"Mitzvah" is a collection of essays and memoirs that relay the struggles and joys of an artist and Jew who studied Zen with prominent luminaries of the 20th and 21st Centuries: Taizan Maezumi, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Philip Whelan. The author is a professor emeritus of the California State University Los Angeles art department and artist living at NoHo Senior Arts Community in North Hollywood, CA. He is the father of three adult children, a veteran of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco, an ordained Zen Monk and meditation teacher who volunteered in hospices and prisons. He is a world traveler and relates adventures in Israel, India, and elsewhere in the narrative of this memoir which is humorous, poignant, and accessible.