah not to add. So it might promise great reward but it is a lie. And that is in fact what I think about all cults. They promise things they can not deliver.
