It was a small Shabbos morning s'udo parashas Yisro. (I know that sounds distressingly like "it was a dark and stormy night"... but what can I do?) I, of course, was pontificating about how it's called the עשרת הדיברות which translates to "The Ten Utterances" and not "The Ten Commandments". Moreover, the next parasha starts with the conjunctive וְאֵ֨לֶּה֙ הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר תָּשִׂ֖ים לִפְנֵיהֶֽם/and these -- in continuation of what was just begun (see Rashi) -- are the statutes you shall place before them (the Jewish people). So you see clearly that everything was said at Har Sinai. Furthermore, our sages had to actually forbid public, formal, recitations of the -- ahem -- so-called Ten Commandments because the Christians used that as proof that really those are the important commandments. (They also conveniently ignore the phrase "Who took you out of Mitzrayim", clearly indicating that these laws -- whatever they may be -- were only said to the people that were, indeed, taken out of Mitzrayim; but's that's for another time, I just wanted to get that jab in.)
That's when our guest asked: So why were were given the עשרת הדיברות; why not just say straight out explicitly, "Here is the whole Torah."?
"That's a great question!", I said... stalling for time as I wondered why I had never thought to ask such an obvious question. I gave an answer. A very good answer. A deeply philosophical and cool answer. (Basically: One can trace the source of Adam haRishon's mistake to the fact that he had to believe that HaShem has created him and the entire world; he wasn't there to experience it, after all. To fix that, HaShem first undid the world He had created with ten utterances with the ten plagues. Note that HaShem first created a future, then light, ..., finally animal life. The plagues first turned turned blood -- the life force of animals -- into a curse, ..., then turned off the lights with darkness, then removed their future by killing the first born. Thereby giving the newly born Jewish nation and experiential belief in HaShem as the Creator.)
One problem... it didn't really answer the question she was asking. I really didn't have a good answer (nor even a bad answer) to her real question of, "just avoid the whole mess and just say straight out explicitly, "Here is the whole Torah."
I knew I hadn't answered the question and now I was stuck wondering the same thing all afternoon. I also had no clue where to look for an answer to a question like that. So I just filed it away with all the other things I don't understand that I keep in a special corner to be revisited whenever I learn something new. Baruch HaShem, it didn't have to remain there for long... in her z'chus, I learned a Ramban (on the next parasha, right at the beginning) explaining how all of the rest of the Torah is just an unfolding and exposition on the עשרת הדיברות!
In short (though I urge you to learn the Ramban on parashas Mishpatim yourself), the עשרת הדיברות were filled with lots of terms that demand clear definition and explanation before one can fulfill the requirements. Shabbos, for example. To sanctify Shabbos and cease from forbidden labors, one must obviously know the definitions and parameters of what constitutes a forbidden labor on Shabbos. In order to not covet your neighbor's property, you obviously need to know how property ownership is defined, how property is transferred, how restitution is made when property is damaged, and so on. And so on and so on... until you have all 613 commandments, a whole Shas Bavli, four sections of Shulchan Aruch and all the halacha and philosophy s'farmim we have until today.
So why not say all that at Har Sinai? Because Har Sinai was the wedding between HaShem and the Jewish people. When the chassan and kallah agree to wed under the chupa, it is with a simple statement, the giving of a ring, and the acceptance to love each other for the rest of their lives by learning what it means to love the other.
At Har Sinai there was a simple statement -- עשרת הדיברות, the giving of the ring -- the two sapphire tablets, and the acceptance to love each other for the rest of their lives by learning what it means to love the other -- נעשה ונשמע/We will do and we will always learn more.
That's when our guest asked: So why were were given the עשרת הדיברות; why not just say straight out explicitly, "Here is the whole Torah."?
"That's a great question!", I said... stalling for time as I wondered why I had never thought to ask such an obvious question. I gave an answer. A very good answer. A deeply philosophical and cool answer. (Basically: One can trace the source of Adam haRishon's mistake to the fact that he had to believe that HaShem has created him and the entire world; he wasn't there to experience it, after all. To fix that, HaShem first undid the world He had created with ten utterances with the ten plagues. Note that HaShem first created a future, then light, ..., finally animal life. The plagues first turned turned blood -- the life force of animals -- into a curse, ..., then turned off the lights with darkness, then removed their future by killing the first born. Thereby giving the newly born Jewish nation and experiential belief in HaShem as the Creator.)
One problem... it didn't really answer the question she was asking. I really didn't have a good answer (nor even a bad answer) to her real question of, "just avoid the whole mess and just say straight out explicitly, "Here is the whole Torah."
I knew I hadn't answered the question and now I was stuck wondering the same thing all afternoon. I also had no clue where to look for an answer to a question like that. So I just filed it away with all the other things I don't understand that I keep in a special corner to be revisited whenever I learn something new. Baruch HaShem, it didn't have to remain there for long... in her z'chus, I learned a Ramban (on the next parasha, right at the beginning) explaining how all of the rest of the Torah is just an unfolding and exposition on the עשרת הדיברות!
In short (though I urge you to learn the Ramban on parashas Mishpatim yourself), the עשרת הדיברות were filled with lots of terms that demand clear definition and explanation before one can fulfill the requirements. Shabbos, for example. To sanctify Shabbos and cease from forbidden labors, one must obviously know the definitions and parameters of what constitutes a forbidden labor on Shabbos. In order to not covet your neighbor's property, you obviously need to know how property ownership is defined, how property is transferred, how restitution is made when property is damaged, and so on. And so on and so on... until you have all 613 commandments, a whole Shas Bavli, four sections of Shulchan Aruch and all the halacha and philosophy s'farmim we have until today.
So why not say all that at Har Sinai? Because Har Sinai was the wedding between HaShem and the Jewish people. When the chassan and kallah agree to wed under the chupa, it is with a simple statement, the giving of a ring, and the acceptance to love each other for the rest of their lives by learning what it means to love the other.
At Har Sinai there was a simple statement -- עשרת הדיברות, the giving of the ring -- the two sapphire tablets, and the acceptance to love each other for the rest of their lives by learning what it means to love the other -- נעשה ונשמע/We will do and we will always learn more.
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