Timeless Torah

Sinai was ablaze. The rumbling thunder, the streaks of lightning that lit the morning sky and the smoking mountain provided just the right backdrop for the greatest moment in history. G-d himself was about to descend to the physical realm and reveal his glory for all to witness. This one time event also contained the Decalogue which future generations could obey, thus also experiencing Revelation, albeit in a diminished capacity.

One would have imagined the Ten Commandments, the core of all subsequent Mitzvot to speak essential truths, profound mystical insights or theology. And yet we find that although there is mention of deep concepts like G-d’s unity, most of the commandments contain such elementary injunctions as “Thou shall not murder” and “do not steal”. These are ideas that do not require the binding force of Divine authority but are self evident even to the average human intellect.

However, the purpose of uniting these two apparently different rules is that left to human judgment alone, there is no safeguard that even the most obvious moral directives will be heeded. If intelligence, education and reasonable people alone guarantee morality, then ten lawyers would prove to be more ethical than ten garbage sweepers. The absurdity of this position can be easily demonstrated.

If in previous generations, there were people who believed common human decency and reason were sufficient guarantees for morality, then our century has unfortunately, in a most devastating way, refuted this notion. For it was precisely that nation which had excelled in the sciences, humanities, philosophy, art and music that turned out to be more depraved than any other people in the world. The Germans were only the latest in a long list of ruthless regimes which combined “human progress” with “destruction”.

The Ten Commandments emphasize that even the simplest precepts of ethics must rest on the foundation of “I Am Your G-d”. Honoring your parents or not coveting your neighbors’ possessions can only be forever sacred, if they are based on Divine purpose. Human goals and aspirations always seem to be getting into the way and distorting vice into a “virtue” and morality into “What’s in it for me?”

No other religious communication has exercised a greater influence on the moral and social development of man than the Ten Commandments. But we dare not forget the few laws which immediately follow.