005 Devarim - Ten Commandments (6-10)

(13) You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not kidnap.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

(1) You shall not murder. 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.

(1) 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”.

(2) 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).

(2) לא תענה ברעך עד שקר, “do not bear false witness against your fellow.” Please note that the Torah does not write “against your brother,” as it does when forbidding charging interest, (Deut. 23,20) or when it commands you to return found property (Deut. 22,3), or in similar legislation. In all those instances our sages explain the word אחיך as excluding non-Jews. In other words, while it is forbidden to charge (or pay) interest to a Jew, it is not forbidden to charge interest to a Gentile. While one must go out of one’s way to restore lost property owned by a Jew, there is no legal obligation to spend time, energy, and even money to restore lost property to a Gentile. Here the reason the Torah fails to limit the legislation to אחיך, “your brother.” It is clear that one must not bear false testimony against a Gentile, i.e. against Egyptians. Moreover, we find in Exodus 11,20 וישאלו איש מאת רעהו, “they asked each person from his fellow;” it is clear that the word רעהו refers to the Egyptians as the verse would not make any sense otherwise. Not bearing false testimony therefore is a commandment of universal application.
Furthermore, if the Torah had written the word אחיך in our verse we might have concluded that it is in order to testify against (or on behalf of) other relatives, whereas generally speaking a whole list of relatives are unfit to testify together (as a team), on behalf of each other or against each other. Not only is false testimony illegal in such instances but even true testimony is unacceptable. Were this not so the Torah should have written לא תענה ברעך עדות שקר, “do not lie in your testimony against your fellow.” Such wording would have been very misleading as it would have meant that only the actual false testimony is prohibited but that someone who is in collusion with people arranging false testimony would be exonerated by the legal process. The Torah therefore uses ambiguous wording to cover as much ground as possible, i.e. in order to include as many people as possible in the parameters of guilt governing the subject of false testimony. The very word תענה means to “assist,” or “invite.”

(3) Now any man who has this quality strongly within him, is very despicable, for jealousy brings a person to lust, for when a man does not pay attention to what his companion acquires, he does not lust. And the Torah said, "You shall not lust after the wife of your neighbor… and anything that belongs to your neighbor" (Exod. 20:14). A man who is overpowered by lust, is very close to transgressing the Ten Commandments. A parable that will illustrate this is the story of a man who had a neighbor and there was a wall that separated them and their property. Now the wicked man coveted the wife of his neighbor, and also some of his possessions. One day he overheard the man say to his wife, "I shall have to leave for a while for business," and thus he did. What did the wicked man do? On Sabbath eve, he went and broke the wall that was between them. And thus, he had already transgressed the commandment to "remember and keep the Sabbath." He then forcibly attacked the wife of his neighbor, and in that way transgressed the commandment that "You shall not covet" and he lay with her, and thus he transgressed the commandment "You shall not commit adultery." And after that when he began to plunder the possessions of his neighbor, the woman cried out, and when she cried out, he slew her — and so he transgressed the commandment "You shall not commit murder." And after he had robbed and stolen what he lusted for, he had already transgressed the commandment, "You shall not steal" as well as "You shalt not covet." Then his father and his mother stood up and rebuked him. He arose up against them and struck them, and thus he transgressed the commandment "Honor your father and your mother." And afterwards, when he was brought to court, he and his worthless companions testified that the property found in his possession had been left with him as a pledge by his neighbor and that he had permitted his neighbor to take them back in trust even though he had not paid. He had trusted his neighbor with the pledge and had never been able to obtain possession of them until now when the robbers had broken the wall which was between their properties and had slain the woman and that when he heard the commotion he had entered and taken back his pledge. Now by this testimony, he transgressed against the commandment "You shall not utter false testimony against your neighbor." Then continually, wherever he went, he swore that he had done nothing wrong, and so he transgressed against the commandment, "You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain." Finally, his crimes were revealed and his wrong became known far and wide. Because of this disgrace, he became utterly depraved, denied the living God and thus he transgressed against the First Commandment, "I am the Lord thy God." Finally, he became attached to idolatry and thus he transgressed the command "You shall have no other gods, you shall not bow down before them and you shall not serve them." And all of this was caused by his lust! Thus we find that lust can bring one very near to transgress against all of the Torah.