The Ten commandments Part I

BS”D

A deeper aspect of the 10 Commandments

The Torah is deep and we are fortunate to have sages that have helped us plough into the many hidden layers below are insights into the 10 commandments where the Abraham Ibn Ezra describes a hidden message which I have expanded on as a lesson that our Creator may be trying to teach us :

The Ten Commandments are basic fundamentals in serving G-d, on close scrutiny the Ibn Ezra sees three main facets of service: - Thought; Speech and Actions

The first 5 are between Man and our Creator:

1. Know the L-rd your G-d who took you out of Egypt and bondage - Thought

2. You must have no other G-d's beside me - understanding the oneness of the Creator - Thought

3. Do not say G-d's name in vain - Speech

4. Keep and Honour the Sabbath - we honour the Sabbath through - Actions

5. Honour your parents - we honour our parents through - Actions

Note the first 5 commandments deal with the relationship between man and G-d moving through stages of service from 

 1) Thought to (It all starts with reflection)

2) Speech to (grow through reflection and behaving accordingly, we are greater than animals and are differentiated from them by our ability to think and speak, as Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein points out humans talk with intelligence and walk upright, we have a higher calling)

3) Action (action evolves from our thoughts the knowledge and awe which is used as a catalyst in creating energy to serve G-d by performing good deeds)

People often say they know and love G-D but that is words do their deeds correspond to this expression of love. For if you truly love someone you will show it by your actions, otherwise it is just lip service.

The command to honour the Sabbath a day of recognising and thanking the creator, is followed by the commandment to honour our parents who provided for us and gave us life. By honouring them we Honour Hashem they say when a human is born there are three partners the man the woman and G-d who sends down the holy spark a soul of the child to be born.

THE NEXT 5

The last 5 commandments are between man and man, Hashem tells us:

6	You must not murder.  – Actions (I think corresponds with 1. knowing G-d and the holiness he breathed within each man a holy soul)
7	You must not commit adultery. – Actions (I think corresponds with 2. having no other gods, total loyalty to each other.)
8	You must not steal. – Actions (I think corresponds with not taking Hashem's name in vain, to show disdain for the creator or your fellow men by not respecting their domains and rights) (this is my own interpretation)
9	You must not bear false witness against your neighbour. – Speech (I think corresponds to keeping the Sabbath as by doing so we recognise and testify that G-d is the true creator of the world)
10	You must not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour’s. - Thought (corresponds to honouring your parents, if you truly appreciate the goodness and the gift of life and those whom bestowed it to us - we will count our blessings and this gratitude will help us maintain a good eye without getting jealous of our fellow human beings. (this is my own interpretation)

Ibn Ezra points out the opposite order to the facets of service from the first five (Thought- Speech- Actions), compared to the last five where the order is

1. Actions

2. Speech

3. Thoughts

TO OUR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS

Do not Murder commit adultery and steal – These are actions we all know are wrong.

You should not bear false witness –Speaking truth always and being a genuine person. A greater level to live and speak with truth to other people, always be honest.

Finally thou shalt no covet – Consistent purity of thoughts is probably the hardest but greatest level to achieve to always have a good eye see the best in another and not to judge them, to be happy for their successes in our heart and minds. Thought is a hidden facet from your fellow man but our thoughts are not hidden from the holy Creator. Hence a much harder level of service  to achieve unless we have really internalized and made the Creator a reality in our life, by doing so I believe we will recognize our blessings and not be envious of others (it should be so)

The difference is our fellow man only sees our actions but not our thoughts, so this area of thought requires more self-reflection and work, it’s harder to be good when no one is watching, or if we believe no one is watching - it takes effort and reflection and self-discipline!  To master the first 5, will ultimately help in achieving the next 5, we should be assisted in this difficult task!

We need to think about the world reflect on it, when the Creator, G-D becomes a reality, we will speak well and with respect, and serve our G-d by doing his commands, and always be good to our fellow human beings in deed, speech and finally thought!

Discussed below are my thoughts on the above facets of serving our creator

 

THOUGHTS OF G-D 

We need to reflect on nature, e.g. the billions of stars and amazing planets out there, placed in an order with such precision, have you ever thought how we are situated close enough to the sun as to not burn or freeze, and worked out it must have been an intelligent force that made the self-sustaining world, how the dead decay, nourishing the earth and life is renewed through watering from above.

Have we seen the luminaries in the sky, I mean their beauty, the lights in a grand palace cannot compare, and by night have you  ever seen and experienced a solar eclipse,  I heard from Rabbi Tatz who said the moon lines up exactly in front of the sun - what beauty what mathematics for G-d to allow such a phenomena! 

Rabbi Bachya in Duties of the hearts states in creation we see the kindness of the creator - what is essential is abundant on earth what is luxury is rare!
E.G.: AIR WATER FOOD CLOTHING GEMS

Think about the abundance of air that is free and abundant without effort and so essential for us to be able to exist.

Think about the earth and its structure the ice capped mountains and valleys with rivers running into the sea and the lakes, systems of water for all the living creatures to drink from. For most of us easily accessible!

Think about the meteorites’ that science has discovered and found, they have a core made of ice and constantly burn up in our higher atmosphere  and thereby replenish our supply of water Refer Genesis 1:7 And  G-d made the firmament (the layer of air that envelops the earth), and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and so it was"  (recommended reading The coming Revolution it speaks about the Water Reservoirs in Space- Zamir Cohen).

Ample supply -all the kinds of fruits and veggies and plants, wheat and grain and so much food sources - the colors and kinds it is really amazing. Not as abundant as water but in ample supply. 

Materials for clothing ...available with a bit of work and manufacture, but we manage.

Then precious gems and minerals... these are rare, difficult to obtain but not really essential to our existence!

Let’s not even get started on the wonders of the body, the eyes, I always wondered how people could think two sexes one male and female bodies so different yet biologically suited, evolved from nothing by accident, and we see that human beings are of a higher status - we are the only mammals, as mentioned before that stand upright that can be intimate face to face in loving embrace. 

- Okay so we reflect and please G-d have worked out through thoughts, that there must be a  G-d, but what do I do about it, how do I repay the Creator for this gift called life...

SPEECH

... By showing some respect would be nice, if we are a creation that actually has free will and the greatest powers of speech and understanding then we ought to use this gift showing respect for our Creator by the way we speak, through our words, i.e. do not swear or be vulgar. You give us all these things we need to live, so let me respect you in the same way a grateful person should honor any person who has bestowed an abundance of goodness on him.  We should use our mouth for prayer, for building up and motivating those in need, our speech kept clean out of respect.

Highest expression of Love in service to G-d is ACTIONS

-  We express that respect and love by our deeds. Service through Action is the highest expression of love, if we tell our wives, moms friends we love them but then do nothing to show it - well our marriage/relationship will be a disaster as the words will seem shallow even if we sincerely feel that love!  But in the Torah Jews were given hundreds of commandments a way of serving and expressing our love to our benefactor G-D blessed be he. So we should do the will of our master in heaven, the instruction book is the Torah and her mitzvahs, the how has been taught to us from generation to generation in an unbroken chain going back to Sinai! What a treasure we have!

And righteous converts from other nations the likes of Ruth the Moabite, or Jethro the Medianite, the Torah demands of us a special command to love a righteous convert who is not born to these commands but chooses to join the Jews in the responsibility of performing the commands - out of love! 

Have a blessed day

Michael

Did you know?

In most religious depictions, the tablets are depicted as large, flat stones with rounded tops, although they sometimes appear rectangular. However, according to the Talmud (the Jewish sacred text), the tablets were actually square.