Ten Commandments

(2) I the LORD am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage:

(2) אנכי ה' אלוקיך, “I am the Lord your G’d.” This is a positive commandment to believe in and feel absolutely certain of the existence of Hashem as a primordial force that preceded any phenomenon which is part of the material universe, and that He is the sole Creator of the entire universe, that He is our G’d, and that we are His people. We are obliged to serve Him, and He has taken us out of bondage in Egypt. The historical fact that He took us out of Egypt serves as eternal proof of His existence and His express desire to guide our fate. It proves that our Exodus was the product of His will. It also proves that He must have been the original cause in this universe, seeing that once the universe, i.e. the laws of nature had been formulated, no radical changes such as the taking out of a completely assimilated nation such as the Israelites from the midst of another nation was conceivable according to what is considered “normal” in our world. The Exodus was not only testimony to His power, but also to His uniqueness. For all the above reasons, G’d did not commence to identify Himself as the One Who had created heaven and earth, but He identified Himself as the One who had taken us out of Egypt, a visible historical fact witnessed by millions. [No one had been around to watch the universe come into existence. Ed.] Some commentators understand the emphasis on the word אנכי here as meant to draw attention to Hashem saying that He is the One Who had already told Avraham “I will also judge the people who will enslave your descendants and they will depart from that country with great riches” (Genesis 15,13) At the beginning of the Decalogue, G’d introduces Himself as the One who had fulfilled that promise of over 400 years ago. The first two commandments of the Decalogue which were addressed to the people in direct speech, i.e. “I have taken you out, etc.,” were distinct from the other eight in which G’d appears to refer to Himself in the third person, were spoken by G’d to the people directly, whereas the others were relayed to the people by Moses. The fact that our chapter commences with the words: וידבר אלוקים את כל הדברים האלה לאמר, “G’d spoke all these words to say,” as well as the verse in Deut. 5,19 את הדברים האלה דבר ה' אל כל קהלכם בהר, “the Lord spoke these words to you at the Mountain, etc.,” certainly gives the impression that the people had heard all the Ten Commandments directly from G’d’s mouth. Moses adds that all these words were inscribed on the two Tablets, which proves that as G’d was saying the words He simultaneously was inscribing them on the Tablets. Nachmanides claims that there is no question that G’d addressed all of the Ten Commandments to the whole people directly. The problem was that the people did not understand what they were hearing. Moses therefore needed to explain the text to the people, with the exception of the first two Commandments which they both heard and understood directly from Hashem without the need of any intermediary. The point in all this is that at that point in time the people were all on the spiritual level of prophets, who have primary knowledge of the uniqueness of Hashem, and the absolute impossibility to relate to anyone else as something Divine.

(2) מבית עבדים, “from the house of bondage.” Although the people did not need to be told this, G’d reminded them that seeing they had been enslaved by a cruel ruler such as Pharaoh, they could certainly not have any objection of trading such a ruler for Hashem. Some commentators see in the words מארץ מצרים the major significance of this line, i.e. seeing that everyone knows that there was no other country in which the Israelites had been enslaved. They therefore stress that the Egyptians being slaves, i.e. being descendants of Cham whose children Noach had condemned to be slaves, had instead become masters over descendants of Shem, had been an especially degrading experience. The fact that G’d had put an end to this geo-politically demeaning situation, deserved especial mention, and therefore the Israelites’ gratitude. [The Egyptians were fourth generation descendants of Cham. (Genesis 10,6-7) Ed.] The Ten Commandments were all formulated in the singular mode, as opposed to the summation of אתם ראיתם, in 20,19 as well as the formulation (plural) אם שמוע תשמעו, “if you will surely hearken, etc.” (19,5). The reason for the variation in the singular and plural mode is to warn the people that they are both individually and collectively obligated to carry out G’d’s instructions, and to refrain from violating negative commandments. G’d wanted to be on record as if He had spoken to every Israelite individually.

(2) אנכי, “I alone am the Lord; I am the One responsible for creating the material world, for creating egos. Individuals. I am known to you by tradition.”

(2) אלוקיך, “I keep My promise to be and remain your G’d, I am not to be worshipped through intermediaries, I am to be prayed to directly.”

(2) אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים, in doing so I had to overcome all the obstacles that intermediaries (forces of nature, also My creatures and appointed by Me to perform My will) had tried to use to block My efforts. I am the One Whom you accepted as such when you said (Exodus 15,2) “this is My G’d and I want to glorify Him.”

(2) מבית עבדים, from all exterior coercion in order for you to be free to worship Me, exclusively.

(2) אנכי ה' אלוקיך, “I am the Lord your G–d;” how can we understand this utterance as a “commandment?” In which way does it represent an order to the listener? We must understand the words: “I am the Lord your G–d,” as implying that this is something that you must accept as fact, not merely as an article of faith, i.e. “you know, you do not merely believe.” It follows from accepting this as a fact that there is a system of reward and punishment for your actions, as He is capable of meting out reward and punishment as a result of being the Creator. Rabbi Tanchuma adds that this obligation of yours is the direct result of your having been allowed to see Him revealing Himself as a mighty warrior at the sea of reeds, when He saved you miraculously and meted out punishment to your pursuers. At the same time, He appeared to you in the guise of a merciful G–d at Mount Sinai. Do not make the mistake of thinking that the Power that addressed you at Mount Sinai, is a different Power than the One which dealt with the Egyptians. You have merely witnessed G–d manifesting Himself as possessing multiple attributes. The word אנכי is best translated as “I and no one else.” (Mechilta, bachodesh, section 5) A different approach: seeing that at the revelation G–d had been accompanied by tens of thousands of spiritual beings, angels, it was necessary for Him to point out that only He is the Lord, all other beings are merely servants of His. He also used the opportunity to show them that heaven consists of seven layers of what are commonly known as “heaven,” but that only the highest layer is the domain in which His throne is to be found. This event has been recalled by Moses in Deuteronomy 4,35, i.e.אתה הראת לדעת כי ה' הוא אין עוד מלבדו האלו-הים, “you have been given a visual demonstration that only the Lord is the G–d, there is none other." This is also why the first two commandments are addressed in the singular mode, i.e. to each Israelite separately, a fact that Moses took advantage of when pleading on behalf of the people after they committed the sin of the golden calf, when he said to G–d: “I am the only human being to whom You have addressed the first two commandments. The people only heard it from me. Therefore they have not violated a commandment that they have heard from You.” The Midrash adds that this is also the reason why all the other eight commandments were addressed to the Israelites as individuals, not collectively as in Leviticus 25,2-7, for instance, or as in Leviticus 26,3-13. G–d foresaw that individual Israelites in the future, such as the false prophet Micah (Judges chapter 17) who tried to eliminate the first commandment, or King Jerobam (Kings I chapter 12) who tried to abolish the second commandment. The list can be lengthened showing that individuals acted in a way that showed they felt they could ignore one or another basic commandment of the Ten Commandments.” By wording these Commandments in the singular mode addressed to each Israelite individually, none could claim that it did not apply to them. When you count the letters in the Ten Commandments, commencing with the letter א in אנכי and concluding with the letter in ך in לרעך there are a total of 613 letters, signaling to us that all the 613 commandments of the Torah are in one way or another contained in these Ten Commandments which are a summary. In the first chapter of tractate Kidushin, in the Talmud we are told that when the gentile nations heard the first two of the Ten Commandments, they concluded that G–d was concerned only with establishing His own reputation. When they subsequently heard of the commandment to honour father and mother, they changed their mind and accepted also the first two commandments as valid. This is what David referred to in Psalms 138,4: יודוך ה' כל מלכי ארץ כי שמרו אמרי פיך, “all the kings of the earth shall praise You, O Lord, for they have heard the words coming forth from Your mouth.”

(2) ..."I am Hashem your God:" This statement is a positive commandment, as it says, "I am Hashem, who teaches and commands you that you should know and believe that there is a Hashem, and He is your God," that is to say, He existed before, from Him came everything by means of his desire [i.e., He created the world because He wanted to, not by accident] and capability, and He is your God, so you are required to serve Him. It says in the text, "who took you out of Eretz Mitzrayim," for He took you out of there to teach you about the reality and the desire [of Hashem], for with His knowledge and providence we left there, and to teach about the newness, for from the beginning of the world, not a thing has changed from His nature, and to teach you about what He can do, which will teach you about His uniqueness, like it says above [in Shmot 9:14], "so that you will know that there is no one like Me in all the land." And this is the reason for [the phrase] "Who took you out" - for they know of and bear witness to all of these [ideas.]

You shall have no other gods besides Me.4 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.5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I the LORD your God 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,6 but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

(3) לא יהיה לך אלוקים אחרים, “You must not have any other kind of divinity.” Rashi understands this as not maintaining (יהיה referring to something already in existence) any idolatrous image, seeing that there is a separate commandment following immediately afterwards that prohibits the construction of such images. This latter commandment would by itself have been insufficient, as it would have left open the option of preserving or even worshipping existing idols. Concerning this interpretation, Nachmanides writes that if that were so, G’d’s words: לא יהיה לך, while a prohibition, would not have indicated that violating this prohibition carries the death penalty. Furthermore, why would the Torah first tell us about the lesser sin of not destroying an existing idol rather than inform us of the worse sin of constructing a new idol ourselves? Seeing that the Torah spelled out the death penalty in this world [if tried and convicted by a tribunal. Ed.] and in the world to come [if it was impossible to convict legally or carry out the sentence. Ed.] for worshiping idols, we would have thought that maintaining idols was a minor offense. Whereas there is indeed a view expressed in the Mechilta that the maintaining, i.e. not destroying an existing idol is “only” a warning by the Torah, but not an indictable offense, this is the view of a lone sage, and we do not rule in accordance with that view. According to the plain meaning of the text, the פשט, we need to understand the verses as follows: the meaning of the word אלוהים here is similar to והיה לך לאלוהים or to להיות לך לאלוהים, (Genesis 17,7, for instance) where the meaning is that we must not consider any of the celestial forces which have been imbued with some power by G’d as sharing power with G’d, or even as intermediaries. The fact that these forces are called by the name אלוהים on occasion, as for instance vis a vis Pharaoh (compare Exodus 7,1) is not a factor in our relationship to Hashem. If we were to allow such celestial bodies, or the like to substitute or to rank alongside G’d, it would not only dilute, but eventually ruin, our belief in G’d the sole and unique Creator. We must never address such celestial forces as אלי אתה, ”you are a celestial force in my eyes.” Ibn Ezra explains these verses as not viewing anything in nature as a junior partner to the Creator. This warning was necessary as there were theologians or philosophers who, while recognizing the supremacy of Hashem did not recognize His being absolutely exclusive as such. [If there really were such a thing as אלוהים אחרים, “other deities” (plural, as suggested by the plural ending in the word אלוהים), the Torah should have written לא יהיו לך, in the plural, not לא יהיה לך in the singular, i.e. reminding the reader that the idea of other gods is a non-starter. Ed.]

(3) אלוהים אחרים, “other deities.” We must not admit that there are such other deities, even if we refuse to pay any tribute to these supposed deities. It is noteworthy that when the Torah forbids the making of such symbols, such images of other supposed deities, it does not dignify them with the title “other gods, or other deities,” but simply tells us not to make אלוהי מסכה, (Exodus 34,17). There is a subtle difference, in that the making for commercial purposes of a symbol to serve others, when such a symbol is known to be serving others as a deity or symbol of such. When making a symbol of one’s own deity the Torah wants it understood, in addition to the examples mentioned in our verse, that even a symbol of our true faith is totally forbidden to be made. If the Torah had not forbidden to make something אחר, something else, something that is not divine, as a symbol of one’s faith, this would be equivalent to admitting that such a notion would be credible, though foolish. The very idea of עושה אלוהים is laughable, as only The Creator could imbue anything created with divine power if He wanted to, not any creature.

(3) על פני, “in My presence.” We find a similar use of the expression על פני when Eleazar and Ittamar are appointed as priests in the presence of their father Aaron (Numbers 3,4). Here too, the meaning is the same as if the Torah had written לפני, “before Me.” This expression is used in all instances when we are reminded that there is nothing that is hidden from the Lord, and though He is not manifest, nothing does not occur in His presence. The reason why the Torah does not warn against prostrating oneself to idols here, is that it had already included this in verse five which is a conceptual continuation of not making idols mentioned in verse four.

(5) לא תשתחוה להם ולא תעבדם, “neither prostrate yourself before them nor worship them.” Any kind of worship even if it does not involve a visible form of obeisance such as prostrating oneself. This is forbidden even if one does not mean thereby to in any way diminish one’s faith and devotion to Hashem.

(5) אל קנא, “a jealous G’d.” We never find the attribute of G’d being jealous in any connection other than with idolatry. He warns us that just as a jealous husband is likely to take revenge on his adulterous wife, so He is going to punish the Israelite who, by breaching the covenant, gives Him cause to display jealousy.

(5) פוקד עון אבות, “Who visits the sin of the fathers, etc.;” according to Ibn Ezra the meaning of the word פוקד here is the same as that of the word זוכר, i.e. “who remembers.” The word is used in that sense in Genesis 21,1 where it means that G’d remembered the fact that Sarah had not yet been blessed with child. In our verse it means that Hashem allows even the wicked time to rehabilitate themselves through repentance before imposing the punishment for the sins which they deserve. G’d hopes that during the time He holds the punishment in abeyance the sinner will sire a child who in turn will be righteous, thus retroactively making the sinner’s life worthwhile. However, if both the sinner’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren continue in the sinful ways of their forbears, G’d will not continue to delay punishment in the hope that this situation will change. Nachmanides challenges this interpretation of our verse, saying that if it were correct G’d would be visiting the sins not on the third generation but on the fourth generation. This would mean that the second and third generation of the father who went unpunished would also go unpunished. If that were so, the Torah should have written: זוכר עון אבות ובנים ושלישים על רבעים, “He will visit (show remembrance) of the sin of the fathers and the sons and the grandsons on the great-grandsons.” Perhaps what Ibn Ezra had in mind was that G’d remembers the sin of the father to the offspring by saying to the sinful offspring: “you as well as your (deceased) father or/and grandfather have been guilty of such and such.” As a result, the string of generations will be punished by that line being wiped out. However, the Torah does not say that all people, i.e. the sins of all fathers will be subject to an identical consideration by G’d. There are various verses in Scripture which indicate that sometimes G’d will exact punishment from the son or the grandson, as for instance we read in Isaiah 27,1 יפקד ה' בחרבו הקשה where the prophet announces that G’d will remember to punish the nations who have subjected Israel to violence, or Isaiah 14,21 הכינו לבניו מטבח בעון אבותם, “prepare a slaughtering block for their sons in retribution of the sins of their fathers, etc.” In both of these examples G’d is not described as waiting for four generations with exacting His vengeance. Sometimes the third generation will experience G’d’s vengeance, compare Deuteronomy 5,9, other times some descendants will experience it a generation sooner than their brothers, although to the uninitiated onlooker there appears to be no difference in conduct between them. When G’d indicated to Avraham that the Emorites were indeed guilty and deserved to be uprooted, He added that their guilt was not yet complete, i.e. the guilt of some of them, until the fourth generation had been reached, hence the descendants of Avraham could not be given their land until then. (Genesis 15,16). Any fifth generation experiencing G’d’s wrath is not being punished for the sins of the first of these five generations.

(5) פוקד עון אבות על בנים, “remembering the sins of the fathers to the children.” Ibn Ezra says that the grandchildren are included in the term בנים in this verse. This is the reason why the Torah mentions both third and fourth generations in one sentence, without bothering to mention the second generation at all, seeing that the second generation was already included in the mention of בנים. Nachmanides disagrees with this reasoning, stating that what is referred to as שלשים, is in fact the third generation commencing with the fathers, i.e. the grandchildren of the sinful father. The fourth generation described as רבעים here are the great grandchildren, and the same applies to the list in Exodus 34,7, where G’d reveals to Moses thirteen of His attributes. This is also why Moses, in connection with the sin of the spies, (Numbers 14,18) refers to בנים, שלשים, רבעים. What he meant was that the grandchildren are the third generation. This is also why our sages say that G’d extends goodness to more generations than vengeance, i.e. whereas the sins of the former generations may not be forgotten for 4 generations, their good deeds are rewarded for as long as 2000 generations (verse 6).

(5) לשונאי, “to those who hate Me.” If the member of that generation is a wicked person and he hates the Lord, previous sins of former generations will also be held against him, whereas if the present generation are righteous none of the sins of former generations will be held against them.

(3) לא יהיה לך אלוהים, even though you accepted My Kingdom, you must not at the same time also attribute divine qualities to any other servant of Mine. A violation of this commandment is cited in Kings II 17,33 (the subject being the Samarians, a people transplanted by the king of Assyria from Babylon, Chamass, etc., to where the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom had lived before being exiled by the Assyrians under Tiglat Pilesser. These people are reported as “worshipping the G’d of Israel (as they now were within what they considered to be His domain.) But at the same time they also worshipped other deities. The priest sent by the king of Assyria to teach these Samarians the Jewish religion considered their worshipping the G’d of Israel as quite useless. He told them that unless they worshipped the G’d of Israel exclusively they would likely continue to suffer the incursions of lions, etc.

(3) על פני. It is intolerable to honour the servant in the presence of the Master. If that is so with masters and servants that are mortal, how much more so is it true of Eternal G’d and His underlings.

(4) לא תעשה לך פסל, even if you do not mean to use it as an object of worship.

(5) לא תשתחוה להם, to any phenomena in the universe not man-made.

(5) א-ל קנא, I cannot tolerate that someone who worships Me worships also someone beside Me. The reason is that there is absolutely no comparison between Me and any other phenomenon in the universe. I am therefore entitled to stand on My dignity by refusing to be compared.

(5) פוקד עון אבות, the reason why I sometimes wait so long before punishing some of the wicked in this life is that by waiting and noticing that their offspring, i.e. second and third generation continue in their wicked ways their measure of guilt will become so full that I will exterminate that whole family from life in this world. [this is what happened to the family of Jerobam for instance, and that of Omri, his son Achav, etc. ] This was possible only by adding the unrequited sins of the fathers to those of the sons, or even subsequent generations, so that when finally, retribution did come, it wiped out the family completely. This happened in the third generation of the original sinner such as Omri’s grandchildren. It also happened to the fourth generation after Yehu (who himself had been G’d’s instrument for wiping out the family of Omri/Achav) when his great grandson Zecharyah was murdered after reigning only 6 months. (Kings II 15,9) We know about this method G’d employs sometimes already since Genesis chapter 15 when G’d explained to Avraham that his descendants could not expect to take possession of the land of Canaan until the fourth generation, as the sins of the Emorite would not be irrevocable until then. (Genesis 15,16)

(6) ועושה חסד לאלפים, on other occasions the reason why retribution is so long delayed is due to the good deeds of someone’s forbears which I have sworn to requite by extending such patience in tolerating the errors of their offspring. [some of our sages attribute the continued existence of the Ishmaelites and their enmity to the Jews to the merit their founding father acquired when voluntarily submitting to circumcision at the tender age of 13. Ed.]

(3) לא יהיה לך THERE SHALL NOT BE UNTO THEE [OTHER GODS] — Why is this said? Does not the preceding verse state: I — and no other — shall be thy God? But since it states immediately after this, “Thou shalt not make unto thee [any graven image etc.]” I might say that I have only a prohibition that one may not make such gods; whence could I know that one may not retain an idol that has already been made? Perhaps there is no such law! Therefore it states here: “there shall not be unto thee” (thou shalt not have other gods) (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:3:1.)

(3) אלהים אחרים OTHER GODS — which are not gods, but others have made them gods over themselves. It would not be correct to explain this to mean “gods other than Me”, for it would be blasphemy of the Most High God to term them gods together with Him (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:3:1). Another explanation of אלהים אחרים : they are so called because they are other (i. e. strange) to those who worship them; these cry to them but they do not answer them, and it is just as though it (the god) is another (a stranger) to him (to the worshipper), one who has never known him at all (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:3:1).

(3) על פני BEFORE ME — i. e. so long as I exist; and these apparently superfluous words are added in order that you may not say that no one received any command against idolatry except that generation which went forth from Egypt (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:3:2).

(4) פסל A GRAVEN IMAGE — it is so called because it is chiselled out (the root פסל has this meaning).

(4) וכל תמונה lit., OR ANY LIKENESS i. e. the likeness of any thing אשר בשמים THAT IS IN THE HEAVENS.

(5) אל קנא A JEALOUS GOD — He is jealous to exact punishment, and does not pass over His rights by pardoning idolatry (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:5:1). Wherever: the expression קנא occurs it signifies in old French emportement, English zeal, — determining to exact punishment.

(5) לשנאי OF THEM THAT HATE ME — This must be explained in the same sense as the Targum takes it: when they retain in their hands (follow the example of) the evil doings of their ancestors (Sanhedrin 27b); and He keeps (stores up) the mercy which a person does to give a reward for it to the thousand generations of that person’s descendants. It follows, therefore, that the measure of good (reward) is greater than the measure of punishment in the proportion of one to five hundred, for the former is threatened only to four generations whilst the latter is bestowed upon thousands (two thousands at least) (Tosefta Sotah 4:1; see Rashi on Exodus 34:7).

(3) לא יהיה לך, “You must not retain for yourselves;” do not say that you will serve Me as well as other deities. Seeing that only I took you out of Egypt without the assistance of any other powers, it is clear that no other deity deserves your respect. Besides, they are useless even if they had attempted to help you.

(3) אלהים אחרים, “other deities,” This translation is incorrect. The correct translation is: “deities worshipped by others.” If they are so useless why do they have the title: “deity?” According to Rabbi Yossi in the Mechilta chapter 6 on this verse, (a dissenting voice there) explains the need for G-d to say: לא יהיה לכם אלוהים אחרים, as follows: He said it so that the gentiles would not have a pretext to say that if these “deities” had been called by their individual names in the Torah, instead of simply “non gods,” this would be proof that G-d had had need of them for some purpose at some time. There had indeed been a time when man had referred to such “deities” by the same title as G-d; this happened during the generation of Enosh, a grandson of Adam, when the Torah in Genesis 4,26, reported: 'אז הוחל לקרא בשם ה, “at that time some people called (other forces) by the name that had been reserved until then for G-d.” When that happened, one third of the earth’s landmass was flooded by the oceans rising. [a minideluge as a warning to mankind. Ed.]

(3) אחרים, according to Rabbi Eliezer, in the same paragraph of the Mechilta, the expression elohim acheyrim means that they coined new names for new deities constantly, i.e. when one proved impotent, they exchanged it for another. If a deity made of gold had proved worthless they substituted one made of silver. He derives this from when Moses said in Deuteronomy 32,17: חדשים מקרוב באו, “new ones, which had come into existence only lately.”

(3) לא יהיה לך אלוהים אחרים, “you will have no authority over you other than Mine.”

(3) על פני, “in My place;” we find a similar use of this expression in Deuteronomy 21,16: על פני בן השנואה, where the Torah forbids to treat the firstborn son of a beloved wife, that has been born later than the firstborn son of a less beloved wife, preferentially. In other words, as long as the firstborn son of the less beloved wife is alive, his claim to be treated as the firstborn of the father cannot be overruled. We also have this expression when after the death of the two oldest sons of Aaron, Nadav and Avihu, his sons Elazar and Ittamar were appointed as priests in their stead. An alternate explanation: “If you were to accept any of these deities as your gods this would be against My express wishes and would arouse My anger against you.” An example of a similar construction would be: חמס ושוד ישמע על פני, “before Me constantly are grief and wounds.” Or: ,אם לא אל פניך יברכך, “if not he will curse you to your face.” (Job 2,5)

(4) לא תעשה לך פסל וכל תמונה, “do not make for yourself a sculptured image or any likeness (of what is in heaven above or on earth below)” In Deuteronomy 4,15 the Torah supplies the reason for this prohibition when we read: “for you have not seen any likeness (at the revelation)”. You should not be able to say that I am a G-d Who hides Himself, and since no one can see You I am forced to make for myself an image in order to constantly remind myself of You and to prostrate myself before Your image instead, in Your honour.

(4) וכל תמונה, “nor any likeness;” the prefix letter ו seems unnecessary; it is meant to mean: “do not make for yourself a sculptured image of any likeness, even if it is only the face of that creature. Since the reason of making such artwork is to use it as a symbol of G-d, it is idolatrous by definition. You must not even make sculptured images of a widow or orphan.

(5) לא תשתחוה להם, “neither must you prostrate yourself before them even if they are not yours and have been made by others.”

(5) ולא תעבדם, “and you must not serve them;” even if the mode in which they are being served represents something disgraceful and despicable in your eyes.

(5) כי אנכי ה' אלוקיך, “for I am the Lord your G-d;” seeing that you have a benign Master, you have no need to turn to idols.

(5) אל קנא, “a philosopher asked Rabbi Yehudi Hanassi since when a superior individual demeans himself by being jealous of someone way below him physically and mentally. The Rabbi answered him if he thought it appropriate that someone should call his dog by the same name as himself? Does it not make sense that he should be angry of being compared to a dog? The philosopher was forced to agree.

(5) פוקד עון אבות, “who remembers the sin of the fathers, etc;” G-d explains that He must demonstrate that He cannot simply “forget” the sins of the fathers, even if He delayed punishment for good reasons. This statement does not mean that the children will be taken to task for their father’s sins, seeing that the principle of each person is executed on account of his own sins not because of the sins of his fathers. (Kings II 14,6) This attribute of G-d must be understood as follows: when a person sins, G-d is apt to delay punishment to give the sinner an opportunity to become a penitent and to therefore rehabilitate himself. G-d’s patience may extend beyond the lifetime of the sinner and even the sinner’s son and grandson. If during these years the descendants of the original sinner have not mended their ways but continue to sin, G-d has to punish the great grandson for his own sins immediately, so that He will not be viewed as “forgetting” the original sin. He does so by removing that fourth generation of sinners from the world. He does so only when these generations successively have all been unrepentant sinners. He relates to such “sinners” in this fashion only if they do not sin inadvertently but “hate” Him and His laws,

(5) לשונאי, to those who hate “Me.” Having said this we might think that G-d operates in a similar fashion in delaying rewards for those who have lived exemplary lives; He therefore assures us that on the contrary, His memory of meritorious deeds performed by the fathers will be taken into consideration of the treatment of their children and children’s children for up to two thousand generations. He adds the words: לאלף דור, “for as long as a thousand generations,” i.e. forever. (Compare Deuteronomy 7,9)

(6) לאוהבי, “to those who love Me.” This is a reference to the category of Jews known as “chassidim” by their fellow Jews. [These are people who excel in their piety. Ed.]

(6) ולשומרי מצותי, “and to the ones who are observe My commandments;” [the Jews who are careful not to violate any of My negative commandments; the tzaddikim.” Ed.]

(7) You shall not swear falsely by the name of the LORD your God; for the LORD will not clear one who swears falsely by His name.

(7) לא תשא את שם ה' אלוקיך לשוא, “Do not mention the name of the Lord your G’d in vain;” according to our sages what is meant is to swear an unnecessary oath, confirming the truth of something universally known as true, by using the name of the Lord According to the plain meaning of the text what is also included is that the holy name of the Lord must not be mentioned in vain even if it is not part of an oath. The use of one’s mouth or lips for speaking is referred to on occasion as נשיאות קול, raising one’s voice. The reason why this commandment follows on the heels of the prohibition to engage in anything related to idolatry is to remind us that just as it is forbidden to accord any part of the reverence, respect, etc., due to the Lord, the Creator to any other phenomenon, so we must not bandy about His name for our own purposes, thereby demeaning it, and making use of Him instead of serving Him. Using G’d’s name in order to confirm one’s own words as true, is as if saying that just as He is truth incarnate, so our words are truth incarnate, a real desecration of His Holy Name. Because this is considered such a serious offense, the Torah warns that this sin is beyond G’d’s willingness ever to forgive completely. Punishment for committing this offense deliberately, just like that of idolatry, may drag out through four generations.

(7) לא תשא, invoking the name of G’d when swearing an oath. The word נשא is used in this sense in Kings I 8,31 ונשא בו אלה לאלותו, “when someone utters a curse against another in retaliation, using the curse to make his adversary swear an oath,”

(7) לשוא, committing perjury thereby; without doubt this oath will backfire on the one uttering it; כי לא ינקה ה' את אשר ישא את שמו לשוא, for having used His holy name to utterly no purpose. Even if the person swearing such an oath had spoken the truth he will not be free from this sin, how much more so if someone used G’d’s name to swear falsely. It is not compatible with G’d’s honour and dignity that man use His Holy name for his own ends. The only time such an oath is permissible, or in some instances even mandatory, is when it is impossible to arrive at the truth by any other means there being no witnesses to the matter under dispute. As far as swearing a false oath, i.e. perjuring oneself is concerned, the Torah has a separate commandment in Leviticus 19,12 spelling this out. ולא תשבעו בשמי לשקר, “and you must not swear an oath in My name when that oath is a lie.”

(7) לא תשא את שם, “do not utter the sacred name, etc.” Seeing that you have not ever seen a visual image of G-d, you can obviously not utter an oath by invoking someone else as a deity. Even so, you must not even swear an oath in His name unless there is an absolute necessity to do so, as G-d does not allow His sacred name to be used for profane reasons, or for secular purposes. This is one sin which will not be subject to being wiped out even by repentance, i.e. כי לא ינקה, “He will not consider such a person as being free from guilt.”

(7) לשוא, “in vain.” Do not make a habit of prefacing any parts of your speech by invoking the name of G-d (unless as a pseudonym), even if what you say is the truth. The very habit of uttering G-d’s name on too many occasions will lead you to do so when it is a blasphemy, or an outright lie. If that were to happen it would result in an unforgivable sin, i.e. כי לא ינקה.

Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God: 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.11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.

(8) זכור את יום השבת, “to remember the day of the Sabbath.” Having first commanded us to believe with absolute faith in the uniqueness of Hashem, His power, etc., and the fact that He alone is the Creator, and that He knows what is going on in any part of the universe, including what goes on in our hearts, the outward symbol of this belief of ours is to be demonstrated in our observance of the Sabbath as the day which bears the stamp of G’d’s creative power. Now G’d commands that we observe the Sabbath day as a weekly reminder of His stature, by emulating certain of the attributes He demonstrated when He created the universe. In the first version of the Tablets the formula chosen to refer to this reminder is the word זכור, a positive act of remembering, whereas in the second version of the Tablets, as recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy, the word is שמור, “guard, observe, by not violating,” the negative aspect of emulating G’d’s “repose,” abstention from creative activity on that day. Our sages say that when pronounced by G’d on Mount Sinai, both words were said by Him simultaneously. Although the sages could have made this point about a number of changes between the wording of the Decalogue in the Book of Exodus, as opposed to the one in Deuteronomy, which was formulated by Moses himself, they did not bother to draw attention to this, as only in this instance might Moses be perceived as having changed what sounded like a positive commandment to something which sounds like a negative commandment. They were anxious not to portray Moses as having taken liberties with G’d’s revealed word. When G’d commanded the observance of the Sabbath to Moses, having in mind Moses’ exceptional stature, He formulated the commandment primarily as a positive commandment, i.e.זכור לקדשו. When Moses relayed the same commandment to the next generation who had not stood at Sinai, He warned him to present first and foremost the negative aspects of this commandment, i.e. the work prohibitions, etc. Actually, the observance of the Sabbath, i.e. worshipping the Lord by observing the Sabbath, includes service of the Lord from overriding feelings of love, אהבה, the positive aspect of the commandment, as well as the observance of the law out of considerations governed by awe, by reverence, i.e. by יראה. The latter is expressed by not violating the prohibitions associated with observing the Sabbath. This is also the reason why, in halachah when observance of a positive commandment conflicts with the simultaneous observance of a negative commandment, as a rule, the observance of the positive commandment takes precedence and even displaces the observance of the negative commandment. The word זכור was written in the first version of the Ten Commandments in the written Torah, as it refers primarily to the Sabbath as a remembrance of the מעשה בראשית, G’d’s having created the universe, something concerning which the Torah writes elsewhere זכור ימות עולם, “remember the history of the universe,” (Deut. 32,7) whereas the word שמור was the one written in the second version of the Ten Commandments, as the second aspect of the Sabbath is its commemoration as an historical event experienced by the Israelites with both their bodies and their souls. Nachmanides writes that he is not sure if the word שמור in Deuteronomy was spoken by G’d Himself at all, seeing that it was not written on the Tablets [after all the Book of Deuteronomy, according to tradition was composed by Moses, the text being approved by G’d afterwards. Ed.] He concludes that it is even possible that the word שמור appeared on the original set of Tablets, the word זכור being substituted on the second set of Tablets. It was Moses who told the people that the word שמור had been said to him simultaneously, when he was told what was written on the first set of Tablets, the ones he had smashed. This, in Nachmanides’ view is what the sages had in mind when they said זכור ושמור בדבור אחד נאמרו, “the words zachor and shamor were said as a single utterance.”

(8) זכור, “to remember.” Rashi, in commenting on the infinitive mode of the word זכור used here instead of the imperative mode zechor!, as in Deuteronomy 32,7, comments that the commandment means that the memory of the Sabbath day must be foremost in the mind of Israelites not only on the Sabbath day itself, but must be something that we also think of during the six days of the work week. The practical way in which we are to do this is illustrated when the Talmud tells of Rabbis, who, whenever they came across some delicious food item during the week, bought it immediately, with a view to serving it on the Sabbath. Nachmanides, in commenting on that paragraph in the Talmud, (Beytzah 16) in which Shammai and Hillel respectively are described as fulfilling this requirement in slightly different ways, says that the plain meaning of the Torah’s text is that the reason why we must remember the Sabbath day everyday is to ensure that we do not observe the wrong day of the week as the Sabbath. [after all, in nature there is no visible difference between the Sabbath and the other days. It is not distinguishable by seasonal factors nor by the position of the moon in the sky, for instance. Ed.] By thinking of the importance of the Sabbath on an ongoing basis, we will not forget the debt of gratitude we owe the Creator, Who has given us this sign as a gift, reminding us of the dignity of being a creature instead of the product of a mindless act of natural forces. [my choice of words. Ed.] It is a most potent symbol strengthening our faith in Hashem. The meaning of the word לקדשו in our verse, i.e. “to sanctify it,” is that the existence of this special day be constantly present in our minds, that we think of the day as a sacred day, meaning that on that day we refrain from our mundane concerns which preoccupy us during the other six days of the week. We are to devote this day to enhance the spiritual concerns which we are capable of enjoying, and which we are bidden to devote our attention to. Included in this meaning of לקדשו are such activities as visiting our Rabbis, our spiritual mentors, and listening to their words of enlightenment and cheer, by means of which they improve our capacity to enjoy a day of “rest.” The farmer who asked his wife –not knowing that their son had died-why she was visiting the prophet on a day that was neither the Sabbath nor the New Moon, shows clearly that the Sabbath was used as a day on which the ordinary Israelite recharged his spiritual batteries by interacting with the spiritual elite of the nation (compare Kings II 4,23) The reason why the sages declared that observance of the commandment to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy, and not to violate the work prohibitions on that day is equivalent to all the other commandments in the Torah, is precisely this function of the Sabbath to renew our spiritual batteries. We are taught in the Mechilta that part of the sanctity of the Sabbath is that we do not count the days of the week as do the gentiles, but we relate each day to its position vis a vis the Sabbath, as for instance “today is the first day after the Sabbath, today is the second day after the Sabbath, etc.” Our sages, taking a cue from the word לקדשו, “to sanctify it,” tell us that this is why we must recite the sanctification of the day over a cup of wine before both the evening meal and the main meal on the Sabbath day. This ”sanctification” is known as kiddush. (compare Maimonides hilchot Shabbat chapter 29) Whereas the sanctification of the Jubilee year every fifty years requires a court of sages to declare it holy, the Sabbath is sanctified by every individual Jew every week. Remembering the Sabbath and sanctifying it are two separate aspects of Sabbath observance

(9) ששת ימים תעבוד, For six days you will work (for your livelihood).” The word עבודה refers to activities not performed because of bodily needs, such as tilling the soil. The Torah says that such activities as tilling the earth, or similar type of activities should be performed for six days during the week. On the other hand, the words:ועשית כל מלאכתך, refer to activities which are needed to maintain the body in healthy condition, and activities designed to make life more comfortable and enjoyable. The Sabbath is a day on which neither of these two kinds of activities is to be performed. The prohibition extends to male and female adults as well as their children even while they are minors. It includes even the slaves in a Jewish household who have been circumcised and have undergone the ritual immersion and have thus become subject to the prohibitions applicable to the Sabbath. This is spelled out specifically in the second version of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy Actually, it could be argued that such people deserved to be addressed by G’d directly, just as the Israelites, in order to commit them more deeply to this commandment. However, seeing that the slaves are subject to constant directives by their masters, their employers, the Torah preferred to inform them of their duties via their masters who are in the habit of giving them instructions as to what to do and when, all the time. Furthermore, seeing that at the time when G’d addressed the Ten Commandments to the Jewish people they did not have any slaves, it would have been impractical to orchestrate a special revelation for such slaves at a later time in history.

(10) וגרך אשר בשעריך, “and the proselyte within your midst.” According to the plain meaning of the text, whenever mention is made of a גר, literally “a stranger,” in connection with the word שער the gate to your cities, it is assumed that the reference is to a גר תושב, a resident gentile, who has obligated himself to observe the seven Noachide commandments. Seeing that this is so, he is not included in the category of people to whom certain activities known as melachah in halachic terms are prohibited. After all, he is not part of a Jewish household described as applying to האזרח והגר, “the natural born Jew or the stranger who underwent basic conversion.” He is allowed to do for himself what he is not allowed to do on behalf of a Jew. As to the verse which speaks of וינפש בן אמתך והגר, “and the son of your maidservant as well as the stranger, shall recuperate, catch his breath as it were,” (Exodus 23,12) this refers to the fully converted gentile, who is subject to all the laws of the Torah from the moment he has converted. However, our sages in the Mechilta, understand the meaning of the word גר on each of these occasions, exactly in the reverse order. They understand the words וגרך אשר בשעריך as applying to a one time gentile who has fully converted, whereas the word וגר in Exodus 23,12 they understand as referring to a גר תושב, a resident stranger, i.e. one who has embraced the seven Noachide laws. Seeing that this latter stranger is an uncircumcised person, he has been compared by the Torah to the beast mentioned in the same verse as entitled to physical rest, וינפש on that day, and just as beasts must not perform work for Jews on the Sabbath, neither must resident strangers. The resident stranger is free to pursue his own agenda on what is the Sabbath for Israelites.

(11) כי ששת ימים עשה ה' את השמים ואת הארץ, “for Hashem made heaven and earth during six days, etc.” Here the whole concept of the Sabbath is linked to the creation, as opposed to the version in Deuteronomy where it is linked to the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt. In other words, seeing that the slave does not enjoy a day of rest during the week, the Torah underlines that a by-product of the redemption from Egyptian bondage was the entitlement to a weekly day of rest, a day free from the claims on our time and skill by human masters. It is also possible that the reason that the wording of the Decalogue in Deuteronomy is so materially different, when it comes to providing the rationale, is to caution us not to treat our own servants in a manner comparable to the way we have been treated while in bondage in Egypt, but to ensure that our servants enjoy a day of rest per week just as we do..

(11) ברך ה' את יום השבת ויקדשהו, “Hashem blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.” To make it a blessed day and a sacred day by means of mentioning its holiness and by pronouncing it holy and abstaining from all the activities which have been categorized as מלאכה. Ibn Ezra writes that it is G’d Who blessed the day and sanctified it as He conditioned it so that man’s body can host an additional soul on that day, a soul that enhances his spiritual capacity.

(8) זכור את יום השבת, the infinitive mode tells us that we are to be aware of the Sabbath every day of the week, even while involved in our daily routines. This is also the same mode chosen by the Torah for demanding that we be forever mindful of what Amalek our arch enemy did to our forefathers after they had crossed the Sea on dry land. (Deuteronomy 25,17) The same is true of the infinitive mode chosen by the Torah when urging us to remember the legislation pertaining to the “month of spring,” i.e. the month of the redemption from Egypt. Compare Deuteronomy 16,1 שמור את חודש האביב ועשית פסח.

(8) לקדשו, the reminder to remember the Sabbath constantly was intended to ensure that you observe all the commandments associated with the day. Even the order to work six days is intended to ensure that by concentrating on the need to make a living during those days, this will enable such people to take their minds off such mundane matters on the Sabbath.

(9) ששת ימים תעבוד, during those days you will give attention predominantly to mundane matters, most of which involve difficulties and frustrations seeing that such mundane matters concentrate on events in a world which is not ours.

(9) ועשית כל מלאכתך, the type of activities essential for earning one’s livelihood.

(10) שבת לה' אלוקיך, the entire day is to be devoted to spiritual matters. This involves studying Torah, teaching it, performing the commandments associated with it, and enjoying the very nature of such a day on which instead of “serving” the needs of one’s survival in a hostile environment one can concentrate on serving the Master, the provider of life and spiritual inspiration. The Talmud Yuma 76 paraphrases this, saying: “wine and pleasant fragrances have made me intelligently perceptive.”

(10) אתה ובנך ובתך, the children who are minors observe the Sabbath at the instructions of their fathers.

(11) 'כי ששת ימים עשה ה, the reason why the Torah repeats this theme on several occasions is to remind man to emulate his Maker, to model his own conduct according to what G’d has revealed about Himself. This can be done by intensive voluntary study of disciplines which we know G’d is fond of.

(11) וינח ביום השביעי, seeing that all the ingredients of the physical world had already been put in place. When something is complete מנוחה, a state of productive rest, a period devoid of conflicting demands, tensions, this becomes possible.

(11) על כן ברך ה' את יום השבת, a reference to the “additional” soul G’d has provided for every Jew on this day. This serves as spiritual preparation for the proper enjoyment of such a holy day.

(11) ויקדשהו, He sanctified it entirely, so that the entire day be devoted to matters spiritual.

(8) זכור — This word REMEMBER which opens this commandment here and שמור “observe” which opens it in Deuteronomy (5:12) were spoken in one utterance. Similar is, (Exodus 31:14) “Everyone that profaneth it (the Sabbath) shall surely be put to death”, which apparently is in contradiction with (Numbers 28:9) “And on the Sabbath day [ye shall offer] two lambs”, a command necessitating actions which, if done for any other purposes on the Sabbath, would involve a profanation of that day. Similar is, (Deuteronomy 22:11) “Thou shalt not wear a garment of two kinds, [as of woollen and linen together]” and (Deuteronomy 22:12) “Thou shalt make thee tassels”, for the performance of which command wool and linen may be employed in combination. Similar is, (Leviticus 18:16) “The nakedness of thy brother’s wife” (the prohibition of marriage with her), and (Deuteronomy 25:5) “her husband’s brother shall come unto her” (he shall marry her). — This is the meaning of what is said (Psalms 62:12) “One thing did God speak, these two things did we hear” (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:8:1). זכור — This word expresses the verbal action without any reference to a particular time (the infinitive), similar to, (Isaiah 22:13) אכול ושתו “to eat and to drink”; (II Samuel 3:16) הלוך ובכה “to go and to weep”; and the following is its meaning: take care to remember always the Sabbath day — that if, for example, you come across a nice article of food during the week, put it by for the Sabbath (Beitzah 16a).

(9) ועשית כל מלאכתך [SIX DAYS SHALT THOU LABOUR] AND DO ALL THY WORK — When the Sabbath comes it should be in thy eyes as though all thy work were done (completed), so that thou shouldst not think at all about work (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:9).

(10) אתה ובנך ובתך THOU AND THY SON AND THY DAUGHTER — these latter mean the young children. Or perhaps this is not so, but it means your adult children? But you must admit that these have already been placed under this prohibition (by the word “Thou”, because the performance of this command is obligatory upon all adults to whom it was addressed). Therefore these words must be intended only to admonish the adults (implied in the term “Thou”) about the Sabbath rest of their young children (to impose upon the parents the obligation of enforcing the Sabbath rest upon them) (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:10:1). This is the meaning of what we have learnt in a Mishna, (Shabbat 16:6) “A minor who is about to extinguish a fire — we do not listen to him (do not permit him to do this), because his observance of the Sabbath is a duty imposed upon you”.

(11) וינח ביום השביעי AND HE RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY — If one may say so, He recorded rest about Himself (recorded that He rested) to teach from this an inference à fortiori as regards a human being whose work is performed only by labour and toil — that he should rest on the Sabbath day (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:11:2).

(11) ברך… ויקדשהו HE BLESSED … AND SANCTIFIED IT — He blessed it through the Manna by giving a double portion on the sixth day — “double bread”; and He sanctified it through the Manna in that on it none fell (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:11:3; cf. Rashi on Genesis 2:3).

(8) זכור את יום השבת, remembering something always refers to past events. We have numerous such verses as in Deuteronomy 32,7-8 “remember past history, etc.” Exodus 13,3, as well as Deuteronomy 9,7-8 plus numerous other verses exhort the Jewish people to remember events in the past. Usually, the command to do so is phrased as an imperative. In the Ten Commandments, the expressions zachor here and shamor in the parallel legislation in Deuteronomy are in the infinitive mode. Seeing that both are followed immediately by the command לקדשו “to sanctify it,” (the Sabbath) this makes an imperative of the whole paragraph. The Torah, in a way, commands us to “commemorate” something which G’d had done long before there was a legislation to observe the Sabbath as a day of rest. Already when creating the “day” He had blessed it, i.e. made provisions for those who would observe it not to be deprived by their observance but to find that G’d in His generosity had provided the needs for the people in question. Observing, emulating something G’d had done, is a way of honouring Him. He “ worked” for 6 days before “resting,” so do we as a way of honouring Him.

(11) על כן ברך ה' את יום השבת, as I explained in Genesis. G’d’s “blessing” consisted in His making provisions to make the Sabbath a viable day when the time would come for Israel to observe it. Having provided manna for the people on the Sabbath eve was a reminder of how He had blessed the Sabbath even before it came into existence. ויקדשהו, the “rest” observed on that day by the Israelites is testimony of the holiness of the day which G’d bestowed on it already at the time of the creation.

(8) זכור את יום השבת, “remember the Sabbath day;” this commandment begins with an infinitive, “to remember;” the reason is because it is a day which should dominate your thinking throughout the week, seeing it is the most important day of the week. Also, the other six days of the week during which you are preoccupied with matters concerning your livelihood are not likely to be “forgotten,” as opposed to the Sabbath, the day of rest. Seeing that it is the spiritual highlight of your week and has been sanctified by G-d, it deserves special attention. The expression: ”to remember,” as opposed to the ”planning” of the six days to follow, is always something that is concerned with the past, one remembers things that have already passed, not things that are to come. [as opposed to the way we use the word in our daily language. Ed] In the second version of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy, the word in the written text is replaced by the word: שמור, as there it is connected to the purpose of the day, to provide constructive rest, למען ינוח, both for yourselves and for your servants and beasts. An alternate explanation: the line זכור את יום השבת “remembering the Sabbath day” is aimed at reminding you of the first time you heard about the concept of the Sabbath at Marah (Exodus 15,25). This is why the word: “remember” is appropriate. Still another exegesis of the infinitive used here is that this day must be remembered every day of the week, and that is why when describing each day of the week, i.e. naming it, we always do so in relation to the previousSabbath, i.e. “the first day after the Sabbath, the second day after the Sabbath, etc. Another approach: the words: זכור את יום השבת in the infinitive mean that you are to be mindful of the Sabbath day at all times, i.e. you should remember each day when the last Sabbath occurred and when therefore the next Sabbath occurs. The reason that you have to do this is so that when the next Sabbath occurs you will not forget it, not fail to observe its commandments. When you understand the line of זכור את יום השבת לקדשו, “keep on remembering the Sabbath day to observe it as a holy day,” it is practically the same as when it says in the second version of the Ten Commandments: “make sure you observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, i.e. שמור את יום השבת לקדשו. This is what the rabbis meant when they said that the two words were spoken by G-d simultaneously, although we human beings cannot duplicate this exactly. This is what Rashi meant to tell us in his commentary. In our portion the commandment is phrased as a positive commandment, while in the Book of Deuteronomy it is phrased as a negative commandment, warning us not to violate the prohibitions applicable on that day. Our sages spelled this out in the Talmud tractate Eyruvin 96. It is a rule in the written Torah that whenever the expression השמר פן, or אל, occurs in the Torah, this introduces a negative commandment to be careful not to do something, It also includes women as being included in that prohibition. In other words, anyone to whom the warning of שמור is addressed, is automatically included in a commandment which is elsewhere expressed by the positive aspect of that commandment described by the word זכור.

(9) ועשית כל מלאכתך, “and you may (or must) go about all your weekday activities;” our author does not understand the word: כל in our verse as literally “all” or “every,” but as a euphemism for “part of all your activities,” as for instance in the expression: כל מגפותי, “usually translated as “all My plagues,” which we all know was not meant to mean: “all the plagues at G-d’s disposal.” (Compare Exodus 9,14,) and numerous similar occasions when such an expression is used.

(10) שבת לה׳ אלוקיך, “as a Sabbath for the Lord your G-d;” and not for you; in other words, during the preceding six days you pursue your own agenda; on the Sabbath, seeing that you are relieved of having to pursue your own agenda, I expect you to pursue My agenda.

(10) לא תעשה כל מלאכה, “do not perform any work of a purely secular nature. The meaning of the word כל in this verse is the same as in the expression לא תעשה כל תמונה, in verse 4, or as in Exodus 22,21: כל אלמנה ויתום, i.e. “any widow or orphan.”

(10) ועבדך ואמתך, “nor your male or female slave.” Seeing that the Torah here does not spell out here the reason or purpose for this prohibition, this has been spelled out in Deuteronomy 5,15 where the Ten Commandments have been repeated, i.e. in order to contrast this day with your status in Egypt when you were slaves and never had a day of rest from menial work. It is the lawgiver of this commandment who redeemed you from that status.

(11) כי ששת ימים עשה, “during the six days of creation preceding the Sabbath of creation, G-d had created the six directions of the spatial universe, i.e. north, south, east, west, up and down. What had He left for you to complete, seeing that He had done it all? This verse is a reminder that there had been nothing left for the Creator to do on that day and that we are to emulate Him as a reminder of this. Just as He had looked at His completed universe, so we are to look at having completed our secular tasks during the preceding six days, before turning to the six days following and the tasks awaiting us then.

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

(12) כבד את אביך ואת אמך, “Honour your father and your mother.” After G’d had completed the list of duties we have vis a vis Him, He begins a list of primary obligations we have concerning our fellow man. He begins the list with an obligation to honour one’s biological father, as the father is G’d’s partner in the creation of any new human life. Whereas Hashem is mankind’s original father, the biological father is his final, most recent father. It follows that just as G’d commanded us in His capacity as our Creator, our father is entitled to a commensurate degree of honour and respect, as he fulfilled this role on earth. [It goes without saying that man’s mother is the third partner in the creation of every human being after the first pair of humans. Ed.] The Torah does not go into specifics of how such respect is to be shown to one’s parents. A major component of such honour accorded to one’s father is to publicly acknowledge him as such, just as the basic honour we accord G’d is that we publicly acknowledge Him as the Creator. We must not accord similar honour to other males in order to be recognized as the heirs of another male, for instance, for the sake of reaping some other benefit by such recognition of someone who is not our biological father as such. If one swears by the life of one’s father, one must not portray someone else as one’s father, for instance. Our sages have furnished us with a list of other activities the performance of which is considered proof of our observing this commandment. Our sages, in stressing the importance of this commandment, have compared the parents’ claim to be honoured by their children to G’d’s claim to be honoured by His creatures. They derive this, for instance, from the use of the attribute Hashem in this commandment, an attribute which does not occur during any of the last five Commandments, the reason being that those concern inter-personal relations, not man’s relations with his Creator. Seeing that in essence, the performance of the commandment to honour one’s parents concerns itself with issues of relevance in our lives on this earth, the Torah, in its promise of reward also describes this reward in terms of advantages to be enjoyed in our life on this earth, i.e. long life in the land of our forefathers. Our sages say that the promise of the reward is to be divided into two separate promises. 1) Long life; 1a) life in the land of Israel. These two aspects of the reward speak about the terrestrial world, whereas 2) the word יאריכון in itself speaks of a domain in which time is unlimited, the world to come in the celestial regions in the words of the sages: בעולם שכולו ארוך, a world which is not bound by time. Moses elaborates on this further in Deuteronomy 5,16 by adding the words ולמען ייטב לך, “and in order that it will be good for you.” Seeing that there was no obvious need to append the letter ן in the word יאריכו, our commentators see in this a hint that the mother is included in all that is written here.

(12) למען יאריכון ימיך, these are the five Commandments which by their observance contribute to your enjoying a life of a single dimension, i.e. length without breadth, another way of stating what the Talmud called in Kidushin 39 “in a world which consists entirely of “length,” [unlimited duration. Ed.]. By performing these five Commandments one renders honour to G’d, as a result of which the one rendering this honour to G’d will himself become part of G’d’s eternal life. Doing this involves knowing that G’d created the universe out of “nothing,” no physical substance. It also involves accepting G’d as the exclusive Divinity in the universe and therefore not worshipping anyone else or anything else. It also involves not only not rebelling against Him in deed, but not contemplating rebellion even in one’s thoughts or speech It involves actively honouring Him, after all, He is our father, our maker. Are we not commanded to even honour our mortal parents?

(12) על האדמה, by observing the above-mentioned five Commandments you will merit to enjoy life without being exiled from your ancestral land. Observance of the other five Commandments are designed to protect you against falling victim to harm befalling your body, or your property, or your dignity, your standing in the eyes of your peers. Here too, observance includes not only abstaining from violating these Commandments by deed, but also not violating them by word of mouth or even contemplating violation in your mind. Basically, the last five Commandments are addressed to your life on this earth, whereas the former are addressed to ensuring your life beyond the transient life on earth.

(12) למען יארכון ימיך THAT THY DAYS MAY BE LONG — If thou honourest them they will be long, and if not, they will be shortened — for the words of the Torah may be explained as concise statements: from what is included in a positive statement we may infer the negative and from what is included in a negative statement we may infer the positive (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:12:2).

(12) כבד את אביך, “Honour your father;” elsewhere we have a more detailed formulation of what is meant by “honouring” our parents, i.e. when Solomon spelled this out in Proverbs 3,9 saying: כבד את ה׳ מהונך, “honour the Lord with (part) of your wealth; all G-d asks of us is a small part of the wealth He has granted us, not all of it. We are to emulate Him in our relations with our parents, our progenitors on this earth. In Leviticus, another aspect of our relationship with our parents has been legislated when the Torah writes in Leviticus 19,3 as the first commandment after bidding us to try and become holy ourselves, that we are to revere our parents. When the Torah there continues with repeating the requirement to observe the negative commandments of His Sabbath, it hints at the definition of “reverence” being not to disregard our parents’ instructions. The Torah decrees the death penalty for anyone who curses father or mother (Exodus 21,17) a penalty similar to that decreed for cursing G-d, (using a euphemism, which is difficult to warn him not to use in this fashion) (Leviticus 24,15) (which because not carried out by human tribunal makes that sin practically unforgivable so that the penalty will be karet, posthumous disbarment as member of the Jewish people.) The death penalty for cursing parents is completely natural, as when cursing one’s parents one automatically curses G-d also, as He is one third partner in any human being, having supplied the soul. (Talmud Kidushin folio 30)

(12) אשר ה׳ אלוקיך נותן לך, which the Lord your G-d is giving you (the soil).[The following Midrash appears in the Pessikta de Rav Kahane chapter 21 on the Ten Commandments, but there the Roman is not Turnusrufus, but the Emperor Hadrianus. In my edition, (Mandelbaum) I have not found it. Ed.] The wicked Roman governor Turnusrufus asked Rabbi Akiva why the name of the Lord is mentioned seven times in the first five of the Ten Commandments, while His name does not appear even a single time in the last five of these Commandments? Thereupon Rabbi Akiva went to the palace of Turnusrufus and showed him his lance. The next time he went to the palace he showed Turnusrufus his shield. The next time he showed his armour and his various weapons. When he visited him again and came to his toilet, he found that there was no weapon or defensive shield. Upon asking why this was so, he was told that the Emperor considered it as disgraceful to bring his weapons, etc. to such a place. Thereupon Rabbi Akiva answered him that in the first five of the Ten Commandments the subjects are all sacred or at least honorable. In the second half of the Ten Commandments where the subjects are murder, theft, adultery, perjury, and man’s basic carnal urges, it would not be appropriate that the name of G-d would appear there as if He associated Himself with people guilty of such crimes. An alternate explanation regarding the presence of G-d’s name in the last five of the Ten Commandments. Violation of any of the first five Commandments means sinning against a Being that is infinite, eternal, is permanent, When someone violated one or more of the last five Commandments he only sinned against transient creatures. G-d’s name therefore did not need to be mentioned.

(13) You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

(13) לא תרצח , “Do not commit murder.” The order in which the Torah lists the following prohibitions needs to be understood as follows: The Torah, implies that the listener (reader) has appreciated that first and foremost G’d had insisted that He be recognized as THE Creator of the universe and all that there is in it. Next, He had commanded that the parents be accorded honour and respect seeing they are partners in the creation of new human life. It follows that you, human being, must not do things which directly result in your undoing what I had done. First and foremost do not shed the blood of a human being who was created in order to honour Me. You would deprive Me of the honour due to Me by My creatures. The prohibition against committing adultery is similarly motivated, as violating the wife of your fellow man not only is a serious injury, affront to the contractual bond between that wife and her husband, but it undermines the whole principle of enabling children to know who these parents are to whom they are duty-bound to show respect. It introduces lies as something normative into this world, whereas G’d stands for truth, and we are to emulate Him if we claim to be His partners. Stealing, i.e. kidnapping, preventing human beings to live the kind of life G’d wishes them to live, similarly deprives G’d of the worship of Him by the kidnapped person held prisoner. Similar considerations are at the core of the laws not to testify falsely nor to plan to deprive others of their rightful possessions. Such actions proclaim the lie as an acceptable means to achieve one’s ends, the opposite of G’d’s outstanding attribute of אמת, “truth,” the attribute we are to emulate if we really want to be His partners. The first three negative commandments refer to actions performed with one’s body, i.e. with one’s external organs, such as stealing, followed by sins committed with one’s mouth (testimony) and with one’s heart (coveting). In the next portion the Torah deals with a long list of משפטים, violations of the norms of inter-personal relations which need to be judged by a court. As long as one violates only the commandment not to covet without taking action to illegally or even legally acquire the desired object no judges will be involved. In commenting on the sequence of items coveted, described in the Tenth Commandment, Ibn Ezra says that the reason that the house of your fellow man is mentioned first, even before the taking of your fellow man’s wife, is that any intelligent person makes certain that he has suitable accommodation to offer a woman before he asks her to marry him. Only after he has acquired a wife does he acquire man and woman servants to assist in the household chores. The reason why this order is reversed in the version of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy is that there the Torah addresses young men, who, in their urge to find a mate to marry, do not have the patience to wait until they are economically well established. It is also possible that there Moses talks about someone, who because he lusts after a woman forbidden to him, makes her the focus of all his desires. Nachmanides writes that the first 5 Commandments are designed to honour the Lord, the Creator, the fifth doing so indirectly seeing that in honouring parents one does so as they are the nearest link to the Creator that we have. In honouring them, we indirectly honour Him. All the remaining 5 Commandments are designed to enhance the dignity of the individual person. In some of the Commandments the consequences of observing it or not are spelled out, such as that G’d is jealous and will demand an accounting from those who slight Him, or that He will not easily forgive someone who uses His name in vain, or that the reward for honouring father and mother, though almost a natural in most instances, will be extremely worthwhile. On the other hand, most of the Commandments are not accompanied by promises of reward if observed or threats of retaliation if ignored. This may be explained in that acceptance of the first Commandment and non violation of the second Commandment are really two sides of the same coin, i.e. he who does refrain from all that is forbidden in the second commandment has in fact observed the first Commandment without lifting a finger. The absence of a warning of specific penalties for violations, or the mention of any reward, is also because Sabbath observance, i.e. recognition of G’d as the Creator both by sanctifying the day and by abstaining from work performed as a duty on the six days of the week is actually a way of fulfilling both the first and the second Commandment. The first 5 Commandments appear on the first of the Tablets, whereas the second five appear on the second Tablet [although if the numbers of words or letters were to be matched evenly the arrangement would have at least the fifth Commandment on the second Tablet, Ed.] This is to remind us that the Commandments on each of the Tablets correspond to one another. The Commandment not to commit murder parallels the Commandment of believing in the Lord the Creator, as murdering G’d’s creature undoes some of His work, diminishes His stature. The Commandment not to be disloyal to one’s wife or husband is parallel to the Commandment not to make or serve other deities. We are under oath to the One and Only Creator. The commandment not to use the name of the Lord in vain is parallel to the Commandment not to steal. Eventually, every thief will commit false testimony when he denies the accusation of having stolen. The Commandment to honour father and mother parallels the Commandment not to covet one’s neighbour’s wife, for if he does so successfully and illegitimate children are born from such a union, these children will eventually curse their parents instead of honouring them.

(13) לא תנאף, this commandment is phrased as applying to sexual intercourse with someone else’s legal wife because this is the most likely scenario; it applies to all forbidden sexual intercourse.

(13) לא תגנוב, the term “stealing” also includes the “stealing,” i.e. kidnapping of human beings. Even deceiving your fellow man deliberately is called “stealing” גנבת דעת הבריות, “stealing people’s minds, misleading them to believe that lies are truth. (compare Sanhedrin 86)

(13) לא תענה ברעך עד שקר, this includes spreading slander about people surreptitiously, something generally known asמוציא שם רע, “defaming someone, ruining his reputation.” The principal meaning in our verse is perjuring oneself when testifying against a fellow man

(13) לא תנאף THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY — The term ניאוף, “adultery”, is technically only applicable to the case of a married woman, as it is said, (Leviticus 20:10) […the wife of his neighbour], the נואף and the נואפת shall surely be put to death”, and it further states, (Ezekiel 16:32) “The woman that comitteth adultery, that taketh strangers instead of her husband”.

(13) לא תגנוב THOU SHALT NOT STEAL — Scripture here is speaking about a case of one who steals human beings, whilst the command (Leviticus 19:11) “Ye shall not steal” speaks about a case of one who steals money (another person’s property in general). Or perhaps this is not so, but this speaks about the case of one who money and the other about the case of one who steals human beings! You must, however, admit that the rule applies: a statement must be explained from its context. How is it in regard to, “Thou shalt not murder” and “Thou shalt not commit adultery”? Each, speaks of a matter for which one becomes liable to death by sentence of the court; similarly, “Thou shalt not steal”, must speak of a matter for which one becomes liable to death by sentence of the court, and this is not so in the case of theft of money but only in that of kidnapping (Sanhedrin 86a; cf.Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:3:13).

(13) לא תרצח. Wherever the term רחיצה appears it refers to killing without adequate justification. A deliberate murderer is to be executed as we know from Numbers 35,16-16. Similar verses in Kings I 21,19 when King Achav had framed someone resulting in judicial murder is also included in this definition of לא תרצח, [though he could have claimed that Naval, the victim, could have been found innocent by the judges. Ed.] When the terms הריגה, or מיתה are used to describe killing this means that there was no excuse for the killer to commit his act. (compare Kayin slaying his brother in Genesis 4,8) On the other hand, in Leviticus 20,16 where the Torah decrees והרגת את האשה, this refers to judicial killing for cause. Concerning the use of the word רוצח, murderer, in Deuteronomy 4,42 as applicable to someone who killed inadvertently, the reason why the Torah used this term there was only because in the same context deliberate murder was also discussed. This is my answer to the heretics who have admitted to me that the Latin translation of the Bible describing רציחה “killing,” without distinction as to the reason for the killing, is sloppy, most inaccurate. They were so careless in spit of the fact that in their “own” books such as Deuteronomy 32,39 we have the line אני אמית ואחיה, “it is I Who kill and resurrect,” showing that the Torah uses different expressions describing different kinds of killing.

(13) You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal: 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. And You shall not commit adultery [with] the wife of your fellow, since you will destroy the matter of honoring parents, by [causing the] denying of the truth and the admission of falsehood - as [the resultant offspring] will not know their parents and will give of their honor to another, as do the idolaters who 'say to wood, "You are my father"' and do not know their Father that created them from nothing." And afterwards, He warned, "You shall not steal a soul" (kidnapping); as it also causes like this. And so [too], is the order of the commandments such, in their severity and punishments: After idolatry is the spilling of blood, and afterwords is forbidden sexual relations, and afterwards, He warned against stealing a soul and false testimony and robbery. And whoever does not covet will never damage his fellow. And behold, it finished everything that a person is obligated towards his fellow, and afterwards it will elucidate the specific laws - since one who is obligated [to repay] his fellow from the laws will pay what is [incumbent] upon him, if he does not covet and does not desire that which is not his. And Rabbi Avraham (Ibn Ezra on Exodus 20:1 - Introduction to the Ten Commandments) said that the verse took the way of the world by first stating, "the house of your fellow," as the enlightened one will proceed first to have a house, and afterwards take a wife to bring her to his house, and afterwards, he will acquire a servant and a maidservant. But in Mishneh Torah (Deuteronomy 5:18), it mentions a wife first, because the young men will desire a wife first or because the coveting of a wife is the greatest prohibition from among them. And behold, the Ten Statements (Commandments) are five for the glory of the Creator and five for the benefit of man - as Honor your father and your mother is [for] the glory of God, as for the glory of the Creator did He command to honor the father that participated in the formation [of the child]. And five remain for man - for his needs and for his benefits. And behold, it mentioned the requital in some of the [Ten] Statements, and in some of them it did not mention [it]. As in the second statement, [it is written], a jealous God; in the third, for the Lord will not clear; in the fifth, that you may long endure - and in the others it did not mention a punishment or a reward. And this was because the last five statements are for the benefit of man, and 'behold, its reward is with him and its effect is in front of him.' But with idolatry, there is a need for a warning of the punishment because of its great severity and [because] it is for the glory of the Creator. And that which appears [correct] to me is that it stated, a jealous God about You shall not have [etc.], and it stated but showing kindness about I am [the Lord, etc.] - since punishment comes for a negative commandment and reward for a positive commandment; and acceptance of the kingdom of God and the warning about the worship of anything besides Him is one matter. And [so] it completed the matter and afterwards warned the transgressor and promised reward to the one who [fulfills the precept]. And it [then] warned about a false oath with the punishment of, [the Lord] will not clear. And it did not mention a requital for Shabbat at all, and it did not state the punishment of cutting off - or another punishment besides it - for the one who profanes it and it did not mention a reward for 'the one who guards it from being desecrated,' since the Shabbat is included in the first two commandments: As the one who observes Shabbat testifies to the story of creation and accedes to the commandment of I am [etc.], and the one who profanes it rejects the creation story and accedes to the preexistence of the world, to reject the commandment of I am [etc.]. And behold, it is [hence] in the category of, a jealous God, who visits, and in the category of, but showing kindness to thousands. And regarding the fifth statement, it mentioned reward, since it is a positive commandment. And that which appears [correct] concerning the writing on the tablets is that the first five were on one tablet - as they are [for] the glory of God, as I have mentioned - and the second five on one tablet; such that they would be five corresponding to five, like the matter that is mentioned in the Sefer Yetzirah 1:3 about the ten spheres (sefirot) without what (mah) being like the number of the ten fingers, five corresponding to five, and the solitary covenant correspondingly in the middle. And from this it becomes clear to you why there were two [tablets] - since until Honor your father, it corresponds to the written Torah; and from here and further, it corresponds to the oral Torah. And it appears that it is to this that our rabbis, may their memory be blessed, hinted, as they said (Tanchuma Ekev 10), "The two tablets correspond to the Heavens and the Earth, and correspond to a groom and bride and correspond to two groomsmen and correspond to the two worlds. And all of this is one hint, and the enlightened one will understand the secret.

(13) You shall not kill: with your hand; or with your tongue to testify falsely to have him killed; or in your being a talebearer; or to purposely give bad counsel; or when a secret is revealed to you with which you can save him if you reveal it to him - if you don't reveal it, you are like a murderer.

(13) You shall not steal (tignov): The understanding of (genevah) is taking money in secret. And there is a thief who is [to be put to] death, like someone who steals a soul of Israel, whether he is a small youth or [even one of an] 'undiscerning tongue.' And the stealing of money [mentioned] is whether it is in front of [the victim] or not in front of him. Or that he tricked him in a calculation or measurement or weight. And this word also includes one who 'steals the heart' of another, like Avshalom did.

(13) לא תרצח, “do not murder!” The absence of any qualifying adjectives or adverbs means that murder by hand, by tool, or even by silence is equally forbidden. Example: you have obtained information that someone is about to be murdered and you fail to warn the prospective victim. The expression רצח is not applicable unless applied to death caused by illegal means. The expressions מיתה, or הריגה can be applied to death by other means whether legal or illegal.

(13) לא תנאף, “do not commit adultery!” Do not argue that whereas it is forbidden to reduce the number of living human beings through murder, there is nothing wrong with increasing the human population even through sleeping with a woman who is someone else’s wife.

(14) You shall not covet your neighbor’s house: you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female slave, or his ox or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

(14) לא תחמוד, the object you covet should be considered by you as so utterly unattainable that you will not even begin to hatch schemes of how to acquire it. This is the promise made by G’d in Exodus 34,24 that none of our neighbours will covet our land while we are engaged in making the pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Once you begin to covet something belonging to someone else it is only a short step to committing robbery. (compare Joshua 7,21 where Achan ben Carmi who had become guilty of such robbery admitted that it all began with his coveting the items which he stole and hid.)

(14) 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 [to explain this]. 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. And this villager will not think like one of the lunatics that desires that he should have wings to fly in the sky, when it is not possible. [This is like] that which a man does not desire to sleep with his mother, even though she is beautiful, as they have accustomed him from his youth to know that it is forbidden to him. 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. And Kohelet said, "(to that) [and to the one that did not toil in it], will he give it as his portion" (Ecclesiastes 2:21). And the sages said (Moed Katan 28a), "Children, life and sustenance - [this] matter does not depend on merit, but rather on the constellation." And because of this, the enlightened one will not desire and not covet. And once he knows that God forbade him the wife of his friend, it is more removed in his eyes than the daughter of the king is in the eyes of the villager. Therefore, he will 'rejoice in his portion' and he won't place in his heart to covet and desire something that is not his. Since he knows that God did not want to give it to him [and that] he is not able to take it with his power and thoughts and machinations. Hence, he will trust in his Creator, that He will provide for him and that He will do what is good in His eyes. And behold, the commentary on the Ten Commandments is completed....

(14) לא תחמוד אשת רעך, “Do not lust after your fellow man’s wife!” Do not scheme to how bring about her divorce so that you can marry her. The translation of lo tachmod cannot be that you shall not kidnap her are otherwise force her to sleep with you. This prohibition was already included in the prohibition to commit adultery. The first five commandments were all in the category of לא מבעיא, there being no question of their being necessary. The need to accept G-d as Israel’s Master hardly had to be spelled out. Neither did the commandment not to worship competing deities or the need not to swear an oath by any other deity, or to observe the Sabbath, seeing that G-d Himself had observed a Sabbath; nor was there a need to decree to honour one’s parents. Every gentile does so without having been ordered to do so by G-d. Even the last five of the Ten Commandments did not need to be legislated as universal disregard of either of these commandments results in complete anarchy and the destruction of the human race by itself. In most of the Ten Commandments we find two cantillation marks per word (as opposed to only one on a word.). The symbolism that is represented by that fact is a reminder that we have two versions of the Ten Commandments in the written Torah. When the Torah is read in public on the festival of Shavuot, which is the anniversary of the revelation on Mount Sinai, we read the second commandment לא יהיה לך as well as the whole commandment commencing with the word: זכור using the major cantillation marks in order that each one of them be understood as a single verse. The 6th9th commandments are read on that occasion by using the minor cantillation marks, in order to understand them as separate verses. The reason is that although we never find a verse that has only two words, in this instance the Rabbis decided to remind us that we are dealing here with separate commandments. When the Torah is read on an ordinary Sabbath in the month of Sh’vat, however, and the Ten Commandments are read as part of the portion known as Yitro, we read the entire Ten Commandments using the minor cantillation marks as a result of which we make four verses of each one of them. The reason why on Shavuot we read the first and second commandment with the major cantillation marks is to remind us that they were uttered by G-d as a single continuous verse. [The author had explained there that these two Commandments were heard by all of the people from G-d’s mouth without Moses acting as an interpreter. Ed.] [In the second version of the Ten Commandments where the 7thh10th commandments are linked to one another by the prefix letter ו, it is clear that they are to be treated as separate commandments each. Ed.][The author proceeds to spell this out in greater detail. Readers familiar with the significance of each cantillation mark will be able to check this themselves. Ed.]