Yitro 5785

If you had to choose which of the Ten Commandments most definitely define how you think about Jewish tradition and religion which one might you select?  Is it God based, time based, parent based, or ethically based upon how you treat other people? 

For example, is the Sabbath important to you simply by lighting Shabbat candles each and every Friday evening or sitting down with others for a Shabbat meal? Attending either Friday evening Kabbalat Shabbat services or Shabbat morning services? 

Might it be the ethics that you were taught as a child not to be envious of what others have? In a society such as ours today, that is a truly a wonderful trait, since our society is based on continuing to build upon a life beyond simple satisfactions. Commercials and ads take up not only time and space on our TV viewing, but they also pop up in our social media and in our reading of the news online. If we are looking at one item in a digital shopping area, others pop up. We are inundated on such a level, that over a period of time, we either have a wonderful ability to ignore, and perhaps be satisfied with life as it is and what we possess, or we find ourselves simply having a want for things both that we can afford or which become more than wants, even though they may not be necessities. Actually, they become precisely that – necessities of life. While a Toyota is reliable and can take a driver and passenger anywhere they need to go, their Lexus brand adds that upscale feeling reserved for those who want that little extra luxury. In the case of the Torah the commandment is about being envious over others who have things in life that we wish we have. The Torah specifically speaks of envy of another person’s spouse. But in truth it could be related to anything in life.  Satisfaction is not only a concept, but a trait that the Torah is trying to instill within each and every one of us. 

Might it be the concept of honesty? The Ten Commandments speak about stealing. While we might assume that it is specifically dealing with physical possessions, in truth it is dealing with concepts, thoughts, and what we hear from others. The stealing of the thought is not just from the individual who coined it, but from the people who are listening to your words and assume that the thought was originally your own. At some point the thought might become our own,  either by living or speaking the thought, yet the rabbis in the Talmud always teach us to say who we learned it from. Attribution might be most difficult in today’s world, simply because there are many individuals speaking the same words in many different forums.  It may be even more challenging because we learned the thought many years earlier.  That is understandable. We have been influenced by so many different people in many different ways. Yet, sharing, when we can, whom we learned an idea or action from is considered by this commandment as fulfilling the mitzvah of “thou shalt not steal.”

Honoring parents is another, not only as young children, but as adults. I am in awe of every person who understands that caring for an elderly parent is just as important as listening to a parent when you are a child. But honoring a parent can also take place after their death, by sharing the stories of your life together, by saying kaddish for them at every yahrzeit and Yizkor service, by living by their example. (Yes I know that there are parents whose example is best not emulated, but even then when one chooses not to follow, that too may be honoring.)

Perhaps the Ten Commandment that defines you best is the first: “I am the Lord your God.” A respect of Hashem brings you to understand everything else in life. There is a certain reverence that you might experience for all of creation, other people, our world, our climate and even oneself, simply by knowing that there is a God. It might define all the rest of your religious experiences. Then again, it might define, a fear that you might have based on a fear of God, rather than a love of God. Fearing  divine punishment might be another manner in which one lives their lives. And it may extend to any ruling authority. On the other hand, it may lead to an expression of comfort knowing that there is a divine being that is watching over me and protecting me.

Each year when the Ten Commandments are chanted, the many verses that compromise the reading become ten verses. The many verses of each commandment are  constructed into one verse through the use of the musical trop or cantillation. It is so beautiful to witness the reading in person and to hear the reading as though we were present at Mt. Sinai.  What is equally impressive is when we can make one of those commandments, if not all of them, our own personal example of how we gain inspiration and meaning in our lives.

Am Yisrael Chai!!!

Bring them all home now!!!

Shabbat shalom.

Rabbi K