On Shabuot, we received the Tora. It all began with the Ten Commandments.
“I, HaShem, am your God, the one who rescued you from the land of Egypt, from the society of slaves.”

“I”
No human being is speaking here. Not a close relative of God or a man who embodies God as Pharaoh or Yeshu defined themselves. Nor is it a prophet who receives a message from an angel or a person appointed by God to speak in His name. This commandment begins with the Hebrew word ANOKHI, which means “I. God introduces Himself to the People of Israel in the first person singular before giving His code of law and ethics.

In Jewish tradition, this introduction is considered a Divine commandment, or Mitsvá. Actually, the First Commandment.
This commandment is the foundation of ethical monotheism, which means that God, the Creator, is also—or as a consequence of that—the one who defines what is ethical, moral, and what is wrong—in Jewish terms, what is permitted and what is forbidden. Ethical monotheism strongly rejects the idea that ethics emanate from human criteria or opinion but come directly from God, transcending the subjectivity and arbitrariness of time, trends, and geographies.

I AM YOUR GOD: Forget about the Pharaoh!
This “I-you” also establishes a direct, personal, almost “horizontal” connection that develops the main idea of this commandment. To better understand it, we must remember to whom God speaks when He dictates His commandment. He is addressing the men and women who, although they descend from illustrious patriarchs, have suffered for the past four generations slavery and oppression. Many have forgotten their God and their history and have been mentally programmed to replace the Creator with a Pharaoh. It is similar to what happened to those Jews in Russia who, during Stalin’s time, were mentally programmed to replace God with Stalin. In the ancient societies of 3500 years ago, there was a minimal, indistinguishable distance between the gods and human leaders. Every Pharaoh proclaimed himself the “supreme leader and greatest benefactor of humanity.” Egypt was something like present-day North Korea, where Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un prohibits all religions because he is obsessed with being the “only deity that people can worship—and obey—in that country” (see this alarming article). The first commandment urges the children of Israel to free themselves from that ideological tyranny and abandon the worship of the Pharaoh.

…who rescued you from the land of Egypt, [and liberated you] from the house of slaves…

The second part of this commandment briefly and exquisitely describes the fundamental differences between God and the Pharaoh, which was understandable to those who had just left Egypt. In this commandment, God does not present Himself as the universal Creator but as the One who intervened in our lives and liberated us from slavery. The message is powerful: unlike the Pharaoh, an egocentric deity who demanded unconditional obedience and loyalty “for his own benefit,” God requires nothing from us for “HIS” own benefit. In fact, and here lies the great revolution—God wants what is best for us! The proof? The Pharaoh enslaved you in Egypt while God liberated you from slavery! The Egyptian God sought to exploit your strength for his Pharaonic projects, while HaShem, your God, seeks your benefit. He cares about you.

FREEDOM
And that is why, immediately after mentioning freedom, God gives us His laws, rules, prohibitions, and precepts. Why? Because true freedom is not about doing whatever one wants but exercising moral self-control and proper behavior in our interactions with others. This ethical conduct will lead to true and lasting happiness and the satisfaction of knowing that we are doing what is right. This first commandment makes it clear that God explains to us in the following commandments how to live a righteous life because He cares about us, loves the people of Israel, and wants our well-being. It offers us a deep appreciation of ethical monotheism and shapes our understanding of true freedom.

Rabbi Yosef Bittón

SEGULA OF SHABUOT
ועתה, אם-שמוע תשמעו בקולי ושמרתם את-בריתי והייתם לי סגולה מכל-העמים כי-לי כל-הארץ
As we know, the giving of the Torah took place within the framework of a more comprehensive event: the celebration of a Covenant between God and the Jewish people. This “Covenant” is oftentimes referred to as a “marriage” between us and HaShem. Let us compare the process of this Covenant to that of a wedding ceremony. There is first an offer to enter the Covenant- a proposal; followed by the verbal presentation of the Covenantal terms by HaShem. The terms and conditions are written down (Sefer HaBerit, “The document of the Pact,” following our comparison this would be like the Ketuba) and the document is then read publicly by Moshe. Finally, on the morning of the 6th of Sivan, we see the final definitive acceptance of the pact (think of the “I do” in a non-Jewish wedding…) on behalf of the Jewish people, as they say, “Na’Ase VeNishma.”

AM SEGULA
When HaShem offers the people of Israel to partake in this Covenant, He says the following; (Shemot 19: 5-6) “And now, if you agree to listen to My commandments and keep a covenant with Me, you will be for Me a segula among all peoples…” What does this word “segula” mean? It appears very rarely in the Hebrew Bible. In Dibre HaYamim (I, 29:3) “segula” means “treasure.” Addressing the people of Israel, King David says that he has allocated the gold and silver reserves of his kingdom; the money collected through taxes to build the Bet HaMiqdash. He further adds, “In addition [to the royal reserves], in my desire [to build] the Temple for HaShem my God, I am also donating my personal “segula” (=treasure) of gold and silver.”King David referred to his personal treasure, his private capital, as a “segula.” Being the “segula” of HaShem means we are God’s most precious asset, His personal possession. And through this beautiful and profound metaphor, the Tora wishes to indicate to us that HaShem is committed to taking care of and protecting us just as a man protects his treasure- his most valuable possession. God assures us that the Jewish people will never disappear. Israel will be “treasured” directly by God. And as we have seen, against all odds, after being persecuted since time immemorial by almost all peoples and civilizations of history, we still exist. Thanks to the most powerful “Segula,” HaShem’s direct supervision.

THE OTHER SIDE OF AM SEGULA
This closeness to God, to be supervised directly by The Almighty, is a coin with two sides. On one hand, HaShem guarantees the eternity of the Covenant and our existence as a people. But on the other hand, being the chosen people does not mean having more privileges than other nations. Quite on the contrary, since we are the sole witnesses of Divine Revelation, God expects from us exemplary behavior. HaShem examines our behavior more strictly, more closely than the rest of the nations. He has high expectations and high demands from us. I don’t believe that anyone has better formulated this important concept than the prophet Amos. (3:2) “Thus says HaShem: רק אתכם ידעתי מכל משפחות האדמה על כן אפקד עליכם את כל עונתיכם, Only you [the people of Israel] have I known (=have I chosen) out of all the [nations] on the earth; and therefore, I will consider you responsible ( and NOT negligent) for all your mistakes (=sins)…” Being the chosen people does not grant us more rights, rather more obligations. More responsibility for our actions. And it is a yoke on our shoulders, but it keeps our backs straights and heads held high.

ועתה, אם-שמוע תשמעו בקולי, ושמרתם, את-בריתי–והייתם לי סגולה מכל-העמים, כי-לי כל-הארץ.  ואת תהיו-לי ממלכת כוהנים, וגוי קדוש

This coming Saturday night we will celebrate Shabu’ot , one of the major holidays of the Jewish calendar. In Shabu’ot we commemorate our covenant with HaShem. God distinguished us from all peoples by giving us His Tora.  HaShem said to Israel (Shemot 19: 5-6) “And now, if you will listen to My commands and keep My covenant , you will become a treasure to Me (segula) among all peoples … and you will be to Me a kingdom of priests (mamlekhet kohanim)  and a holy nation (goy qadosh).

Yesterday we explained the concept of “segula”. Today we will explain the second concept, mamlekhet Kohanim, which means  a kingdom (= a nation) of priests.

As we all know, the Jews are divided into Cohanim (priests), Levi-im (Levites) and Israelites. The Cohanim / priests used to devote themselves exclusively to the service of God. When we had our Bet haMiqdash, the Cohanim had several specific functions.

1. They were the teachers of the Jewish people. Before the destruction of the Second Temple,(68 CE), there was no institution of “rabbi” as we know it today. The people responsible for preserving and teaching Tora to the rest of Israel were the Cohanim. As the prophet Malakhi (2: 7)  said כי שפתי כהן ישמרו דעת ותורה יבקשו מפיהו  “The lips of the Cohen would preserve the [religious] instruction, and from his mouth you will demand the [teaching of] Tora.” The Cohanim were the teachers of Am Israel.

2. The Cohanim were also in charge of the major operations of the Bet haMiqdash. They were divided into 24 guards (mishmarot) and took care of all tasks concerning the sacrifices and offerings (qorbanot)  and many other rituals.  The Cohanim still retain some of these religious functions. For example, every day (or in the Ashkenazi tradition: every Yom Tov) the Cohanim recite ברכת כהנים  the priestly blessing. The Cohanim were the closest servants of God in the fields of education and religious services.

3. Serving God so closely implies more responsibilities and more restrictions than regular Jews. For example, there are a number of marriage restrictions or rituals related to mourning which apply, even today, only to the Cohanim. The privilege of serving God involves a higher degree of duties (“noblesse oblige”).

Now we understand better why the people of Israel were designated as a nation of “Cohanim”. In a sense, the Jewish people were chosen to be to the rest of the world, what the Cohanim are to the rest of the Jewish people.

 Let us begin from the end

1. The Jewish people have more obligations and restrictions than gentiles. While the Tora indicates that a Yehudi must observe 613 precepts, a gentile has only 7 commandments to fulfill.

2. The Jewish people were designated to dedicate their life to the service of God, permanently and closely. We are so close to God, that in our Tefilot (prayers) we address him in the second person: We address Him as “You”  (Blessed are You, HaShem ….).

3. Our “global” mission as a chosen people is to become the “educators” of the world. Not with words, speeches or proselytism, but exclusively by example. Each Yehudi should be a role model, an inspiration (or lagoyim) for the rest of the world. When this occurs and the gentiles perceive that Jews proceed with integrity and decency; are devoted to fulfilling God’s commandments and do not betray their religious principles, then we are fulfilling our global mission at the highest level. This level is known as “Qiddush haShem”, the sanctification of the name of God, i.e., when a gentile gets inspired by seeing our righteous behavior and our example leads him or her to recognize the Presence and will of God in this world. 

HALAKHOT FOR SHABBAT AND SHABUOT

B’H Shabu’ot will begin this Saturday night. Keep in mind that the se’uda shelishit should be done, like any other Shabbat, before the sheqi’a (sunset).  In this specific case, because at the end of Shabbat we will have Shabu’ot dinner, for which we must be with appetite, this se’uda shelishit should be lighter than usual. In our congregation, for example, we will do this se’uda shelishit with fruits. Each congregation has its own customs regarding how to make this se’uda lighter, in honor of Yom Tob dinner.

ועתה, אם-שמוע תשמעו בקולי, ושמרתם, את-בריתי – והייתם לי סגולה מכל-העמים, כי-לי כל-הארץ ואתם תהיו-לי ממלכת כוהנים, וגוי קדוש

“And now, if you will listen to My commands and keep My covenant , you will become a treasure to Me (segula) among all peoples … and you will be to Me a kingdom of priests (mamlekhet kohanim)  and a holy nation (goy qadosh). ”  Shemot 19: 5-6

Previously,  we explained two of the three concepts expressed in this pasuq: we explored the concept of ‘am segula (see this) and the concept of kingdom of priests or mamlekhet kohanim (see this).

Today we will explain the third and last concept expressed in the election of ‘am Israel, goy qadosh.   It is impossible to translate the word qadosh with one single English word. “Qadosh” could mean, according to the context: sacred, holy, special, separated, consecrated, unique, different, and more.

In the context of the covenant, which we commemorate in Shabu’ot,  goy qadosh means that we are God’s “chosen” people.

Chosen for what?

We were chosen first and foremost to be God’s witnesses. In Shabu’ot, when we received the Tora, HaShem revealed Himself to the people of Israel. We saw no images, but we heard His voice.  We are “qadosh” because  we were the sole witnesses of God’s existence. The case of God’s existence does not rest on philosophical or scientific evidences. It rests on the testimony of the Jewish people.  As the prophet Yeshayahu said: אַתֶּם עֵדַי, נְאֻם ה’, וְעַבְדִּי אֲשֶׁר בָּחָרְתִּי, לְמַעַן תֵּדְעוּ וְתַאֲמִינוּ לִי וְתָבִינוּ, כִּי אֲנִי הוּא, לְפָנַי לֹא נוֹצַר אֵל וְאַחֲרַי לֹא יִהְיֶה  “So says HaShem [to Israel] “You are My witnesses, my servant, whom I have chosen; so you will know and believe and make understand that I’m [God], there is no god before Me, no after Me”. 

In one of his letters (Igeret Teman) Maimonides explains that the first thing a Jewish parent should teach his child is the story of Shabu’ot, known in Hebrew as  מעמד הר סיני , the event in which when we witnessed God’s revelation at the feet of Mt. Sinai. This is what defines us, Jews, as the chosen people.

Conventional wisdom notwithstanding, to be the chosen people does not mean that we have more rights. On the contrary, it means that because we were witnesses of HaShem’s existence, HaShem expects from us an exemplary behavior. God will be examining our conduct closer than the rest of the nations. Perhaps, no one formulated this cardinal concept better than the prophet Amos (3:2). So said HaShem,      רק  אתכם ידעתי מכל משפחות האדמה על כן אפקד עליכם את כל עונתיכם  “You alone [the people of Israel] I’ve known (=loved, chosen) from among all the families of the earth; therefore I will hold you to accountable for all your iniquities…”

To be the chosen people is not about having more rights but more obligations. To be  a Jew is a huge responsibility. If a Jew acts with dishonesty, cheats, misbehaves, offends,etc.,  then he would disqualify himself as one of HaShem’s witnesses, causing Hilul HaShem, i.e., “making the case for Creator weaker”.

To be a Jew implies the permanent awareness that the case for God rests on our living testimony.

וַתִּשֶּׂנָה קוֹלָן וַתִּבְכֶּינָה עוֹד וַתִּשַּׁק עָרְפָּה לַחֲמוֹתָהּ וְרוּת דָּבְקָה בָּהּ

During the festival of Shabu’ot, which we will soon celebrate, we will read Megilat Ruth. The book that tells the story of a Moabite woman who converted to Judaism and was King David’s great-grandmother. Briefly, Naomi, her husband Elimelekh, and their two sons, Mahlon and Kilion, left the land of Israel in a time of famine and settled in Moab (Jordan of today). There, the two sons of Naomi married Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. Tragically, Elimelekh and his two sons died. Orpah, returned to his people Moab. Ruth, however, decided to join the fate of Naomi, her mother-in-law and by extension (“Your people is my people, your God is my God”), to the fate of the Jewish people. Later on, Ruth converted to Judaism, she married Boaz and had a son: Obed. Obed was the father of Ishai, who was the father of David, the most important King of Israel, and from whose dynasty the Mashiah will proceed.
Returning to Ruth, there is a very interesting term with which the Megilla describes Ruth’s decision to join the fate of Naomi ורות דבקה בה VERUT DABQA BAH. “And Ruth clung to her” [to her mother-in-law Naomi]. This verb DABAQ (which in modern Hebrew is the origin of the noun “debeq”, glue) takes on a very specific meaning, which is learned from its context: by joining his mother-in-law, Naomi, Ruth left everything behind. She disengaged “definitively” from her family, from her house, from her village, and she became part of Naomi’s people without having anything to gain. In fact, her attachment to Naomi was totally unconditional, since in theory this new relationship would have left her in complete destitution. Ruth had no hope of getting married again, or to prosper economically. Even food or a roof was not guaranteed to her. It should not surprise us then that Ruth has become the role model of conversion to Judaism, where the proselyte converts without ulterior motives, disengages from his or her past and identity, and out of unconditionallove for the Jewish people is willing to lose everything she is, owns or possesses.
Let’s take a closer look at this little but deep word: “DABAQ”. The Rabbis said: “The words of the Tora are poor in one place and rich in another place.” This means that sometimes a Biblical word is found in a “poor” context, which does not illuminate the whole sense of it. And at other times, that same word is found in a more “generous” context, which illuminates all the richness of a given word. Thus, the richer context helps us to understand the word that is in the poorer context.
Let’s see. The Tora tells us that we must “cling” to HaShem, using the same word DABAQ  ( לאהבה את ה’ א’ ללכת בכל דרכיו ולדבקה בו ). “To love HaShem, to walk in His paths and to cling to Him.” From Megilat Ruth we learn that “clinging” points to a much higher level of love: being willing to “renounce” and “sacrificing” material benefits. Clinging to HaShem means loving HaShem when things are going well for me and also when things are not going that well. When HaShem answers my prayers and when He does not. Being loyal and faithful to HaShem unconditionally, in good times and in challenging times.
It is interesting to note that the first time this word DABAQ is found in the Tora it defines the relationship between husband and wife (Gen. 2:24) ודבק באשתו והיו לבשר אחד “And man shall cling to his wife and they shall become one Flesh. “ To the already many and beautiful interpretations on this verse we can now add one more interpretation, which we learned from Ruth. Love between husband and wife, beyond infatuation and romance, implies renunciation and sacrifice. It must be unconditional and unselfish. It must continue to grow in good times and in bad times. When I’m right and when she’s right. When we agree and when we do not agree.
In summary, thanks to the generous context of the word “dabaq” in Megilat Rut we can now understand that this deep verb defines a level of love where one must be willing to give up and sacrifice; and to give oneself unconditionally to whom (or to Whom) one loves.

We were chosen, firstly, to witness the existence of God. In Shabu’ot, when we received the Tora, HaShem revealed Himself to Israel. We did not see any images, but we heard His voice. We were (and are) the only “ear-witnesses” of God’s existence. The proof of the existence of God in Judaism is not based on philosophical or scientific evidence but on our own collective experience at the time of the giving of the Tora. As the prophet Yesha’ayahu so beautifully said אַתֶּם עֵדַי, נְאֻם ה ‘וְעַבְדִּי אֲשֶׁר בָּחָרְתִּי, לְמַעַן תֵּדְעוּ וְתַאֲמִינוּ לִי וְתָבִינוּ, כִּי אֲנִי הוּא, לְפָנַי לֹא נוֹצַר אֵל וְאַחֲרַי לֹא יִהְיֶה “Thus says HaShem [to Israel] You are my witnesses, My servants, whom I have chosen, so you know Me and you believe [in Me] and so you will make known that I am [God], and that there is no God besides Me. ” The Cuzari of Rabbi Yehudah Halevi, a book describing the most basic principles of Judaism, explains that in other religions it is always “one person” (Muhammad, Yeshu, Mary Magdalene, Joseph Smith, etc.) who has the “privilege” to receiving a divine revelation. No nation even dared to “make up” a story of a collective revelation –which would obviously lend more credibility to the alleged revelation– because it would be a fabrication impossible to sustain. In the case of the Jewish people, says the Cuzari, there were 600,000 “eyewitnesses” of HaShem’s revelation on Mount Sinai. Something else. Being the chosen people means being witnesses to the existence of HaShem and knowing that as such, He expects from us an exemplary behavior. HaShem is much more demanding with those who enjoyed the privilege of the “knowledge” of His existence. HaShem examines the behavior of Am Israel with more rigor than other nations.

No one explained this idea better than the prophet Amos (3: 2) . Thus said HaShem, רק אתכם ידעתי מכל משפחות האדמה על כן אפקד עליכם את כל עונתיכם “Only you [the Israelites] I have known (=i’ve chosen) among all the families of the earth. Therefore, I will consider you accountable for all your sins … “ Accordingly, being the chosen people means to have more obligations.  Each Yehudi is a witness to HaShem’s existence. Therefore, if a Jew behaves wrongly, dishonestly, or in an inappropriate way , he disqualifies himself as one of HaShem’s witnesses, generating thus Hillul HaShem, the desecration of the Divine Name. Why? Because one disqualified witness means one LESS witness of the existence of God! In one of his letters (Iggeret Teman) Maimonides explains that the first idea a Jewish parent must teach his or her children is the story of Shabu’ot, מעמד הר סיני, the event that records the revelation of HaShem at the foot of Mount Sinai. Having participated in this event, and having witnessed the Presence of HaShem, it is the first thing that defines us as Jews, and as His chosen people.