Dear Friends,
There are few ethical texts or passages more revered than the Ten Commandments found in this week’s parashah - Torah portion (irrespective of the translation or and enumerating system one chooses, as our Christian neighbors identify the Ten Commandments differently than does the Jewish text).
Yes, there are many fabulous and famous ethical preachments which stand on sacred pedestals, including from Lao Tzu, the Tao, The New Testament, sections of Koran, The Bhagavad Gita, Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, the Virtues of Benjamin Franklin and the many messages of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Wisdom literature, or ethical teachings, are among our most cherished and repeated aphorisms, as they form the foundations of communal life in civilization.
And, atop many charts of such teachings is this week’s Ten Commandments. Why?
It is simple. These are apodictic (do’s and don’ts) pronouncements, not occluded with clumsy parables or fancy metaphors. They are readily translated into all the languages of the globe. They have stood the test of time, and have been updated only once (later, in the Book of Deuteronomy, to reflect commands for an agrarian, settled society). They are but ten commands, 14 Torah verses, easily remembered and organized with the fingers of two hands. They are elevating and inspiring, and vital for our demanding and difficult times.
Take a moment and reread them, below, and marvel at their concise, clear message of how to insure civility and decency in our Divine and human relations:
God spoke all these words, saying:
I יהוה am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage:
You shall have no other gods besides Me.
You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I your God יהוה am an impassioned God, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject Me.
but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
You shall not swear falsely by the name of your God יהוה; for יהוה will not clear one who swears falsely by God’s name.
Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a Sabbath of your God יהוה: you shall not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements.
For in six days יהוה made heaven and earth and sea—and all that is in them—and then rested on the seventh day; therefore יהוה blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.
Honor your father and your mother, that you may long endure on the land that your God יהוה is assigning to you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house: you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox or ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
There are few ethical texts or passages more revered than the Ten Commandments found in this week’s parashah - Torah portion (irrespective of the translation or and enumerating system one chooses, as our Christian neighbors identify the Ten Commandments differently than does the Jewish text).
Yes, there are many fabulous and famous ethical preachments which stand on sacred pedestals, including from Lao Tzu, the Tao, The New Testament, sections of Koran, The Bhagavad Gita, Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, the Virtues of Benjamin Franklin and the many messages of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Wisdom literature, or ethical teachings, are among our most cherished and repeated aphorisms, as they form the foundations of communal life in civilization.
And, atop many charts of such teachings is this week’s Ten Commandments. Why?
It is simple. These are apodictic (do’s and don’ts) pronouncements, not occluded with clumsy parables or fancy metaphors. They are readily translated into all the languages of the globe. They have stood the test of time, and have been updated only once (later, in the Book of Deuteronomy, to reflect commands for an agrarian, settled society). They are but ten commands, 14 Torah verses, easily remembered and organized with the fingers of two hands. They are elevating and inspiring, and vital for our demanding and difficult times.
Take a moment and reread them, below, and marvel at their concise, clear message of how to insure civility and decency in our Divine and human relations:
God spoke all these words, saying:
I יהוה am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage:
You shall have no other gods besides Me.
You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I your God יהוה am an impassioned God, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject Me.
but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
You shall not swear falsely by the name of your God יהוה; for יהוה will not clear one who swears falsely by God’s name.
Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a Sabbath of your God יהוה: you shall not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements.
For in six days יהוה made heaven and earth and sea—and all that is in them—and then rested on the seventh day; therefore יהוה blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.
Honor your father and your mother, that you may long endure on the land that your God יהוה is assigning to you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house: you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox or ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
