Ten Commandments - Kreuzberg Shavuot 5780

Said Rabbi Abahu in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: When the Holy Blessed One gave the Torah, no bird chirped, no fowl fluttered, no ox lowed, the angels did not fly, the Seraphim did not utter the Kedusha, the sea did not roar, the creatures did not speak; the universe was silent and mute. And the voice came forth “Anochi Adonai Elohecha” - I am Adonai your God.

Rabbi Azariah and Rabbi Acha said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: When, at Mount Sinai, the Israelites heard the word “Anochi” (“I” — the first word), their souls left them, as it says [Devarim 5:22]: “If we hear the voice of God any more, we will die.” It is also written [Shir HaShirim 5:6]: “My soul departed when He spoke.” Then the Word went back to the Holy One blessed be He and said:”Lord of the Universe, You live eternally and Your Torah lives eternally, but You have sent me to the dead. They are all dead!” Thereupon, the Holy One blessed be He sweetened the Word for them….Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai taught: The Torah that God gave to Israel restored their souls to them, as it says [Tehillim 19:8]: “The Torah of the Lord is perfect, it restores the soul”

The first commandment is to believe in Godliness.... as it is written "I am Adonai your God."

Maimonides explains the origin of idol-worship: In the days of Enosh, the sons of man erred exceedingly, the advice of the wise man of that generation was nullified, and even Enosh himself was among the victims of that folly. Their mistake was this: Seeing, said they, that God created these stars and planets to rule the world, that He placed them high above to share honors with them, for they are ministers who render service in his presence, it is proper that they be praised and glorified and honored, this is the will of God, to exalt and honor him whom He exalted and honored, even as a king desires to honor those who stand in his presence, for such is the honor of the king. As soon as this matter was rooted in their heart, they commenced to erect temples in honor of the stars, to offer sacrifices to them, to praise and glorify them in words, and bow down to them in order to reach the will of God by this evil idea. This was the groundwork for the worship of stars.

Proclos the philosopher asked Rabban Gamaliel in Acco when the latter was bathing in the bathhouse of Aphrodite. He said to him, “It is written in your Torah, ‘let nothing that has been forbidden stick to your hand (Deuteronomy 13:18)’; - why then are you bathing in the bathhouse of Aphrodite?” He replied to him, “We do not answer [questions relating to Torah] in a bathhouse.” When he came out, he said to him, “I did not come into her domain, she has come into mine. People do not say, ‘the bath was made as an adornment for Aphrodite’; rather they say, ‘Aphrodite was made as an adornment for the bath.’ Another reason is, even if you were given a large sum of money, you would not enter the presence of your idol while you were nude or had experienced seminal emission, nor would you urinate before it. But this [statue of Aphrodite] stands by a sewer and all people urinate before it. [In the Torah] it is only stated, “their gods” (Deuteronomy 12:3) what is treated as a god is prohibited, what is not treated as a deity is permitted.

(1) All Israel have a portion in the world to come... Yet these are the ones who have no portion in the world to come: He who maintains that resurrection is not a biblical doctrine, that the Torah was not divinely revealed, and an epikoros. Rabbi Akiva says: “Even one who reads non-canonical books and one who whispers [a charm] over a wound and says, “I will not bring upon you any of the diseases which I brought upon the Egyptians: for I the lord am you healer” (Exodus 15:26). Abba Shaul says: “Also one who pronounces the divine name as it is spelled.”

It is forbidden to say G-d's name in vain, and everyone who says G-d's name in vain transgresses a positive commandment... This is an aspect of the fear of G-d, that one should not mention His great Name except by way of praise or blessing whenever required, or when learning Torah. One should be fearful and one's entire body tremble when mentioning the Name, but one should not say it (G-d forbid), in vain; And this applies not only to the special Name but to all the names specially referring to Him - not just in Hebrew, but even in any language it is forbidden... Due to our many sins, most people are not careful and say in Ashkenazic, Gott soll ihm strafen etc. and by doing so transgress a prohibition of the Torah....Many people make a mistake with His name and write it in Ashkenazic, or they write the word Adieu, which is in the French language and means ''with G-d;'' this is definitely forbidden, since after some time, this letter will arrive to the garbage, and this matter causes poverty in Israel.

It was said about Shammai the Elder that all his days he would eat in honor of Shabbat. How so? If he found a choice animal, he would say: This is for Shabbat. If he subsequently found another one choicer than it, he would set aside the second for Shabbat and eat the first. However, Hillel the Elder had a different trait, that all his actions, including those on a weekday, were for the sake of Heaven, as it is stated: “Blessed be the Lord, day by day”

The Sages taught with regard to the verse: “Remember the day of Shabbat to sanctify it” (Exodus 20:7): - This means, Remember it over wine, through the recitation of kiddush.

(2) The categories of forbidden activities on Shabbat are forty minus one: sowing, plowing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, selecting, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, bleaching, hackling, dyeing, spinning, weaving, the making of two loops, weaving two threads, dividing two threads, tying and untying, sewing two stitches, tearing in order to sew two stitches, capturing a deer, slaughtering, or flaying, or salting it, curing its hide, scraping it [of its hair], cutting it up, writing two letters, erasing in order to write two letters [over the erasure], building, tearing down, extinguishing, kindling, striking with a hammer, [and] carrying out from one domain to another, These are the forty primary labors minus one.

(12) Honor your father and your mother, that you may long endure on the land that the LORD your God is assigning to you.

Rabbi Tarfon had a certain manner of treating his mother, that whenever she wished to ascend into her bed he would bend over and help her to ascend, and whenever she wished to descend from the bed, she would descend onto him. He came and praised himself in the study hall for performing the mitzva of honoring one’s father and mother so thoroughly. They said to him: You still have not reached even half of the honor due to her. Has it ever happened that she threw a purse into the sea in front of you, and you did not embarrass her?

Rabbi Yoḥanan (an orphan) said: Fortunate is one who never saw his father and mother, as it is so difficult to honor them appropriately.

(10) If one's father or mother has become mentally disordered, they should make an effort to behave toward them according to their state of mind until they will be shown mercy [and get cured]. But if one is unable to endure the strain any longer, because they have become utterly insane, one may leave them and go elsewhere, charging others to take proper care of them.

(The Raavad comments on this: This is incorrect. If the child leaves the parent, who else would be prepared to look after them?)

You shall not murder.

(1) You shall not kill. He stated, "Behold, I have commanded you to concede in [your] heart and in [your] deed that I am the Creator of everything; and to honor parents because they are participants in the formation [of a child]. If so, guard yourself from destroying the work of My hands and spilling the blood of man that I have created for My glory and to concede all of these [things] to Me.

A certain person came before Rabba and said to him: The lord of my place, a local official, said to me: Go kill so-and-so, and if not I will kill you, what shall I do? Rabba said to him: It is preferable that he should kill you and you should not kill. Who is to say that your blood is redder than his, that your life is worth more than the one he wants you to kill? Perhaps that man’s blood is redder. This logical reasoning is the basis for the halakha that one may not save his own life by killing another.

(23) A group of [Jews] to whom gentiles say, “Give us one of you and we shall kill him, and if not, behold, we will kill all of them”; they should let themselves be killed and not deliver them one soul from Israel. But if they designated [the person] to them – for example, Sheva ben Bichri – they should give him to them and not let themselves be killed. Rabbi Yehuda said, “When do these words apply? In a case when he is [inside and they are] outside [a fortified city]; but in a case when he is inside and they are inside, since he will be killed and the [other Jews] will be killed, they should give him to them and not let themselves all be killed. And so did it state (II Samuel 20:22), ‘And the woman come to all of the people in her wisdom, etc.’ – she said to them, ‘Since he will be killed and you will be killed, give him to them and do not kill all of you.’” Rabbi Shimon says, “So did she say [to them], ‘Anyone who rebels against the monarchy [of the House of David] is liable to [receive] the death penalty.’”

You shall not commit adultery.

And God saw all that God had made, and found it very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” Nahman said in R. Samuel’s name: “Very good” refers to the Good Desire [Yeitzer Hatov]; and “very good” refers to the Evil Desire [Yeitzer Hara]. Can then the Evil Desire be very good? That would be extraordinary! But without the Evil Desire, however, one would not build a house, marry, beget children, or engage in business.

(12) Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: If any man’s wife has gone astray and broken faith with him (13) in that a man has had carnal relations with her unbeknown to her husband, and she keeps secret the fact that she has defiled herself without being forced, and there is no witness against her— (14) but a fit of jealousy comes over him and he is wrought up about the wife who has defiled herself; or if a fit of jealousy comes over one and he is wrought up about his wife although she has not defiled herself— (15) the man shall bring his wife to the priest. And he shall bring as an offering for her one-tenth of an ephah of barley flour. ...

(26) The priest shall scoop out of the meal offering a token part of it and turn it into smoke on the altar. Last, he shall make the woman drink the water. (27) Once he has made her drink the water—if she has defiled herself by breaking faith with her husband, the spell-inducing water shall enter into her to bring on bitterness, so that her belly shall distend and her thigh shall sag; and the woman shall become a curse among her people. (28) But if the woman has not defiled herself and is pure, she shall be unharmed and able to retain seed.

You shall not steal.

YOU SHALL NOT STEAL — The Torah here is speaking about a case of one who steals human beings, whilst the command later in the Torah (Leviticus 19:11) “You all shall not steal” speaks about a case of one who steals property. How do we know this? We look at the context. All the other commandments require the death penalty for those who transgress them, and this is not so in the case of theft of money but only in that of kidnapping.

Just as the laws of theft apply to buying and selling, so too do they apply to the spoken word. One may not say, “How much is this object?", if he does not wish to buy it. If one had repented, another should not say to him, “Remember your earlier deeds”. If one descended from converts, another should not say to him, “Remember the deeds of your ancestors”. For it is said (Exodus 22:21), “And a stranger you shall not wrong or oppress.”

There are seven types of thieves, the first is one steals minds, such as someone who is invites guests over knowing that this person will not accept the invitation or someone who sends gifts to someone knowing that a person will send them back... we assume that all these thieves, if they could, would steal the mind of God.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

This includes spreading slander about people and ruining their reputation. But the main meaning of the verse is lying when testifying against a fellow man in court.

Note that the Torah does not write “against your brother,” as it does elsewhere, but "against your neighbour". It is therefore clear that one must not bear false testimony against a Gentile, i.e. against Egyptians. Similarly, we find in Exodus 11,20 that “each of the Israelites borrowed from their neighbour;” it is clear that the word רעהו, neighbour, refers to the Egyptians as the verse would not make any sense otherwise.

The Sages taught: How does one dance before the bride, what does one recite while dancing at her wedding? Beit Shammai say: One recites praise of the bride as she is. And Beit Hillel say: One recites "A fair and attractive bride". Beit Shammai said to Beit Hillel: In a case where the bride was lame or blind, does one say with regard to her: A fair and attractive bride? But the Torah states: “Keep you from a false matter” (Exodus 23:7). Following Beit Hillel, the sages used to say: "A person’s disposition should always be empathetic with mankind."

Rava said: There is a law that every town must have one school-teacher per 25 children. If there is a teacher who teaches a few subjects, and there is another who teaches more subjects than him, one does not remove the first teacher from his position to hire the second, as perhaps the other teacher will come to be negligent due to the lack of competition. Rav Dimi from Neharde’a said: On the contrary, all the more so is it the case that he will teach in a better manner if he knows that he is the sole instructor in the place, as jealousy among teachers increases wisdom. The one who was dismissed will try to refine his skills so that he will be rehired, and this will prevent negligence on the part of the other teacher.

You shall not covet: Many people have wondered about this commandment, how is is that a man not covet in his heart that which is beautiful [and] all that which appears pleasant in his eyes. I will give you a parable: You should know that a villager who thinks correctly and sees that the king's daughter is beautiful will not covet her in his heart, that he should sleep with her; as he knows that this is impossible... So must every enlightened person know that a beautiful woman or money is not attained by a person because of his wisdom or knowledge; rather it is from that which God apportioned to him.

We must not ask how the Torah can expect us to exercise control over our mind's desires. This is a spurious argument. Only wicked people or fools would argue in such a way. Man is a free agent and can control his desires. He can discipline himself not to desire what is forbidden. God is well aware of our innermost thoughts and will punish people for sinful thoughts, whereas God will reward people who have pure thoughts for up to two thousand generations. It is best if a person can train himself to have only pure thoughts, for they lead to laudable deeds.