The rebellion by Korach, קרח, and his followers is famous and the happenings are a salutary lesson for all future generations. When one looks carefully at the terminology used in Torah, this often gives us clues as to depth of politics and machinations involved.
There are a number of obvious questions in respect of the words and expressions used at the beginning of the sedra and I will enumerate a number.
1) The sedra starts ויקח קרח בן יצהר בן קהת בן לוי And Korach took (he was) son of Yitzhar, the grandson of Kehos, the great grand son of Levi.
2) The Torah then continues ודתן ואבירם בני אליאב And Doson and Aviram, the children of Eliav ואון בן פלת בני ראובן And Oin the son of Peles, all of those came from the tribe of Reuvain.
The points to note are that it does not say ויקחו and they took, but he took ויקח. Who, obviously meaning the first person, namely Korach. Why does the Torah not say ויקחו, they took?
3) Why in the case of Korach does it give his complete genealogy back to Levi whereas Doson and Aviram it does not give the intervening one generation, that is Eliav was the son of פלוא who in turn was the son of Reuvain.
4) The next verse commences ויקמו and they gathered up against Moshe, not he but they all.
5) There were 250 followers of this rebellion and Rashi quotes that most of them came from the tribe of Reuvain. Why just from that tribe?
6) We find that when Moshe replied, the verse states as follows, וידבר אל קרח ואל כל עדתו, he spoke to Korach and all his followers. The word דיבור means speaking in a harsh way, whereas later on the Torah says ויאמר משה אל קרח, and Moshe said to Korach and אמירה is a much softer expression of speaking to. Here, Moshe was speaking specifically to Korach.
7) Later on the Torah tells us that Moshe sent to Doson and Aviram that they should come, why did have to send for them, where had they gone?
8) When Moshe told the whole of the Bnei Yisroel to go away from where the rebels were encamped, the Torah tells us that they should go from they encampment of Korach, Doson and Aviram, however, it then says that Moshe went to Doson and Aviram. Where was Korach?
9) Why, during the whole of this parsha, (when we all know that the earth opened up and the rebels were swallowed up alive under the ground) does it not mention that the children of Korach did not die. This is mentioned later on in the sedra of Pinchas.
Furthermore, you will, perhaps, remember that right at the beginning I mentioned that in the first verse there was ואון בן פלת, Oin the son of Peles, who does not figure anymore. The Medrash tells us that he was saved because he had a good wife. When she heard that he had joined the rebellion, she said to him “What good is it going to do to you. if Moshe wins, you will have been in the wrong, if Korach proves right, you will still not be the leader of the rebellion and, therefore, why do you need this trouble?”
His rejoinder was “I have given my word that I will join in the rebellion, which is due to take place in the morning.” His wife, who was very clever, said, leave it to me. When morning came, she would not let him go out of the tent that they lived in but stood near the entrance combing her hair. As soon as the representatives of Korach turned up to collect her husband, they saw what she was doing and they ran away and that way she saved her husband, who did not join in the rebellion.
Let us return to the questions that I asked.
Rashi uses a very unusual expression about Korach, קרח שפקח היה, Korach, who was very clever. Why, in that case, did he make this major mistake which led to his downfall. Rashi explains that he saw future generations including people who would be singing accompaniments with the Kohanim who were bringing sacrifices, also the famous prophet Samuel who was one of his descendents and they were all great and holy people. He, therefore, reasoned that he could not lose the fight with Moshe. Rashi ends by saying that Korach’s children, at the last moment, repented. They did תשובה.
We must put this in perspective, Korach was not only a Novi, a prophet because he could see what was going to happen in the future, what he saw, actually took place, he did have these very great and holy descendents!! He was an elderly gentleman, according to the medrash at least 130 years of age, and also he was very rich because the Gemora tells us that Yosef in Egypt amassed enormous treasures, Korach discovered one third of them and took them with him. He must have been a very rich man indeed. He had everything going for him, so why was it that he decided to rebel against Moshe Rabbenu.
The answer is that he was already jealous of the fact that Moshe was the leader and Aharon was the Kohen Godol whereas he had nothing. However, Moshe and Aharon were sons of the oldest son of Kehos, namely Amram. What tipped him over was the fact that his younger cousin אליצפן בן עוזיאל, Elitzaphen ben Uziel, born to the fourth son of Kehos, was given the job of being the head of the whole of the Bnei Kehos, the ones who carried the ארון, the Ark with the Luchos and dealt with the holiest parts of the Mishkan.
He, Korach, was a son of the second son of Kehos and, therefore, felt that he should have been given the job. That jealousy caused him to rebel.
He then looked round for supporters and found then readily among the tribe of Reuvain. Remember that Reuvain was the first born son of Yaakov Avinu. He was supposed to have both crowns of Kahuna and Malchus, to be the Kohen Godol and also to be the king but lost them both. As long as the Bnei Yisroel were in Egypt, this was not so important, they were too busy working as slaves but when they came out of Egypt, the tribe of Reuvain realised their great loss. The Kohanim came from the tribe of Levi and the tribe of Reuvain had lost that honour. When the Mishkon was consecrated Hashem commanded that Yehuda should bring the sacrifices on the first day and Reuvain did not get to bring its korbonos until the fourth day. They felt demoted and hurt. Therefore, they were easy prey for Korach to influence and to join his bandwagon.
Coming back to my original questions, we now understand the terminology used, better. The first word in the sedra, ויקח, and he took, refers to Korach because he was the instigator of the whole matter and it then gives his detailed genealogy, his yichus, because it was that particular point which was hurting him and caused him to be jealous.
On the other hand, Doson and Aviram and Oin son of Peles were all Bnei Reuvain, the children of the tribe of Reuvain and that is the reason why they are just mentioned without going through all their genealogy. It was because they were members of that particular tribe that they got involved.
In any event, we know that Doson and Aviram were trouble makers going back a long time, Rashi states at the time when Moshe was still in Egypt and killed the Egyptian who had been ill treating a Jewish person that the next day he saw two Jews fighting. He remonstrated with them and they threatened to report him to the authorities. They were, indeed, Doson and Aviram. They had been thorns in Moshe’s side for many a year.
Therefore, when it came to the actual uprising, the word ויקמו, they stood up to rebel, applies to all of them but for different motives.
When Moshe went to speak to all of them it uses a harsh expression because we are talking about the Adass Korach, the followers of Korach and really the argument had nothing to do with them, the main protagonist was Korach himself.
When Moshe turned to Korach to talk to him, he tried using a soft expression as King Solomon states, מענה רך משיב חמה, a soft expression turns aside wrath. However, unfortunately this did not help.
Doson and Aviram who were seasoned trouble makers did not take any notice and left the presence of Moshe. They even refused to come back and that is why Moshe had to try and call to them. This is another lesson in behaviour for us to note namely, that Moshe Rabbenu went out of his way to try to make peace but they refused to take notice.
However, let us return to Korach, himself. As mentioned before, he was a very clever man and being clever, he had gone at night, to gather together 250 people to try and carry out a coup, however, when Doson and Aviram came brazenly forth and remonstrated with Moshe, he was nowhere to be seen. This is a typical politician’s attitude, that he kept out of sight to see what was going to happen. This did not really help him because of the fact that the earth split open and as R’ Yehuda in the Gemora states, even if some of the trouble makers were not on the spot the ground inclined and they slide into the hole that had miraculously appeared.
As you can see, there was lot more going on than just appears on the surface!! We can learn numerous lessons from the behaviour of the individuals concerned and of the consequences.
Finally, the reason why no mention is made of the children of Korach who, at the last moment repented and did not die, was because a person should never rely on doing wrong believing that he can repent later on. As far as the fact that Oin ben Peles was saved by his wife, once again, one should not rely on something without thinking it through carefully and not rely on miracles.
I think we all are aware of what has happened in the past few months in the UK, for example, and that politics is a very shady and even dirty game and should be avoided like the plague. (or swine flu?) It is unfortunately likely to bury people alive eventually.
Thursday 25 June 2009
KORACH קרח
Thursday 18 June 2009
פרשת שלח לך
These are as follows (explained in detail below):-
פ' נסכים
פ' חלה
קרבן עבור עבודה זרה
מקושש
פ' ציצית
If, however, one considers matters in depth, I believe that one can ascertain a thread that runs through one parsha after the other, which would explain the order and sequence.
The story of the spies that were sent to investigate the whole land of Canaan was apparently as commanded by Hashem to Moshe. Even if one views it from the commentary of Rashi, namely, that Hashem did not command Moshe to send the twelve spies but that when the Bnei Yisroel requested the investigation, Hashem agreed to it, one has to understand the reasons behind the matter.
I believe that one can explain it as being not only a spying expedition in order to see the physical topography and to gauge the strength of the armies and fortified cities in our Holy Land, but it was also to investigate the spiritual side of the country and its holiness.
Whilst the Bnei Yisroel were in the wilderness they lived on a very high spiritual level. They did not have to worry about physical matters, they ate מן, the manna, which was a spiritual type of food and were surrounded by the ענני כבוד, pillars of glory. They encamped around the Mishkon and were led by Moshe Rabbenu who was always on the spot. However, that was only a passing phase. The ideal situation was not that they should live as angels but as human beings each in their own plot of land and ensure that their spiritual side controlled the physical side, despite them living in the land of Israel, tilling the soil and eating normal food etc. This was akin to the original plan for Odom Harishon in Gan Eden, namely that he should run the physical world in a spiritual way.
Moshe Rabbenu instructed the מרגלים, ולקחתם מפרי הארץ and you shall take from the fruit of the land. That was in order, not only to see the size, texture and appetising nature of the fruit but also in order to ascertain how to spiritually uplift the fruit, this is known as העלאת הניצוצות.
However, ten, at least, of the spies did not merit to understand what Moshe Rabbenu was really driving at. They saw the extraordinary large fruits as showing that the גשמיות, the physical side was extremely strong. The Torah tells us in detail about the אשכול ענבים, the cluster of extraordinary large grapes that they brought back with them. Not only that but the people who were inhabiting the land, including עמלק and the other six nations, were physically strong. They also represented the worst in human nature, in a spiritual way, and were dotted all round the Holy Land.
Therefore, the spies suggested, that not only were the inhabitants of the land of Canaan great warriors, in addition those nations had filled the Holy Land with unholy matters and temptations, including numerous types of עבודה זרה, idol worship etc.
The בני נח had seven mitzvos to keep. The Jewish people were given an extra 606. We find that among the points made about the מרגלים was that they spoke badly about the land, אשר תרו אותה, which they had travelled round and spied upon. The word תרו adds up to 606. What I am suggesting is that this word was used specifically, לרמז, to allude to the effect that the מרגלים suggested in connection with the mitzvos התלויות בארץ, the numerous commandments which are specifically connected with the land of Israel. These include חלה, ביכורים, תרומות, מעשרות, שמיטה, ערלה etc. On the word “הארץ” which the ten spies declaimed about, there is a special note known as a פזר to emphasise that they were worried about the ארציות the physical side of the holy land and yet they continued by saying וכל העם אשר ראינו בתוכה אנשי מדות, and all the people we saw in it people who have bad middos, qualities.
On that basis, the spies concluded that going into the Holy Land was too much of a danger and it would be better to stay in the מדבר, the wilderness. We know that Joshua and Caleb disagreed and the ten spies were, of course, incorrect.
Unfortunately, however, the golden opportunity of going into the land of Canaan immediately was missed and the Jewish people stayed in the wilderness for a further 39 years.
The next parsha in Torah immediately following the whole story is concerning the נסכים, libations.
With every sacrifice brought as a ריח ניחח לה', a pleasant aroma for Hashem, a measure of wine as well as flour had to be brought. The idea behind it all was to elevate the mundane, גשמיות, to a higher level. Therefore the mention of this commandment, at this juncture, came as a sort of antidote to the incorrect ideas of the spies. To the contrary to what the spies thought, the produce of the Holy Land could be utilised in the service of Hashem and in particular as additional presents brought at the time of the sacrifices, the korbonos. Note the אשכול ענבים brought back by the spies. One immediately sees the connection between the two פרשיות.
The next parsha is the commandment to take חלה. This enacted that one had to set aside a portion from bread to be baked which had to then go to the Kohen. This was again to ensure that gluttony should not be allowed to become prevalent and that the physical and mundane foods should be elevated to a higher spiritual level.
In fact, the mitzvah of חלה took place immediately the Bnei Yisroel crossed over the Jordan. It did not have to wait, as most other mitzvos connected with the Land of Israel, until the capture and distribution of the actual land some years later. This was to ensure that there should be a restraint in the use of normal food immediately the Land of Israel was entered. One must bear in mind that for the previous 40 years, the Bnei Yisroel had subsisted on מן, manna and being now enabled to eat normal foods (of which לחם, bread, is the staple diet) they were given a mitzvah to ensure that they would go about it with a spiritual dimension.
The next parsha concerns עבודה זרה, idol worship. As mentioned earlier on, this was one of the major problems concerning the nations who were in the land of Canaan and, therefore, in order to counteract that, special sacrifices had to be brought if (unfortunately) anybody had transgressed in some way by idol worshiping. Those sacrifices would lead to the rectification of the person and the matter.
Hashem wanted to demonstrate that even if the Bnei Yisroel would fall from their high level they could rectify things and improve and bring things back to the correct level. In fact, the Torah tells us ונסלח לכל עדת בני ישראל etc. I will forgive the whole congregation, because they served idols inadvertently. Of course, as the Torah points out a little later, if it was done on purpose, there would be a severe punishment imposed.
This is followed by the parsha of the מקושש, the person who went out on Shabbos and cut branches of wood. This was to demonstrate that it was not only in the land of Canaan that there might be problems and tests which had to be overcome. Remaining in the wilderness was no guarantee that people would not do the wrong thing. A person in the מדבר went, on purpose, and broke one of the laws of Shabbos. One can never be sure!!
This is followed by the final parsha at the end of the sedra, that of ציצית. As theתנא דבי אליהו states, when Moshe saw the מקושש he requested Hashem as follows During the week the Bnei Yisroel wear tefillin and, therefore, remember the mitzvos, how on Shabbos can they have an immediate visible sign that they should remember to keep all the mitzvos? Hashem, therefore, gave the mitzvah of ציצית which should ensure that everybody, not only keeps the mitzvah of Shabbos but is a reminder for all of us at all times to adhere to mitzvos. Rashi points out that the 613 mitzvos are hinted at by the word ציצית and the way they are done with knots and threads.
One can now see a golden thread running through the various chapters in this sedra which have a connection, one with the other.
Tuesday 16 June 2009
ברכת כהנים
The famous ברכה, which the Kohanim where instructed by Hashem to bless the Bnei Yisroel each day, consists of three short sentences. They appear in Torah in the middle of Parshas נשא.
Much has been written about these famous brochos, there are numerous medrashim and all the meforshim comment and elaborate on the blessings.
I would like to add a few of my own thoughts.
The first sentence of ברכת כהנים consists of three words. The second has five words and the third, seven words. There are fifteen words in total. Accordingly, the last word of the middle sentence, ויחנך, is the middle word altogether, being the eighth word, having seven words before and seven after it.
The root of the word ויחנך is חן, namely grace. What we are saying is that the פנימיות, the inner core of all the brochos which the Kohanim gave, is that Hashem will give us חן. But what is the definition of that word?
We find that the last verse at the end of sedra Beraishis reads as follows.
ונח מצא חן בעיני ה', Noach found grace and favour in the eyes of Hashem.
What I suggest is that he found that particular חן because he, unlike the rest of his generation, adhered to the original righteousness with which Odom Harishon was created. If we go back to the story of the sixth day of creation when Odom Harishon was created, we find that the 58th word, נח = חן, from the beginning of that parsha is בצלם אלקים, in the image of Hashem. What I am suggesting is that in the same way as נח has this חן by retaining the צלם אלקים, the Kohanim are blessing us all, that Hashem should, once again, enable us to have it , and not lose the צלם אלקים.
If we look at the first posek, which reads as follows, יברכך יהו - ה וישמרך, we find that first letters are י, י and ו which add up to 26. This is a hint to the numerical value of יהו'. The end letters are ך, ה and ך which themselves add up to 45. That is equivalent to the numerical value of אדם, namely 45. It is also equivalent to the name of Hashem written out as follows יוד = 20, הא = 6, ואו = 13 and הא = 6. This totals 45.
I believe that this comes to emphasise the fact that Hashem, יהו', will bless and guard all of us, אדם, from all angles and in all ways.
ברכת כהנים is a מצות עשה a positive command which is supposed to be carried out by the Kohanim every day. This is actually done in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak and the general southern part of our Holy Land. In the Galilee, I believe that the custom is only to make ברכת כהנים on Shabbos and Yom Tov. In the Diaspora, the custom is that the ברכת כהנים is only carried out on Yomim Tovim.
There are various reasons given as to why these important brochos are not given every day in גלות. Furthermore, if there is no Kohen at a particular minyan, the brocho is not made wherever this minyan is praying, being Jerusalem, Haifa or London for example.
The ברכת כהנים are included in the Shemona Esrai for Shacharis and even if there is no Kohen it is recited. We ask Hashem to bless us immediately before the last brocho, namely שים שלום.
Why do we not leave out that section if there are no Kohanim present, or in golus if we are talking about any time other than Yom Tov?
May I suggest that the last two words of the whole parsha, ואני אברכם, and I will bless them give us the clue.. I believe that these two words can be interpreted to mean that if in the event of the Kohanim not actually physically blessing the Yidden, Hashem will do it himself, ואני אברכם.
May we all be gebentched.
Thursday 11 June 2009
בהעלתך
In the sedra בהעלתך after חמישי, the Torah tells us that in the second year after the Bnei Yisroel went out of Egypt on 22nd day of the second month, the pillar of cloud commenced moving and, therefore, the Bnei Yisroel followed it from the מדבר סיני, the wilderness of Sinai, going to the מדבר פארן, the wilderness of Paran. The Torah goes into detail of the four encampments, דגלים, each consisting of three tribes and how they journeyed, one following the other.
On very infrequent occasions in Torah, we find a special ניגון, tune, intoned by the בעל קורא, the person who reads in the Sefer Torah, the prime example being the Shira when the Bnei Yisroel had crossed the Yam Suf.
Here, in this sedra, chapter 10, verse 15 which commences ועל צבא מטה בני יששכר, the custom among Ashkenazim is to sing it with a special intonation. Also the next verse which starts off ועל צבא מטא בני זבולן. This is not so, in respect of the verse immediately prior to that which talks about the leading tribe of that flag bearing encampment, דגל, namely יהודה where the words ועל צבאו נחשון בן עמינדב is pronounced in the normal manner.
This pattern is repeated three more times at verses 19 and 20, 23 and 24 and then again 26 and 27. It is always the last two of the three tribes which made up each encampment where this special intonation and tune is used, whereas the first one is read in the normal manner.
The customs that we have regarding reading in our Holy Sefer Torah are based on either halachah or midrash etc.
In this particular instance, I could not find any מקור, source, for this custom and having asked around, nobody could give me a satisfactory explanation.
It occurs to me that possibly the reason why we sing these particular verses in this special way is based on a של''ה הקדוש, a famous commentary on numerous aspects of Torah by Rabbi Yeshya Horowitz who lived approximately 400 years ago. He states that this was the first journey after the Bnei Yisroel had received the Torah and they were supposed to immediately journey to Eretz Yisroel. This, in turn, was a land that they had been given in place of the Gan Eden.
Based on that, I think one could suggest that one had to sing a special tune to commemorate the fact that the Bnei Yisroel were about to be taken out of their exile, גלות and going to Eretz Yisroel, our Holy Land.
This would also serve as an explanation why in the sedra מסעי, where the 42 journeys and resting places from the departure from Egypt until the Bnei Yisroel actually crossed over the Jordan are enumerated, are also sung with a similar intonation and tune.
However, why, in that case, in respect of the leader of each of the encampments, דגלים, namely, יהודה, ראובן, אפרים and דן, do we not use a special ניגון?
I would suggest that based on comments made by the Meforshim that the four דגלים, flag bearing encampments, referred to four letters of the Shem יהו'. One could explain this as follows.
The יוד refers to יהודה, the leader of all the tribes. The הא following that refers to ראובן, who was the first among the brothers who repented, (did תשובה). The Gemora in Menochas 29 tells us that the letter הא hints at a Baal Teshuva. The third דגל, was in respect of the children of יוסף whose midda was the “sixth” one, and, therefore ואו was appropriate to him. Finally דן was the one that brought up the rear of all the encampments and therefore, looked after those who were sent outside the encampment, for instance a Metzora etc. who had to, once again, repent. This is comparable with the last הא of the name of Hashem.
Because one has to have extra awe for the name of יהו', therefore one does not sing the words, יהודה ועל צבא מטה בני in verse 14 and likewise the other ones which are found in verses 18, 22 and 25 respectively.
Wednesday 10 June 2009
SIMCHA ON YOM TOV
The mitzvah of simcha on Yom Tov is not mentioned on Pesach at all, on Shavuos it is mentioned once and on Succos it is mentioned twice.
In respect of Shavuos the Torah tells us at the end of the sedra ראה, chapter ט''ז, posek י''א.
ושמחת לפני ה' אלקיך אתה ובנך ובתך ועבדך ואמתך והלוי אשר בשעריך והגר והיתום והאלמנה אשר בקרבך במקום אשר יבחר ה' אלקיך לשכן שמו שם
And you shall rejoice before Hashem, your G-d, you and your son, your daughter, your servant, your maid servant, the Levite who lives in your gates, the proselyte, the orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place which Hashem will choose to make his name dwell there.
From the wording of the פסוק it appears that this mitzvah of simcha does not just apply to the males but to everybody in the Bnei Yisroel.
Further on, where Succos is mentioned, the Torah says that on each of the שלש רגלים, the high festivals, the males should come to Jerusalem in the very same place, במקום אשר יבחר.
Here, however, it appears that in the case of Shavuos the Torah is telling us that everybody should join in the simcha and that it should be at the place of the Shechina, namely the בית המקדש, the Temple. Why should it be that just in the case of Shavuos, everybody should be enjoined to come to Jerusalem and the Temple and join the simcha?
Perhaps this could be understood with a fact mentioned by Reb Chaim Vital, the chief pupil of the Arizal, Rabbi Yitzchok Luria and the person who wrote down his deep and mystical teachings.
He stated that the Arizal told him that he had reached his very high levels, מדרגות, because he performed mitzvos and learned Torah b’simcha, joyfully.
One can, perhaps, understand why this was by comparing it in some small way to the fact that the Queen of England has garden parties and many people attend and consider it a privilege. She is shown due reverence and people are in awe of her on these occasions.
If, however, a person shows genuine happiness at being invited and states this to the Queen herself, it would be very possible and even likely that the Queen’s reaction would be to invite that person into her personal apartment for a private audience.
That person would be privy to secrets not afforded to other people.
The Torah was given on Shavuos, Hashem, Himself, בכבודו ובעצמו, proclaimed the ten commandments to all of the Bnei Yisroel, male, female, children etc. Every year, when Shavuos comes round again, a הארה, a certain illumination of that happening returns and we are all given the chance to have a very strong spiritual uplift akin to that which the Bnei Yisroel experienced at מתן תורה.
The holiest place in the world where the Shechina resided was the Bais Hamikdosh and, therefore, I would suggest that all people, men, women, children etc. were enjoined to visit the Bais Hamikdosh on Shavuos with simcha. By doing that, they were enabled to have a special uplift which otherwise they could not have aspired to.
In some small way, nowadays, by us all attending the בתי מקדש מעט, the small Shuls and places of learning on Shavuos and accepting, once again, the Torah, b’simcha, we can also aspire to a special spiritual uplift but, understandably in a lesser form.
I understand that in certain kehillas, including Lubavitch, to this day, it is the custom that all members of each family, young and old come to Shul on Shavuos to hear the עשרת הדיברות.
Perhaps the above idea is the מקור, the source of this minhag.
Tuesday 9 June 2009
עשרת הדברות
The Yom Tov of שבועות has just gone by. The focal point of that Yom Tov is that in the year 2448 after the creation of this world, Hashem gave the ten commandments, the עשרת דברות to the Bnei Yisroel. These were not given, as all the other mitzvos, via Moshe Rabbenu but Hashem Himself, בכבודו ובעצמו, spoke directly to the whole of the Jewish people.
Why were these particular ten commandments given directly by Hashem?
One can easily understand the first one which commences אנכי ה' אלקיך, I am Hashem who created the whole world, who enables the whole world to continue and took you all out of Egypt (just six or seven weeks prior to the giving of the עשרת דברות).
Likewise, one can understand the second commandment לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים על פני, you should have no other gods, no idol worshipping of any type, as the Torah carries on in detail. Because idol worship is a negation of true belief, namely that Hashem created the world and continues to run it and supervise it completely himself.
When we come to the third of the ten commandments, namely, לא תשא את שם ה' לשוא, you should not take Hashem’s name in vain, I am a little puzzled as to why this should be included in the ten top priorities which had to be given by Hashem himself.
Turning to number 4, which is to remember and keep Shabbos, one could again understand the importance of this mitzvah on the basis that Hashem created the world in six days and on the seventh day, Shabbos, rested. This is fundamental to our faith.
Turning to the fifth mitzvah, to honour ones father and mother. This also seems a little strange as to have such high priority.
Number 6 is לא תרצח, one may not kill. That everybody will understand is a major, important fundamental. Likewise לא תנאף, one should not commit adultery or have any other illicit relations. One can understand the importance of placing it in the ten commandments.
Turning to number 8, לא תגנוב, one should not steal or kidnap, again this is a very important fundamental point.
Let us, however, consider number 9, לא תענה ברעך עד שקר. You shall not bear false testimony. What is the vital importance of this particular mitzvah, what makes it so necessary to be included in the ten commandments?
Why, for example, is not the mitzvah of Talmud Torah, the learning of Torah included in the ten commandments, or the laws of טומאה and טהרה, purity and impurity etc. mentioned in the ten commandments in place of the ones at number 3 and number 9 particularly as mentioned, earlier on.
Number 10, לא תחמד, one should not covet another person’s property, wife etc. this is once again, I believe a fundamental we can all understand.
I should perhaps at this point mention that for a detailed and all encompassing overview of the עשרת דברות, one should study the Maharal’s sefer, תפארת ישראל, which is a masterpiece of Jewish thought in a philosophical manner.
In order to try to understand the reason why the particular ten commandments were given as the עשרת דברות by Hashem himself, I believe that it will be illuminating to quote the Chidushei Horim who states that the עשר מכות, the ten plagues, took away the קליפות, the shells which had over the generations covered the original עשרה מאמרות, the ten utterances with which the world was created.
Over the generations, the original Holy Utterances had become encrusted and covered over to the extent that people no longer realised and knew about the original creation and that Hashem had created the whole world.
This lack of knowledge is highlighted as we read that when Moshe Rabbenu came to Pharoh and told him that Hashem had said that he should let the Bnei Yisroel leave Egypt, Pharoh’s retort was מי ה', who is the “person” you are referring to as Hashem.
He soon learned and after having been afflicted by numerous plagues, stated, ה' הצדיק ואני ועמי הרשעים, Hashem is the righteous one and I and my people are sinners.
The ten plagues revealed to the Egyptians and the whole world, that there was a supernatural power, Hashem, who created the world and controlled and ran it all as He saw fit (and continues to do so). This took away the קליפות which had formed.
Less than two months after the final plague, מכת בכורות, the Jewish people stood at Mount Sinai and heard from Hashem the עשרת דברות, the ten commandments.
The Chidushei Horim says that these commandments uttered by Hashem brought the world back to the original pristine state as at the creation of the world and were a תיקון, a rectification of the whole state of the world.
Incidentally, that is the reason why at that time, all people who had been ill were healed, everything came back into an original pristine state.
Based on this statement of the Chidushei Horim, I think we can understand better the reason why the particular ten commandments were given.
The first one, אנכי ה' אלקיך, is obviously bound up with the fundamental belief that Hashem created the whole world and runs it as he sees fit. The last great example of it was the fact that Hashem had just taken the Bnei Yisroel out of Egypt, a land which had an iron curtain and in which they had been enslaved.
In connection with the second of the עשרת דברות, namely not to serve idols in any way, it is instructive to read the Rambam at the beginning of הלכות עובדה זרה at length. I recommend you to read the first chapter in detail. In short, he says that in the third generation, that of אנוש, people began to question whether Hashem, who they all knew had created the world, really was looking after everybody individually as there were too many, “small” people and it was suggested that Hashem had created intermediaries such as the sun, the moon, the stars etc. to control day to day life. This developed into false prophets who suggested that those intermediaries should be served as well and this was the beginning of idol worship.
In order to bring the world back to its original state and keep is so, therefore, Hashem commanded us not to serve idols in any shape or form so as not to fall into the same trap once again. (Unfortunately, a few weeks later, there took place the story of the Golden Calf which again spoiled things.)
Coming to the third of the ten commandments, לא תשא את שם ה' לשוא, one should use the name of Hashem in vain, or in connection with a lie. We find that at the time of אנוש the Torah tells us אז הוחל לקרא בשם ה'. Rashi explains that at the time, people began to use Hashem’s name as חולין, in a degenerate and profane, not holy, way and Rabbi Shimshon Rafoel Hirsch goes into detail regarding this and that familiarity began to breed “contempt”.
In order to ensure that this did not happen again, and due יראת הכבוד, honour in awe, be given to Hashem, the mitzvah became the third one in the עשרת דברות. It is also note worthy to mention that אנוש was the third generation being the son of שת who was the son of Odom Harishon.
Turning to the fourth mitzvah, that of Shabbos, we know that Odom Harishon was created on the sixth day and the Gemora goes into detail as to how each hour a different happening took place. Finally, by Friday afternoon, Odom Harishon together with Chava were placed in Gan Eden and were told not to eat from the עץ הדעת, the tree of knowledge. Unfortunately by the middle of the afternoon they had eaten from this and Hashem then questioned them and they were ejected from the Garden of Eden.
Although Odom Harishon did teshuva, Hashem had stated that on the day he ate from the עץ הדעת he would die and as the sun went down before Shabbos, Odom Harishon thought that he was going to be taken from this world. And indeed this might have happened but as the medrash tells us, the day of Shabbos itself intervened and pleaded to Hashem to not spoil the seven days of the creation of the world, and in particular the Shabbos. Hashem relented on the basis that כי אלף שנה בעיניך כיום, a thousand years is in the eyes of Hashem are like one day and on that basis Odom Harishon was allowed to live for 1,000 years. (Incidentally, Odom Harishon, so the midrash also tells us, gave away 70 years of his life to Dovid Hamelech who he saw was supposed to die at birth, and, as we all know, Dovid Hamelech’s Yarhzeit is on Shavuos.)
Accordingly, Shabbos was fundamental in keeping the world going as we know it and the Bnei Yisroel, of course, descended from Odom Harishon and so have to keep Shabbos which enabled Odom Harishon to remain alive.
The fifth commandment is כבד את אביך ואת אמך, to honour one’s father and mother.
There are always people, especially youngsters, who tend to blame anything that goes wrong or any insufficiencies in themselves onto their parents. This has been going on from time immemorial.
In the context of the creation of the world, the first time that children could have had this grouse at their parents was with Odom and Chava who had broken the one rule made for them, namely, not to eat from the עץ הדעת.
Nevertheless, Hashem enjoins us to honour our parents, because, after all, Odom Harishon was created by Hashem himself and every generation that goes by is not only a link to Odom Harishon but one further down the chain. Therefore, we have to look up to our parents and honour them. (This is, of course, in contradistinction to those who mistakenly who think we are descended from apes and, therefore, in their eyes, the further one goes away on the chain the more intelligent?, sophisticated?, refined? becomes the human race, and, therefore, why respect parents who are that one link closer to apes? It shows where misguided thinking can lead!!)
The sixth commandment was לא תרצח. You may not kill. This has an immediate affinity with the first killing of all time, when קין, Cain, killed הבל, Abel. This contributed considerably to the degeneration of the world and therefore, this mitzvah is included in the ten commandments to try and stop it happening in the future.
The next commandment is לא תנאף. One may not commit adultery or be party to any other illicit relationship. This is directly connected with Rashi’s statement that the נחש, the snake, נתאוה, desired, חוה, Eve. The snake was the first to attempt to commit adultery, look at the problems that he then caused.
The next commandment is לא תגנוב, one may not steal or kidnap.
If one looks at the whole story of how Odom and Chava ate from the עץ הדעת and then hid themselves in Gan Eden, they “stole” by stealing the food, eating it and then hiding. We are enjoined not to do anything at all on those lines.
We now come to number 9, namely לא תענה ברעך עד שקר. One may not bear false witness.
I think that the way the snake put it to Chava, namely, that nothing would happen if she ate from the forbidden fruit, was tantamount to bearing false witness as to what would happen. The snake knew full well that she and her husband would die but said “You will not die” and I believe that that is why it is included in the ten commandments, namely, to try to stop future generations from falling into the same trap.
The tenth and final commandment, לא תחמד, you should not covet other people’s property, and wife etc. is once again bound up with the eating of the forbidden fruit. The Torah states clearly that Chava saw, כי תאוה היא לעינים ונחמד העץ להשכילthat the fruit looked delightful and she coveted the fruit and thought that it would give her this extra benefit, pleasure and perception. Unfortunately, it did the exact opposite and it is a lesson for all generations not to covet that which belongs to another individual.
I believe that I have demonstrated the connection which each of the עשרת דברות has to the original story of מעשה בראשית, and in that context, a reason for each of the ten commandments having been uttered by Hashem Himself.