ולקחתי אתכם לי לעם והייתי לכם לאלקים
Shemot 6: 7
In a couple of weeks, when we get to Parashat Yitró, we will read in the Torah what might be considered his best known text: the Ten Commandments.
In the next few days I would like to study them together with you and thus be a little more prepared to understand them better.
THE EXIT OF EGYPT
When God announces to Moshe that He will rescue the people of Israel from slavery, He also says: “And I will take you as My people, and I will be His Eloqim for you” (Exodus 6: 7).
“And I will be your ” Eloqim” does not mean that God says that he will be our “God” in theological terms. As we will show later, the word Eloqim in this context means: Supreme authority. Legislator. Sovereign. The Tora often uses the word “Eloqim” to refer to judges, the highest judicial authority.
The people of Israel will become God’s chosen one, the bearer of the Divine Word. But this privilege does not imply more rights: it mainly means the obligation to live according to the laws and precepts that God, “our Legislator” establishes
QUESTION: How was this bilateral relationship established? In other words: When and how does God become our Eloqim?
ANSWER: Through a pact, in Hebrew “berit”, that was celebrated on Mount Sinai, on the 6th day of the month of Siván, 49 days after the Jews left Egypt. In this covenant, God offers to consecrate the nation of Israel as His people and commits to take care of it as their most precious possession (am segulá), i.e., guaranteeing its eternal existence, among other things. The Jewish people, for their part, commit themselves to obey God, and accept the commandments they already know, and in addition those rules that they still do not yet know (נעשה ונשמע). For the people of Israel there will be no other God and no other Law.
The terms of this covenant will be presented throughout the Tora and will include not just ten but a total 613 precepts or commandments, which the Jewish people will adopt, from now on, as its National Constitution.
The central part of the celebration of this covenant takes place when, for the first and only time, God revealed himself to all the people of Israel, to convey the Ten Commandments.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Despite its obviously “national” character (God is speaking specifically to the People of Israel) , the Ten Commandments are considered as the basic rules that any human society needs to survive and prosper.
The Ten Commandments do not contain abstract sayings. They don’t say: “You must be a good person” or “Listen to your heart.” Cliches can not work in the field of ethics. Men need clearer instructions to live and especially to live with others. Good intentions are not enough. Telling someone: “You have to be a good person” without giving more precise indications, it is like telling an individual “You have to be a good pilot” and expect that he will know what do do without taking any flying lessons.
The Ten Commandments, and I think this is the most important thing, are not still very relevant. They are eternal. They have never gone out of style or became unnecessary. When I teach the Ten Commandments the title of my class is usually: “The Game of the Ten Commandments”. This game is very simple. First I explain The Ten Commandments, one by one (and I never cease to be amazed at how little the common Jew knows about them). Then I ask my audience: Which of these commandments has expired? Which one of these laws has gone out of style, is NO longer relevant or necessary?
The answer?
A very long silence
