Me neither
However, many of the Mitzvahs as we see them in the code of Jewish Law are designed to be "fences".
True. yet they are all based on the "written mizvas" (Dehorayta)
The fences were decreed by Rabbis in order to help prevent infractions that were common.
Agreed.
And that's why there is so much various in observance among people who identify themselves as Jewish.
Only when it comes to the fences. there is no debate on Dehorayta,
Choosing to observe a Mitzvah is not a matter of black-and-white,
It is when it comes to the written ones.
literal interpretation of the Torah.
Example: It is a Mitzvah to abstain from mixing milk and meat. Jewish Law for this prohibition includes poultry. However this Mitzvah traces its source to the biblical verses: Exodus 23:19 and Exodus 34:26. These verses do not include poultry.
True.
But ALL Jewish (religious) people have an agreement about not mixing any for of meat with milk and not only not cooking the lamb in its mother's milk (which is the written mizva).
How come? there is a big explanation surrounding it.
The first has to do with the mizva of foreign gods.
The cooking of meat in milk was practiced by pegan believers.
the second has to do with what milk rep[resents in the jewish religion and what meat represents. it is believed to be a bad mixture to "mix" these two "spiritual forces".
The fences are the amount of time you need to keep between eating meat and milk,or the fact you need to keep a different set of dishes for milk and meat... these are the fences. the fact of not eating milk and meat is accepted by all Jewish "streams" (sorry.. i don't know how to say it otherwise
)
The prohibition was made more strict at some point after the Biblical Mount Sinai Event to address a practical problem of keeping the poultry separate from meat by a butcher who followed Jewish Law.
The fact is quite different, btw. the original law forbids eating animals. the fact we are allowed to eat animals meat was due to a later permission that was given (after the people cried they want to eat meat like they had in Egypt)
This was enacted by Rabbinic decree.
Highly devoted Jewish people try to follow all the laws whether they are obviously listed in the Torah or if they are Rabbinic decrees (fences). One source for this is Leviticus 15:31, but there may be others.
Again, all the fences are ALL based on things written in the Torah. none is a far fetched fence. some are more strict, some are more permissive, none are a new rule.
There are other Jewish people who believe in the Torah in ( arguably ) a semi-literal way who do not accept all the Rabbinic decrees.
I do not accept all of them.
Some are very weird in my POV (even though i understand the reasons behind them)
For them, Leviticus 15:31 is not followed as a law, and they accept the possibility that the Rabbis in the past do not have absolute authority over what is proper and "kosher" (aka: fit for use by a Jewish person).
In this way, a literal interpretation of the Torah is not connected to observance of the Mitzvahs.
It is always connected. the fact some choose to be more strict or less, is something else.
There are literal meanings for each word in the Hebrew Torah.