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[First posted in 2013. This has been a recurring question since our website first appeared on the net. The short answer is this:

“Our community (Sinaites) connect with the place of Divine Revelation:

geographically, that place is Mount Sinai;
historically, that time is recorded in Exodus . .
literarily, that “place” is the repository of what we consider, believe and have accepted as the original and true Revelation by the One True God, YHWH
specifically the TORAH.

We feature a MUST READ book that explains why the Universal God chose a mountain in the Sinai desert to reveal Himself which confirms our choice:

Sinai and Zion 3 – YHWH’S Home in No Man’s Land

In addition, here’s one of our first posts explaining our choice: DIVINE REVELATION on Mount Sinai; this fully explains our short reply. This is part of REVELATION IN A NUTSHELL, expounding on what Sinaite’s recognize as Divine Revelation, the very words of YHWH.

—Admin1]

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The Hebrew Scriptures

Divine Revelation was given on Mt. Sinai, to—-

Moses and the mixed multitude — Israelites
- Exodus 12:37-38 The Children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. Also a mixed multitude went up with them, and flock and cattle, very much livestock.
- Psalm 103:7 He made known His ways to Moses, His actions to the Children of Israel. . .
- Deuteronomy 34:10 Never again has there arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom [YHWH] has known face to face, as evidenced by all the signs and wonders that [YHWH] sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his courtiers and all his land, and by all the strong hand and awesome power that Moses performed before the eyes of Israel.
- Numbers 12:6-8 He said, “Hear now My words. If there shall be prophets among you, in a vision shall I, [YHWH] make Myself known to him; in a dream shall I speak with him. Not so is My servant Moses; in My entire house he is the trusted one. Mouth to mouth do I speak to him, in a clear vision and not in riddles, at the image of [YHWH] does he gaze. Why did you not fear to speak against my servant Moses?”
and non-Israelites.

This original revelation was given—

at a particular period in biblical history,
in a specific site in the ‘Wilderness of Sinai’ — Exodus 19:1-2 In the third month from the Exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt, on the day, they arrived at the Wilderness of Sinai. They journeyed from Rephidim and arrived at the Wilderness of Sinai and encamped in the Wilderness, and Israel encamped there, opposite the mountain.
outside of the Promised Land —Deuteronomy 11:10-12 For the Land to which you come, to possess it — it is not like the land of Egypt that you left, where you would plant your seed and water it on foot like a vegetable garden. But the Land to which you cross over to possess it is a Land of mountains and valleys; from the rain of heaven it drinks water; a Land that [YHWH], your God, seeks out; the eyes of [YHWH] your God, are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to year’s end.
on Mount Sinai “the mountain of GOD” —Exodus 18:5 Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, came to Moses with his sons and his wife, to the wilderness where he was encamped, by the Mountain of God.
where GOD descended “in the sight of the entire people” —Exodus 19:17- Moses brought the people forth from the camp toward God and they stood at the bottom of the mountain. All of Mount Sinai was smoking because [YHWH] had descended upon it in the fire; its smoke ascended like the smoke of the furnace, and the entire mountain shuddered exceedingly. The sound of the shofar grew continually much stronger; Moses would speak and God would respond to him with a voice. [YHWH] descended upon Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain; [YHWH] summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses ascended. [YHWH] said to Moses, “Descend, warn the people, lest they break through to [YHWH] to see, and a multitude of them will fall. Even the Kohanim who approach [YHWH] should be prepared, lest [YHWH] burst forth against them.” Moses said to [YHWH], “The people cannot ascend Mount Sinai, for You have warned us, saying, ‘Bound the mountain and sanctify it.'” [YHWH] said to him, “God, descend. Then you shall ascend, and Aaron with you but the Kohanim, and the people—they shall not break through to ascend to [YHWH], lest He burst forth against them.” Moses descended to the people and said [it] to them.
to “the children of Israel” –—Deuteronomy 14:1-2 You are children to [YHWH], your God . . . . For you are a holy people to [YHWH], your God, and [YHWH] has chosen you for Himself to be a treasured people, from among all the peoples on the face of the earth.
whose history began with the Patriarchs–-Exodus 3:6 And He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

Abraham [gentile],
Isaac [gentile]
Jacob [Israel].

It is significant to note that gentiles have always been part of GOD’s plan; that in the giving of HIS REVELATION on Mount Sinai,

gentiles were part of the multitudes who left Egypt
and gathered with the encamped Israelites “opposite the mountain”
who responded Exodus 19:7-8 Moses came and summoned the elders of the people, and put before them all these words that [YHWH] had commanded him. The entire people responded together and said, “Everything that [YHWH] has spoken we shall do!” Moses brought back the words of the people to [YHWH]. Exodus 24:7 He took the Book of the Covenant and read it in earshot of the people, and they said, “Everything that [YHWH] has said, we will do and we will obey!” Moses took the blood and threw it upon the people, and he said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that [YHWH] sealed with you concerning all these matters.”
and included in the prayer of Solomon during the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem —I Kings 8:41 Also a gentile who is not of Your people Israel, but will come from a distant land, for Your Name’s sake — for they will hear of Your great Name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm —and will come and pray toward this Temple —may You hear from Heaven, the foundation of Your abode, and act according to all the gentile calls out to You, so that all the peoples of the world may know Your Name, to fear You as [does] Your people Israel, and to know that Your Name is proclaimed upon this Temple that I have built.
and in the declaration in Isaiah 56:1-8, among many other verses—–Let not the foreigner, who has joined himself to [YHWH] speak, saying ‘[YHWH] will utterly separate me from His people’; and let not the barren ones who observe My Sabbaths and choose what i desire, and grasp My covenant tightly: In My house and within walls I will give them a place of honor and renown, which is better than sons and daughters; eternal renown will I give them, which will never be terminated. And the foreigners who join themselves to [YHWH] to serve Him and to love the Name of [YHWH] to beome servants unto Him, all who guard the Sabbath against desecration, and grasp My covenant tightly —I will bring them to My holy mountain, and I will gladden them in My house of prayer; their elevation-offerings and their feast-offerings will find favor on My Altar, for My House will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples. The word of my Lord, [YHWH]/ELOHIM, Who gathers in the dispersed of Israel: I shall gather to him even more than those already gathered to him.

The revelation is COMPLETE only in the sense that in GOD’s accommodation and condescension to man’s limitations, it is ALL that man—

needs to know about HOW he is to relate to GOD —
Deuteronomy 13:1,5 The entire word that I command you that shall you observe to do; you shall not add to it and you shall not subtract from it. . . [YHWH], your God, shall you follow and Him shall you fear; His commandments shall you observe and to His voice shall you hearken; Him shall you serve and to Him shall you cleave.
and WHAT he is to apply in community [Exodus/Leviticus/Numbers].
It is complete and NOT “progressive”, as though something has yet to be added to it, for there are warnings regarding later additions that do not conform with this original revelation.
Deuteronomy 4:2,6-7 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor shall you subtract from it, to observe the commandments of [YHWH] your God, that I command you. . . You shall safeguard and perform them, for it is your wisdom and discernment in the eyes of the peoples, who shall hear all these decrees and who shall say, “Surely a wise and discerning people is this great nation!” For which is a great nation that has a God Who is close to it, as is [YHWH] our God, whenever we call to Him? And which is a great nation that has righteous decrees and ordinances, such as the entire Torah that i place before you this day?
What IS progressive is man’s DISCOVERY and UNDERSTANDING of GOD’S revelation, NOT the unfolding of the revelation.

On Sinai, GOD reveals HIS NAME:

Exodus 3:13-15/6:2-3 “I Shall Be As I Shall be.” “So shall you say to the Children of Israel, “I Shall Be has sent me to you.” . . .This is My Name forever, and this is My remembrance fom generation to generation.

YHWH, a NAME to be proclaimed to all mankind:

it is interesting to note that there is no biblical admonition against declaring the Tetragrammaton YHWH for the whole world to know and proclaim —Deuteronomy 28:10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that the Name of [YHWH] is proclaimed over you, and they will revere you.
and that in fact, the reason the world today barely knows The Name is because the Jews consider it so sacred,
so much so they refuse to say it or write it
and instead, substitute circumlocutions like “HaShem” [The Name];
the Jews are so careful, they do not wish to violate the 3rd commandment that warns against using GOD’s Name in vain —-Exodus 20:7 You shall not take the Name of [YHWH] your God, in vain, for [YHWH] will not absolve anyone who takes His Name in vain.

and yet YHWH declares “Wherever I permit My Name to be mentioned, I shall come to you and bless you.” [Exodus 20:21]

All other non-names referring to HIM have been mere titles;

before Sinai, man knew HIM only as Creator,
and to the patriarchs as El Shaddai ”God Almighty” [Exodus 6:2-3]
to Moses “The GOD of the Hebrews” [Exodus 7:16]
and to Israel in many experiences they have had with HIM as Rock, Shepherd, Provider, Nurturer, Protector, Shield, King, Fortress, etc. [II Samuel 22:2-3]
“Mighty God”, “Eternal Father”, “Wondrous Adviser”, “Master of Legions” [Isaiah 9:5-6]
Visually, manifestations or theophanies of GOD were the burning bush [Exodus 3:2], Shekinah [Glory Cloud] and pillar of fire [Exodus 13:21];
and a voice that thundered [Exodus 20:15-16/Deuteronomy 5:19-24]
a “consuming fire, a jealous God” [Exodus 34:14/ Deuteronomy 4:24]

TORAH, the first five books attributed to Moses’ are —-

GOD’s guidelines for living,
HIS blueprint for life on planet earth;
instruction and teaching, laws and precepts [Psalm 119]
outlining GOD’s requirements for all mankind [Deuteronomy 29:13-14]
but initially given to a specific people [Deuteronomy 4:5-8]
formed and prepared for this very purpose [Deuteronomy 4:20/7:6-8]
to model in community [Deuteronomy 4:6-8]
this prescribed lifestyle for all nations [Isaiah 51:4-5/60:3]
not just for Israel [Deuteronomy 26:16-19]
- the “righteous nation” and “keeper of the faith” [Isaiah 26:2]
- “a light to the nations, to open blind eyes” [Isaiah 42:6/49:6]

Torah commandments have been counted, categorized and numbered, totaling 613.

Of these 613, 248 are positive commandments [“Thou shalt . . .”] and 365 are negative commandments [“Thou shalt not…”].
Of these 613, not all are applicable to every individual, for there are specific laws confined to classes of people [Israelites, women, Levitical priests, the high priest, prophet, foreigner/stranger/sojourner, etc.]
Some apply only to the Mishkan [Tabernacle in the wilderness]
Some apply to the Temple in Jerusalem
Some are applicable only when the chosen people are in the Promised Land.
Some teach man how to relate to GOD,
and others —-Israelite, parents, children, siblings, neighbor, enemy, “the stranger/sojourner/foreigner among you”
Some pronounce blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.
The Decalogue, the “Ten Words” or the “Ten Commandments” summarize the basics or weightier matters of the law, such as righteousness, justice, mercy, love, holiness.
These 10 are further condensed simply to—
- (1-4): ”love God above all ” [Deuteronomy 6:5]
- (5-10): ”You shall love your fellow as yourself” [Leviticus 19:18]

To the TORAH, is added NEVI’IM [The Prophets] which contain—

the messages of YHWH to the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah,
through the Prophets of Israel,
pronouncing specific judgments upon nations
and violators of Torah,
as well as blessings for obedience,
and prophecies concerning the chosen nation’s ordained destiny throughout her history until the “end of days.”
these prophetic messages ALL relate to how the nation lives out or fails to live out the Torah.

KETUVIM [The Writings] concludes the Hebrew canon—these are divinely inspired literature —

proverbs,
prayers,
books of wisdom,
narrative history,
stories,
chronicles,
which reinforce, elaborate, expand and further clarify what has already been revealed in Torah.

Together, Torah/Nevi’im/Ketuvim form the Hebrew canon of 24 books known as TNK, [Tanach/Tanakh].

TORAH is what we recognize as the revelation of YHWH, all the rest is commentary on TORAH.

A messianic commented that there was revelation before and after Sinai; for the reply to that, please read:

“We have heard it said” – A Sinaite’s Apologetics -1

In behalf of the Sinai 6000 Core Community,

DAILY POSTS

Q: How does one respond to people’s pain?

February 22, 2019 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

Image from www.pexels.com

[First posted in 2017; before and after the post, the author has undergone her own confrontation with a series of experiences that would be much like what she describes here as ‘pain’. —Admin1]

———————-

I wrote a short note in Facebook Messenger to a young girl whom I had not seen for a year, just saying hello and complimenting how well and good she looked in her newly posted Facebook profile picture. I casually invite her for our long overdue coffee date and I get jolted by her response. She is under “house arrest” since she is in an unstable emotional condition. She just attempted suicide three times!
My phone beeps at 11:30 pm. It is a message from my best friend, asking for comfort because her husband had just been verbally abusing her.

My email inbox pings and I read an email from a dear friend asking for advice since she just found out her husband is having an affair.

I bump into a former classmate, asking for prayers because her child is sick with cancer.

A friend calls me, crying so hard because her husband just received a very cruel email from an anonymous person, accusing her of having an affair, which is not true, but which her husband believes.

The phone rings and it is a cousin informing, tearfully, that her Mom, my Aunt has passed away after a stroke from which she never recovered and regained consciousness.

We all go through a variety of these scenes each day, one way or the other. A hurting, pained, suffering world, reaching out and grasping for some measure of comfort and affirmation from a friend, sister, cousin, mother, daughter, aunt. How does one respond to these cries for help?

Having gone through, and still going through painful episodes in my life, I DO NOT respond with these:

I will keep you in my prayers.
Just keep praying and trust n God.
I will pray for you and your situation.
I will pray God opens doors for you.
If God is allowing you to go through it, it is because He knows you are strong and can handle it. (How can you say THAT to a young girl who just tried to take her life because she could not handle the pain and anguish anymore?)
Hang in there, God has better plans for you.
And the worst response, EVER…You must have done something wrong for you to be experiencing that…you know, Karma.
Lift everything to God and allow Him to take control of your situation. Don’t do anything! Just trust that God will make everything right in His time.
Just bear it because that is God’s will for you.
Let go and let God.

I have gone through the depths of grief and despair, and whenever some well-meaning friends would try to say any of the above statements, I would be so hard-pressed NOT to Scream and say stop it, you do not understand what I am going through right now!
How then, does one respond in situations where there is so much pain, anguish, torment and suffering that persons near and dear to us are going through? How do we give comfort, succor, advice? How does one reach out with empathy and compassion to a hurting, broken world?

Harold Kushner, in his book “When Bad Things Happen to Good People”, (an excellent book that should be read) says this:

” We can maintain our self-respect and sense of goodness without having to feel that God has judged us and condemned us. We are angry at what has happened to us (and to others), without feeling that we are angry at God. More than that, we can recognize our anger at life’s unfairness, our instinctive compassion at seeing people suffer, as coming from God who teaches us to be angry at injustice and to feel compassion for the afflicted.”

Each day, there is a new tragedy all over the world wrought out by typhoons, hurricanes, and tornadoes, cyclones, earthquakes and tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, unceasing rains that cause floods and landslides, that cause loss of so many innocent lives and destruction of properties. They label it as “acts of God.” However, they are acts of nature:

“Nature is morally blind, without values. It churns along, following its own laws, not caring who or what gets in the way. But God is not morally blind…God stands for justice, for fairness, for compassion. The act of God is the courage of people to rebuild their lives after the earthquake, and the rush of others to help them in whatever way they can.” (Harold Kushner)

We do our part.

As Torah readers and believers, responding with true empathy to those who are hurting, to those who are going through pain and suffering, and grief is a quiet, unobtrusive and discreet way of sharing our faith, and walking it. Most times a sincere hug and simply saying that we are there for them is a more powerful message of empathy rather than mouthing trite, empty and insincere platitudes. Offering our help, no matter how small and simple is better than a ” pray and have more faith!” admonition.

It certainly will mean a little less pain, a little less grief in a world that needs to know that YHWH is not an impersonal, detached and remote entity, but real and true and is an intimate part of this world through those of us who have the capacity and desire to live a Torah lifestyle.

DVE@S6K

A Sinaite's Sabbath Liturgy

A Sinaite’s Musical Liturgy – 4th Sabbath of February

February 22, 2019 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

Image from judaism.about.com

KINDLE

THE

SABBATH

LIGHTS

Blessed are You, YHWH, our God,

Who commanded us

to cease from our strivings

and rest on Your set-apart seventh day.

Following the erev tradition of Your chosen people,

we kindle the lights of Sabbath,

and symbolically invite the light of Your Torah

into the vision of our mind, will and heart.

May this day of rest be a blessing to us,

as well as to all Sabbath-keepers all over the world,

Jew and Gentile alike,

for today we set apart this day to honor You

by obeying Your 4th commandment,

O YHWH, Revelator on Sinai,

Lord of our Sabbath, Lord of the Sabbath.

[The God of Abraham Praise/slightly revised lyrics]

1. The God of Abraham praise,

Who reigns enthroned above;

Ancient of everlasting days, and God of love;

Yahuwah, great I AM, by earth and heav’n confessed,

I bow to praise the Sacred Name, be forever blest.

2. He by Himself hath sworn, I on His oath depend;

I shall on eagle’s wings upborne to heav’n ascend;

I shall behold His Face, I shall His power adore,

And sing the wonders of His grace forevermore.

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3. The God who reigns on high,

the great archangels sing,

And “Holy, Holy, Holy” cry,

“Almighty King!”

Who was and is the same,

and evermore shall be,

Yahuwah, Thou the great “I AM”

we worship Thee.

4. The whole triumphant host

give thanks to God on high;

“Hail El Shaddai, Almighty God,

they ever cry.

Hail Abraham’s God and mine,

I join the heavenly race,

All might and majesty are Thine, and endless praise.

Great Are the Lord’s Works

Psalm 111 Praise the Lord!

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,

in the company of the upright,

in the congregation.

2 Great are the works of the Lord,

studied by all who delight in them.

3 Full of splendor and majesty is his work,

and his righteousness endures forever.

4 He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;

the Lord is gracious and merciful.

5 He provides food for those who fear him;

he remembers his covenant forever.

6 He has shown his people the power of his works,

in giving them the inheritance of the nations.

7 The works of his hands are faithful and just;

all his precepts are trustworthy;

8 they are established forever and ever,

to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.

9 He sent redemption to his people;

he has ccommanded his covenant forever.

Holy and awesome is his name!

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;

all those who practice it have a good understanding.

His praise endures forever!

Image from amightywind.com

[Tune: Oh how He loves you and me/revised lyrics]

1. Blessings in life come from You,

God Who is faithful and true,

We gather here on this Sabbath, Your Day,

Wine is Your blessing,

Bread is Your blessing,

Blessing of rest on Your day.

2. Joyful are we as we sing;

Praises are due to our King!

You’ve given us all the joy in our lives,

Beloved husbands, wives, sons and daughters,

Friendship that last through the years.

[Take a moment to quietly name your loved ones:

parents, siblings, spouse, children, in-laws, extended family, special people]

Image from wallpapercar1.com

Image from www.jspacefood.com

Image from www.torahstudies.com

HAVDALAH

[Tune: Victory in Jesus/revised lyrics]

1. I heard an old, old story

how our great, great God of glory,

descended on a mountain top on the desert of Sinai;

He’s chosen all these mountains,

for some reason why, we wonder,

aside from Sinai there are other famous sacred mounts.

CHORUS: O climb the highest mountain,

so many men aspire,

to conquer heights beyond the reach of common folk like me,

take courage, faint of heart,

these peaks are worth the climb,

when God calls, He enables so leave all results to Him!

2. There is another story

about another mountain,

where God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son,

unquestioning this Isaac, just followed his father,

he carried all the wood and asked

“but where’s the sacrifice?”

CHORUS: O climb your Mount Moriah,

dear Abraham and Isaac,

the same God who appeared on Sinai, He appeared to you,

you’ve passed the highest testing,

you’ve reached your peak, your mountain,

Moriah is forever etched in scriptural history!

3. There’s yet another mountain

where an ancient priest and king,

Melchizedek of Salem in the book of Bereshith,

this ancient place called ‘Salem’ became ‘Jerusalem,

all pilgrims journey up and sing their psalms, songs of ascent.

CHORUS: The Temple Mount is there,

where the Glory Cloud once rested,

until it left and lingered on the Mount of Olivet,

this makes us realize,

we have our peaks to conquer,

if God is on the ‘highest mountain’,

let us start our climb!

Shabbat Shalom!

OPINION, JOURNEYS

"Who am I?"

February 21, 2019 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

Image from www.eraofpeace.org

[First posted in 2014. This is an introduction to another introduction—- there are two articles here, Who am I? and Who am I – 2. This is a 6th repost; why? Read through, it’s self-explanatory.

Original Introduction:

This is being revisited because of a recent development: one of our Sinaites had a life-threatening situation during which she figured this was D-Day for her and started connecting with loved ones, friends and family to whom she said her ‘goodbye world’ and personalized message. Predictably, the Christians on her farewell list were concerned, as is expected of Christians, about her spiritual state. Here she was, a Christ-worshipper for all of her life except in the last four years when she turned away from Jesus as God and turned to YHWH the One True God. And so came the last ditch effort to remind her of the ‘Savior’ of her former faith; she was reminded to say the Name above all Names, ‘Jesus’ of course; and she received texts from a Pastor and his wife with whom she and husband were once affiliated:

We are praying for you, we love you.

“Let it be known to you and to all the people of Israel that by the Name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health. He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:10-13.

“All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13

“Therefore repent and return that your sins may be wiped away in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that He may send Jesus the Christ appointed for you.” Acts 3:19-21.

Love, P and D.

What do you think the effect was on this Sinaite? Did she have any doubt in her mind who is her God and what His Name is?

There is no turning back to that path we once trod, a detour from the true path. To those NT verses, we repeat what we’ve quoted at the end of our Creed on our Home Pagec https://sinai6000.net/:

“Thus saith the LORD:
Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is;
and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.”
Jeremiah 6:16

And perhaps this article and its sequel will adequately explain why we stubbornly cling to our newfound faith that is as old as the TORAH of YHWH. And happily, our Sinaite did survive that close call and false alarm and have since gone through more health crises that landed her in more hospital check-ins, but praise YHWH she’s still alive and praising YHWH, her True Savior! Unfortunately, we lost three Sinaites since we got on the pathway to Sinai six years ago; to them, we have paid tribute through ‘In Memoriam’ articles.

Not a surprise, guess what our former Christian colleagues still continue to think? That these deaths are ‘judgments’ upon us for having abandoned our Christ-centered faith! What think you, dear visitor?—Admin1]

———————–

[Originally posted by Admin1@S6K on May 31, 2013 in OPINION with No Comments Yet]

In Les Miserables, a film based on a two-decade old broadway musical, which in turn was based on a novel by Victor Hugo published in 1862—there is a song titled “Who am I?”

Image from www.dreamstime.com

Significantly, it is sung by the main protagonist Jean Valjean at the closing of Part I when he experiences an epiphany of sorts that would change his life direction. He had been a convict identified only by the number “24601,″ unjustly sentenced to two decades in prison for having stolen a loaf of bread for his starving sister, then released. Outside of prison, he experiences hospitality from a priest who feeds him and gives him temporary shelter, but he responds by stealing valuables, gets caught and taken back to the priest who, unexpectedly tells a ‘white lie’ that he had given the items and that they were not stolen. The puzzled thief who had known nothing more than apathy and cruelty from his jailers is taken aback; the priest then explains to him in private that by giving him yet another chance to redeem himself, ”I have bought your soul for God.” And in a way, he had.

This totally unexpected act of forgiveness, grace, and mercy on top of earlier kindness and hospitality stuns Prisoner #24601 who, up to this point, has been living outside of prison without having shed his ‘convict’ mentality and criminal inclination. This leads him to introspection (in song of course), a review of his life and his essence — “Who am I?” Greatly touched by one person’s treatment of his worth as a human being, he declares his new-found identity which would henceforth determine his destiny. He chooses to follow a different path.

Many more twists and turns would develop in his lifetime but in the final scene as he is about to die, there is a reprise of the melody “I dreamed a dream of days gone by” with different lyrics; perhaps the most memorable line reflects a Torah principle: ”to love another person is to see the face of God.”

While that is described from the point of view of the person choosing to love others by showing it in deed and action (as opposed to mere verbal declaration), the impact is even greater upon the recipient, not to forget others who witness something out of the ordinary. They become aware that this is not the norm in human behavior and relationships. Ultimately it does translate to catching a glimpse of something ‘not of this world system’, call it Godliness or Godlikeness. To those of us ‘in the know’, we associate the standard of goodness or better yet, RIGHT-ness (Righteousness) with the self-revealing God on Sinai who requires right behavior from His people as recorded in His Torah.

Unfortunately, right behavior and right choices do not always translate into right consequences in a world whose systems and values run counter to Torah. Often those who choose the right path, do the right thing, consistently live as righteously as possible in a world system where, unfortunately, wrong, ignorance and misinformation prevail—often find themselves ill-fitted, even and especially among ‘religionists’.

So how does this relate to the original question “Who am I?”

Ponder this: You are not your thoughts, your emotions, your body, your money, your career or your property. You discover your essence usually in life-threatening situations such as natural calamities like devastating earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes when you are reduced to wanting only to survive and nothing more and you fast realize what is of supreme importance to you.

There is an article that well explains ‘who am I’, here are some select quotes:

Who are we, after all? Are we our work, or are we eternal souls? If we fear that we’ll become nothing if we let go of our persona, then we are in a state of spiritual exile. If we have always defined ourselves in terms of our career, property, social status and what others think of us, then we are not our own person. Our soul is then in exile. We are trapped in our thoughts, our feelings, our body, our money, our social status, and everything else that makes up our transient character. The soul is lost in the ego and we will feel estranged to our true selves eternally connected to God.

We need to reclaim our self — our individual “I” — and redirect it to its source, the “Ultimate I.” When we do this, we experience the mystical meaning of the first commandment heard at Mt. Sinai 3,300 years ago: “I am God your Lord, who took you out of Egypt.” This is the true path to personal empowerment, spiritual liberation, inner peace and fulfillment.

We naturally want to experience the truth of who we. We seek a connection to a greater whole because we are connected to a greater whole. The spiritual disciplines of a commandment-driven life enable us to consciously center and anchor our self in God and live in service. They empower us to disengage from the outer trappings of our persona and feel at one with God through the joy of service.

A Torah life is all about freedom and self-actualization. It is not about changing who you are, but being you.

To be all that you can be, you need to know who you really are, who is your eternal root, what is your divine purpose and service on earth.

To serve God means to embody and channel into the world God’s love, wisdom, understanding, kindness, justice, compassion, beauty, truth, peace, etc. When you act mercifully, you are serving to make manifest the source of all mercy. When you act intelligently, you are serving to make manifest the source of all intelligence. And when you serve justice, you are serving to make manifest the source of all justice. You experience the joy of ultimate meaning when you make your life a means to an end, greater than yourself. But when you make your life the be all and end all, then that is the end of your life.

We will not be punished for our sins, but by our sins. Nor will we be rewarded for our service, but by our service [underscore added].

Notice the wording of the last entry. Dabariym/Deuteronomy 28 spells out blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. The consequences are ‘automatic’ as in ‘built-in.’

When people look at you, what do they see? There is a game played by some talk show hosts whereby a picture is shown to a guest who is supposed to say one word to describe the person in the picture. If someone were to describe you in one word or a phrase, don’t you wonder what will be said? Most likely, your dominant trait or characteristic or feature would be it. Physical features are most likely to be cited: bald, bearded, tall, short, fat, thin, beautiful, ugly. mole on nose, etc. Those who know more about you might say: feisty, sweet, kind, greedy, boring, etc. Often people are surprised at the word used to describe them by those who know them better than others. Wouldn’t it be heartening to hear this word: ”Godly”. When that word defines us, that’s the best answer to the question “Who am I?”

For a good article that further elaborates on this, please go to this link: http://www.aish.com/sp/ph/48939787.html?s=rab

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[Originally posted by Admin1@S6K on June 14, 2013, in JOURNEYS, OPINION with No Comments Yet]

The first article Who am I? was intended to stand alone, complete in its message. However, at one Shabbat Torah study of our Sinai 6000 core group, there was a discussion that expanded this topic to where the issue became not so much ‘who am I’ but to another more important aspect relating to the same question.

What is involved in the question “Who am I”?

The individuals composing the Sinai 6000 community share common characteristics and mindsets.

First and foremost, each Sinaite is a God-seeker, that is a ‘given’ even if that is applicable to anyone and everyone who ends up in a religion or church or fellowship. Nobody would be in those faith communities if they were not seeking God, and wanting to worship Him.
Secondly, while God-seekers are content in finding a ‘religion’ where they are content to stay in, Sinaites continued to go farther than ritual and prayer, seeking to discover the root and source of their belief system.
Thirdly, in the continuing study of the Bible, Sinaites moved from religion to religion — those who started in Catholicism went to Evangelical Christianity where Bible study was emphasized as important as church-going.
That led them to what was claimed to be the source of Truth, that is, the Bible, specifically the Christian Bible of two parts: Old and New.
When Messianism came into the picture and the Old Testament was re-focused on because it is crucial in the understanding of “progressive revelation” —prophecy and fulfillment — Sinaites moved on to that too, getting their introduction to Old Testament and sinking their teeth into many of its overlooked, untaught, or forgotten “prooftexts.”

What is the point of reviewing this journey of a Truth-seeker or a God-seeker?

To go back to the question of ‘Who am I?”, we Sinaites realized that at each stage of our development, we were the same obedient religious practitioners. Our individual character and growth reflected the same unchanging desire to obey rules of our church or teachings of the New Testament. In terms of behavior, we exhibited the same consciousness to be kind and forgiving, gracious and generous, endeavoring to be of service to our fellow church members, to outsiders, desiring to be of use to God in everything we did, perhaps not always successfully, but with all intentions to be “good Christians”. The purpose? Partly because we were simply obedient and compliant to the new ‘truth’ we learned. Partly, so that non-believers or believers of other religions will be attracted to our faith and might even join our fellowship or church. Numbers were always a sign of ‘success’ and blessing from God, or so we thought, so the more we evangelized others and converted them to join our faith community, the better for our church leadership.

Image from newsletter.followersofyah.com

So . . . . if we were good Catholics, good Evangelicals/Protestants, good Messianics . . . exhibiting the character and lifestyle according to what was taught us from the New Testament, what then is the difference in us now? If we look more or less ‘the same’ in our zeal and service and love for the God we serve, where is the difference? Should not our former Catholic friends, Evangelical colleagues, Messianic co-religionists continue to accept us because in behavior and lifestyle and service and friendliness, we really have not changed? We are as “good” as we had always been through all the stages of our development, though changing religions, though worshipping their Christian God?

The change is in the God we now worship . . . and that appears to be an offense to our former Christ-centered colleagues. When we declare that we worship the God of Israel, we are called Jew-wannabes. When we declare His Name as YHWH, we are looked upon as having lost our salvation and are facing damnation because the key to the “Father” is through the “Son”. Says who? Says the NT teaching which radically departs from the teaching of the TORAH.

So finally, what is the point? Ultimately the point is that the question should not be “who am I” . . . but “who is our God?” What is the Name of the God we now worship?

Image from truthbook.com

We have been the same God-seeking people through decade after decade of our faith journey, behaving as best as we could in obedience to each new command we would learn, endeavoring to be as attractive to non-believers or other-faith religionists so that we could bring them to the God we believed in and worshipped. As far as behavior and character are concerned, we are the same . . . as far as the object of our faith NOW, that is where we depart from all others.

Do we draw, do we attract others because of our behavior at this point in our lives? Probably . . . Torah life was intended by YHWH for all mankind, Jew and Gentile, Israel and the Nations. But Christianity— because of the teachings of Paul — declared Torah to be passe, obsolete, only for the Jews, no longer applicable to “Christ-ians” or Christ-believers. . So there goes the Torah . . . and with it, the God Who gave it to all mankind through His firstborn son, Israel.

We look the same even as we’ve aged; we act the same as we did as Christians/Messianics and now Sinaites. Where lies the difference? The difference is the God we love, serve and worship, and His Torah which we have chosen to obey.

Never mind “who am I?” The more important issue is:

WHO is the God I serve?
What is HIS NAME?

The God that Sinaites have embraced revealed His Name to Moses and to Israel:

Image from goodnessofgodministries.wordpress.com

Sinaites are not reluctant but are proud to declare His Name! In fact in the translations that we use which substitutes LORD for the Tetragrammaton, we take the liberty of restoring what should have been written by the translator(s) to be read by all readers! Declaring and writing His Name, YHWH, is as much an act of reverence, if not even more than simply saying LORD.

YHWH is our God, YHWH is His Name,

let us proudly declare the Name of our LORD and KING!

NSB@S6K

Q & A

Q&A: "How does a gentile pray to Hashem?"

February 21, 2019 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

Image from Onward & Upward

[First posted in 2014; a thorough discussion of how Sinaite’s now regard prayer after much study and discussion.—Admin 1]

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This question appeared in “Search Terms”. When an article already posted addresses a ‘Q’, I merely direct the searcher in Yo searchers! Can we help you? if he failed to find it in Updated Site Contents.

What made me devote a whole article to this question are two words: first, “Ha Shem” and second, “gentile.” Additionally, I would like to share insights on prayer that we Sinaites have gained in the past two years of pouring over the Hebrew Scriptures.

First, “haShem.” The dictionary defines ‘circumlocution’ as “the use of many words where fewer would do, esp. in a deliberate attempt to be vague or evasive”. Except for the part “deliberate attempt to be vague or evasive”, the word “HaShem” might be categorized as circumlocution, one of the ways Jews avoid saying the Tetragrammaton Name of God. The English for ‘ha Shem‘ is “the Name.” Whose name? The God of Israel. ArtScroll Tanach (AST), one of the Jewish translations we recommend substitutes ‘HaShem’ for YHWH. We have a post about our lack of agreement on the use of “YHWH”:

IN HIS NAME – 4: Disagreements on Declaring the Name

The Sinaite’s position on saying/writing the Name of the True God as He Himself revealed it in His Revelation is this: how can anyone know the name of the True God if they never read it nor hear it because there is this avoidance by the very people to whom it was declared? Is there any prohibition for saying or writing the Name YHWH? If none, why do the Jewish Scriptures resort to G-D, L-RD, while the Christian Bibles resort to LORD? Why not just declare the NAME—YHWH with all the reverence it deserves?

Sinaites believe that reverence for the True God is actually expressed in declaring His Name to all people on earth who so badly need to hear it! If God Himself revealed His Name, we should declare it loudly and clearly. How else can we identify who is our God if we keep using “Lord” or “Master” or “God” which religions that worship other Gods also use?

Name is identity. Identify your God, and let’s see if we’re on the same page. This is why the official translation of the TORAH (The Five Books of Moses) that we have chosen for this website is Everett Fox who not only uses a poetic format but more importantly, has restored the Tetragrammaton Name YHWH where all other translations have used LORD or HaSHEM.

But back to our question . . . . As for the word ‘gentile’ – how does a gentile pray to YHWH? Do we gentiles pray any differently from the Jews?

If YHWH the God of Israel/the God of the Nations had given specific instructions on ‘how to pray’ in His revelation on Sinai, this question would not even be asked. Does His TORAH teach Israel how to pray? And if so, would it be different for Jew or Gentile?

The TORAH usually teaches through its narratives about the beginnings of humankind and the beginnings of a people named after its patriarch Jacob/Israel, set apart for God’s purposes of teaching the whole world (yes, Israel and the nations, Jews and Gentiles) HIS WAY of living on planet earth. Hence, it records key figures (i.e.the first couple, the first brothers, Noah, Israel’s Patriarchs and Prophets), conversing and interacting with the God who calls them, directs them, gives them instructions. Would we consider such conversations as ‘prayer’?

The TORAH also includes ‘tributes’ and ‘songs’, all declaring the greatness of their Deliverer and His acts on behalf of Israel. Are they samples of how we should pray to God?

The TNK has many other examples in Neviim (The Prophets) and Ketuvim (The Writings) of prayers written by men inspired by love, awe and reverence for the God of Israel: read Solomon’s prayer after finishing the Temple in Jerusalem; David’s personal prayers at different stages of his life are part of the Psalms, considered as the prayer expressions of Israel.

The custodians of the Divine Revelation, the Jews, have resorted to their own specific ways of addressing God; Judaism has its SIDDUR which has prayers for every conceivable occasion and they traditionally begin their prayers by blessing God first. We have a series featuring the Jewish prayer tradition:

Are non-Jews, gentiles supposed to follow their lead?

Outside of the Hebrew Scriptures, there are prayers from all over the world by gentiles who love and worship the God they do not know (specifically through the TORAH), and yet they reflect almost the same expressions of awe and reverence for the God whose existence they acknowledge in prayer. They see His Hand in His visible creation; His invisible workings they understand from natural phenomena, the balance and harmony and beauty they attribute to a Designer of all things that sustain life on earth.

Christianity has its own prescription for prayers for its flock, depending on the sect or denomination. Catholics pray their way, Protestants their way, Messianics pray like Jews, but they infuse their Christocentric theology in their prayers; all ending “In Jesus Name!” Does YHWH need a mediator between man and Him? Read the TNK and find out for yourself.

How indeed ‘does a gentile pray to hashem’ ?

The Jews have the Siddur to guide them, but what is an unaffiliated gentile’s guide? I for one have bought about as many ‘how to’ books on prayer as I have every translation of the Christian Bible and the TNK. Have these books taught me how to pray? Occasionally I have learned how NOT to pray . . . but yes, I’ve learned much about how OTHERS pray. So would I simply recommend what so-called ‘prayer warriors’ prescribe, like a formula that works for getting prayers answered the way the prayor wants? ‘How to get your way with the Heavenly Father’ . . . . virtually ‘my will be done’.

Individual expression is an individual’s choice; this God of Providence we understand as OMNIscient, OMNIpresent, OMNIPOTENT, loving-merciful-and full of grace—most likely hears any sincere utterance from the heart in whatever language expressed, simple or elaborate. A child’s simple words; a dying person’s last words; and everything said between the beginning and end of one’s life, addressed to that SOMEONE he needs to communicate with, whom he presumes would hear him anytime, anywhere; WHO would hopefully understand his expressions of every emotion he feels whether joy or anger, desperation in need, maybe even hate . . . . after all, HE created man with all those emotions, wouldn’t HE understand more than anyone?

Is this presumptuous thinking? Really, would God be picky about what, where and when He wants to hear from us? If so, He’d have included it in His Guidelines for Life. Connection with Him is the first step, in whatever way it happens in one’s life, in good or bad times. Any time of connection is an ideal time. He is the Eternal while our time on earth is assured only in the ‘now’ moment.

Would He answer ASAP? It depends, say prayer-book authors: ‘always’ there is an answer but it could be any of the three: ‘Yes’, ‘No’, ‘Maybe’, or ‘in His time’. ‘Unanswered prayer’ only means God did not answer the way we wanted or expected.

Some people set limits to prayer, where to do it, how to do it, what to say; others require specific positions, kneel, clasp hands, bow heads, or raise arms, heads up, individual preference is part of free will! There is a time and place for such requirements, sometimes conditions are set and promises are made. In a foxhole, it is said there are no atheists. When the earth shakes, guess what word is on everyone’s lips ‘Oh my God!’? Would you consider such as ‘prayer’?

Connection is key, right? We Sinaites simply say, ‘just pray’! Individually we’re free to pray as we are inclined to; corporately or in church; formal prayers understandably follow traditional patterns of prayers for their faithful.

Image from cartoonstock

Have you been guilty of resolving to focus on God in your prayer, only to resort to turning the focus back to yourself, your need, your this, your that? What we Sinaites have finally understood about prayer is — to quit telling God what to do, the ‘gimme’ self-centered prayer, the ‘change my will, the other person’s will (according to what I want or expect on my time schedule, please God!)’. God will never invade our will or another’s will; CHOICE is His gift to us.

Free will is a gift and a blessing when we use it as we should, according to His will. He might arrange circumstances to make us or the other change our direction or choice pattern, but the changing is always up to the individual. There are people we have prayed for (like forever!) who have remained unchanged, until we were the ones who eventually had to adjust, resigned to the fact the other will probably never change and actually never did! But in the process, God heard frequently from us and we probably heard from Him, we just weren’t listening because we were too full of “my wants”!

So again, ‘how does a gentile pray to Hashem’? First, KNOW and UNDERSTAND this awesome GOD through His declarations in His Revelation on Sinai, and next, pray accordingly.

In short, JUST DO IT!

NSB@S6K

OPINION

Revisit: Valentine – Who was he, why does he deserve a day named after him, and does anybody really care?

February 14, 2019 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

[Resurrecting an old post circa 2015, on the occasion celebrated every February 14. Who started the trend that has gotten commercialized just like Christmas? Find out.—-Admin1.]

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How many people know about and actually celebrate the “Feasts” of YHWH commanded in Leviticus 23? Probably a total hardly comparable to how many know and actually celebrate Valentine’s Day every February 14.

Year after year, people celebrate this day not knowing how it all started, or who was this person named “Valentine,” and what did he ever do to deserve a day in the month of February?

It’s a day characterized by hearts, flowers, chocolates, a romantic night out, Cupid, Eros, perhaps engagement or better yet, marriage proposal; do any of these symbols relate to Mr. Valentine?

Here’s an article that might come as a surprise to most people who have the mistaken notion that this person “Valentine” was some kind of a romantic ‘fella’. Look at the picture of “Saint” Valentine below and see if you feel inclined to be lovey-dovey [nope, not Snoopy, the next photo below him].

Image from candacecarnahan.wordpress.com

The point of featuring this is that the whole world continues year after year to celebrate this day, ever wonder who REALLY benefits from it? Well, for one all ‘lovers’ who don’t need a special occasion like this to commemorate their love for one another. For another, neglected wives and girlfriends who hope to be remembered at least one day out of the year. And finally, this is most likely the KEY to all the mindless celebrating: it is simply another occasion for commercialism, for businesses to make a killing . . .in this case, florists, chocolatiers, restaurants, greeting cards. ‘Bah humbug’ indeed, would say curmudgeonly Scrooge . . . but why be a killjoy when people are simply having fun even if nobody could care less how it all began, can’t we just live and let live?

Well, time to be informed, like it or not! Here’s some background, courtesy of an agnostic respecter of all religions and traditions, (credit him for true religious tolerance, definitely kinder than most religionists!). This FYI source is Notre Dame University.

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Valentine was a priest in third-century Rome who helped Christians who were being persecuted for their faith. One of the services he offered was to perform marriages for Christians during this persecution, which led to his patronage of young people, those in love, and happy marriages. Valentine was discovered and arrested. Authorities threatened him with torture unless he renounced his faith. He refused and was beaten with clubs, then beheaded. He died on this date in the year 269. Legend has it that before he was beheaded, he converted his jail guard by healing the man’s daughter, restoring sight to her and writing her a note, which he signed, “From your Valentine.”

In the Middle Ages, his feast was connected with the tradition of courtly love. Much of his story is unreliable, so the official calendar for liturgy for the universal Church uses this date to commemorate Sts. Cyril and Methodius. St. Valentine still remains on the calendar for local veneration in Rome, however.

Archeologists have uncovered a Roman catacomb and church that was built in memory of St. Valentine. He was remembered with great honor by early Christians and was included in the saints recalled in the Mass in some places. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica and his image is used here with permission from Catholic.org.

“St. Valentine,

patron of young people,

those in love,

and happy marriages,

pray for us!”

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S6K Comment: If Saint Valentine were like Almighty God who is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent and could hear and actually answer all the prayers of couples in love and married couples, the pray-ors to him might indeed get answers but . . . alas, no human dead or alive is all-powerful like the One True God YHWH who can hear prayers all at the same time but will presumably answer only those prayers directed to Him, don’t you think?

“Sorry, right address, wrong addressee.” Should the One True God answer prayers addressed to other gods and perpetuate the wrong belief that there are non-gods who exist and who actually have power to hear and answer prayers intended for them? You see, it’s like addressing someone whose attention you’re calling, but until you say the correct name, that person won’t know you’re calling him. Mothers do it sometimes, going through names of her kids and the child pays attention only when he hears his name.

One might reason out, ‘how many really know the True God, much less know His Name?’ Think of it this way: when a law enforcer issues you a speeding ticket and you explain you didn’t know the speed limit, what might he say? ” Ignorance of the law is no excuse.” Is there any reason in this day and age not to know any information available IF ONE TRULY CARES TO KNOW? Actually, if you simply read His TORAH, you will know Him and the Name He reveals . . . but for those with no access to such information, He probably will accommodate prayers He recognizes as addressed to Him, even if it’s directed “to Whom it may concern.” Guessing.

Might this kind of devotion to a dead saint fall under the sin of idolatry, in violation of the 2nd commandment? Ditto with prayers to all other “saints” and anyone else who is not the One True God, no? Why not just pray for yourself, straight to the True God who hears, and not ask a dead saint to pray for you? You see, no intermediary is needed to reach this God of the TNK; how do we know, He says so, find out for yourself.

Excuse us for riding on this occasion to share love for neighbor with love for God, as our February Sabbath liturgy has endeavored to redirect our attention to the Divine Source of unconditional love.

So here’s a Sinaite’s unsolicited advice:

Celebrate? OK!

Pray to dead people even if canonized as “saint”, NOT OK!

♥ NSB@S6K

TORAH STUDY, Exodus/Shemoth

Repost: The Ten “Declarations”: 6-10/Duties Towards Fellowmen

February 13, 2019 s1n4i600o-adm1n-d3v Leave a Comment

Image from amazon.com

[Have you ever wondered if the tablets on which YHWH wrote His Ten Declarations REALLY looked like the arch-top/flat bottom tablets used in most depictions? The Rabbis present all kinds of possibilities, from the plausible to the fantastic.

What is your imagination of the first as well as the second set of tablets? The 1st set is difficult to imagine, since it came from the God on Sinai Himself. Would He have chosen to etch his Laws on diamond or gold, standards according to man’s valuation system, or . . . to teach a lesson in humility, material of no value such as stone? What does scripture say? It is easier to imagine the 2nd set that Moses had to prepare from materials available in the wilderness; hewn from rock, shaped by human hands, most likely nothing compared to the first or, on second thought, an exact replica of the first since he had not only seen it, touched it, carried it down the mountain, but also broken it at the sight of the golden calf, oy vey!

But then, why are we even diverting attention from what is really most important: the WORDS of YHWH, whatever perfect or imperfect earthly material they have been written on?

Is it not more to the point that they should be written on the only earthly ‘matter’ where they should ‘matter’ — in man’s MIND, and HEART, and WILL . . . for the purpose of obedience? The LAWMAKER and the LAWGIVER had to give laws to humankind, the only creatures endowed with mind, conscience and free will. The rest of His creation have obeyed His laws—just look at the predictability of the laws of nature, physics, chemistry, the natural sciences. The two-legged creature endowed with brains and freedom to choose is the only one who continues to violate the CREATOR’s Will. But that’s the risk GOD must have known and yet was willing to take a chance on. What an awesome and all-wise GOD!

Continued from the previous post: Duties Toward God; the commentary is from our MUST READ/MUST OWN list: Pentateuch and Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz; reformatted for this post.–Admin1.]

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Image from nickgrantham.com

SECOND TABLE: DUTIES TOWARDS FELLOW-MEN

The first five Commandments have each an explanatory addition; the last five are brief and emphatic Thou shalt not’s. Our relation to our neighbours require no elucidation; since we feel the wrongs which others do to us, we have a clear guide how we ought to act towards others. These duties have their root in the principle ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’, applied to life, house, property and honour.

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THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT: THE SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE

13. thou shalt not murder. The infinite worth of human life is based on the fact that man is created ‘in the image of God’. God alone gives life and He alone may take it away. The intentional killing of any human being apart from capital punishment legally imposed by a judicial tribunal, or in war for the defence of national and human rights, is absolutely forbiddn. Child life is as sacred as that of an adult. In Greece, weak children were exposed; that is, abandoned on a lonely mountain to perish. Jewish horror of child-murder was long looked upon as a contemptible prejudice. ‘It is a crime among the Jews to kill any child,’ sneered the Roman historian Tacitus.

Hebrew law carefully distinguishes homicide from willful murder. It saves the involuntary slayer from his fellow-man from vendetta; and does not permit composition, or money-fine, for the life of the murderer. Jewish ethics enlarges the notion of murder so as to include both the doing of anything by which the health and well-being of a fellow-man is undermined, and the omission of any act by which a fellow-man could be saved in peril, distress or despair.

For the prohibition of suicide, see Gen. IX,5-6:

And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it’ and at the hand of man, even at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. 6. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made He man.

your blood of your lives. lit. ‘your blood, according to your own souls.’ The Rabbis understood these words literally, i.e. life-blod, and based on them the prohibition ofsuicide.

will I require. i.e. will I exact punishment for it.

beast. If an animal killed a man, it must be put to death; see Exod. XXI,28-32 for the law concerning an ox which gored a man.

‘at the hand of every man’s brother. Better, at the hand of his brother-man (M. Friedlander). This clause emphasizes the preceding phrase ‘and at the hand of man.’ If God seeks the blood of a man at the hand of a beast which kills him, how much more will He exact vengeance from a human being who murders his brother-man!

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SEVENTH COMMANDMENT: THE SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE

adultery. ‘Is an execrable and God-detestsed wrong-doing’ (Philo). This Commandment against infidelity warns husband and wife alike against profaning the sacred Covenant of Marriage It involves the prohibition of immoral speech, immodest conduct, or association with people who scoff at the sacredness of purity. Among no people has there been a purer homelife than among the Jewish people. No woman enjoyed greater respect than the Jewish woman; and she fully merited that respect.

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EIGHTH COMMANDMENT: THE SANCTITY OF PROPERTY

thou shalt not steal. Property represents the fruit of industry and intelligence. Any aggression on the property of our neighbour is, therefore, an assault on his human personality. This Commandment also has a wider application than theft and robbery; and it forbids every illegal acquisition of property by cheating, by embezzlement or forgery. ‘There are transactions which are legal and do not invovle any breach of law, which are yet base and disgraceful. Such are all transactions in which a person takes advantage of the ignorance or embarrassment of his neighbour for the purpose of increasing his own property’ (M. Friendlander).

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NINTH COMMANDMENT: AGAINST BEARING FALSE WITNESS

The three preceding Commandments are concerned with wrongs inflicted upon our neighbour by actual deed; this Commandment is concerned with wrong inflicted by word of mouth.

thou shalt not bear false witness. The prohibition embraces all forms of slander, defamation and misrepresentation, whether of an individual, a group, a people, a race, or a Faith. None have suffered so much from slander, defamation and misrepresentation as the Jew and Judaism. Thus, modernist theologians still repeat that, according to this Commandment, the Israelite is prohibited only from slandering a fellow-Israelite; because they allege, the Heb. word for ‘neighbour’ here, and in ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’ (Lev. XIX,18), does not mean fellow-man, but only fellow-Israelite. This is a glaring instance of bearing false witness against Judaism; and is proved to be so by XI,2 (‘Let every man ask of his neighbour, jewels of silver, etc.’), where the word neighbour cannot possibly mean an Israelite, but distinctly refers to the Egyptian. In this Commandment, as in all moral precepts in the Torah, the Heb. word neighbour is equivalent to fellowman.

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TENTH COMMANDMENT: AGAINST COVETOUS DESIRES

14. covet. i.e. to long for the possession of anything that we cannot get in an honest and legal manner. This Commandment goes to the root of all evil actions—the unholy instincts and impulses of predatory desire, which are the spring of nearly every sin against a neighbour. The man who does not covet his neighbor’s goods will not bear false witness against him; he will neither rob nor murder, nor will he commit adultery. It commands self-control; for every man has it in his power to determine whether his desires are to master him or he is to master his desires. Without such self-control, there can be no worthy human life; it alone is the measure of true manhood or womanhood. ‘Who is strong?’ ask the Rabbis. ‘He who controls his passions,’ is their reply.

thy neighbour’s house. i.e. his household. The examples enumerated are the objects most likely to be coveted.

This Commandment is somewhat differently worded in the Decalogue which is repeated by Moses in his Farewell Addresses to Israel. that difference, together with the other slight variations in that Decalogue from the original in this chapter of Exodus, is dealt with in the Commentary on Deuteronomy.

[Commentary on the repetition of the ‘Ten Declarations’ are included in Deuteronomy/Davarim IV,44-XI.—Admin1]

No religious document has exercised a greater influence on the moral and social life of man than the Divine Proclamation of Human Duty, known as the Decalogue. These few brief commands–only 120 Hebrew words in all–cover the whole sphere of conduct, not only of outer actions, but also of the secret thoughts of the heart. In simple, unforgettable form, this unique code of codes lays down the fundamental rules of Worship and of Right for all time and for all men.

I. THE DECALOGUE IN JUDAISM

From early times the basic importance of the Ten Commandments was duly recognized in Israel. The Teachers of the Talmud emphasized their eternal and universal significance by means of parable, metaphor, and all the rare poetic imagery of Rabbinic legend. The Tables on which the Ten Commandments were written, they said, were prepared at the eve of Creation—thus ante-dating humanity, and therefore independent of time or place or racial culture; and they were hewn from the sapphire Throne of Glory—and therefore of infinite worth and preciousness. The Revelation at Sinai, they taught was given in desert territory, which belongs to no one nation exclusively; and it was heard not by Israel alone, but by the inhabitants of all the earth. The Divine Voice divided itself into the 70 tongues

TORAH STUDY, Exodus/Shemoth

The Ten "Declarations": 6-10/Duties Towards Fellowmen

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But then, why are we even diverting attention from what is really most important: the WORDS of YHWH, whatever perfect or imperfect earthly material they have been written on?

Continued from the previous post: Duties Toward God; the commentary is from our MUST READ/MUST OWN list: Pentateuch and Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz; reformatted for this post.–Admin1.]

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SECOND TABLE: DUTIES TOWARDS FELLOW-MEN

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THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT: THE SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE

For the prohibition of suicide, see Gen. IX,5-6:

your blood of your lives. lit. ‘your blood, according to your own souls.’ The Rabbis understood these words literally, i.e. life-blod, and based on them the prohibition ofsuicide.

will I require. i.e. will I exact punishment for it.

beast. If an animal killed a man, it must be put to death; see Exod. XXI,28-32 for the law concerning an ox which gored a man.

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SEVENTH COMMANDMENT: THE SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE

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EIGHTH COMMANDMENT: THE SANCTITY OF PROPERTY

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NINTH COMMANDMENT: AGAINST BEARING FALSE WITNESS

The three preceding Commandments are concerned with wrongs inflicted upon our neighbour by actual deed; this Commandment is concerned with wrong inflicted by word of mouth.

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TENTH COMMANDMENT: AGAINST COVETOUS DESIRES

thy neighbour’s house. i.e. his household. The examples enumerated are the objects most likely to be coveted.

[Commentary on the repetition of the ‘Ten Declarations’ are included in Deuteronomy/Davarim IV,44-XI.—Admin1]

I. THE DECALOGUE IN JUDAISM

TORAH STUDY

Revisit: The Ten “Declarations”: 1-5/ Man’s Duties toward GOD

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[First posted in 2013, reposted on the occasion of the commanded Leviticus 23 feast of Shavuot 2017, the anniversary of the giving of the Decalogue. Never need a reason to repost yet another reminder.

We’ve chosen “declarations” in our title in place of “commandments” which is the Jewish preference. The reason for not using “commandments” is —-there are more than 10; in fact as of a Rabbi’s count, 613, although it is explained that the 10 encapsulates all others which fall under any one of the 10.

The scriptural reference here is from Exodus/Shemoth XX, 1-14 when the decalogue is first given on the first set of stone tablets written by ‘the finger of YHWH Himself. Later in Deuteronomy/Davarim, Moshe reiterates these to the 2nd generation who would enter the Land of Promise. This 2nd generation born in the wilderness never experienced bondage but experienced the gracious provisions of their new Lord and Master, YHWH, Who regulated every detail of life during the wilderness wandering of Israel. They would have heard stories about their parents’ exodus from Egypt and might have vicariously related to everything their parents experienced thereafter.

Jewish commentators cited here expectedly speak to Jews and not gentiles; you feel like an outsider looking in, wondering “where do I fit in?” Well, we gentiles fit in the “mixed multitude” who left Egypt and stood before the Law-Giver on Sinai. The God of Israel is the God of the Nations; His declarations are for all humankind. The key phrase is “mixed multitude”.

Commentary is from our MUST READ/MUST OWN resource book, not available unfortunately as an ebook but hopefully hard copies are still being sold. We got ours at a Messianic conference almost a decade ago. The Rabbi-Editor J.H. Hertz did a great job of putting together commentaries from the best of Jewish minds, indeed what a treasure it is to have. The title: Pentateuch and Haftorahs, Soncino Press Edition. Translation is from EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.—Admin1.]

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THE TEN COMMANDMENTS [Exodus/Shemoth XX, 1-14]

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The “Ten Words” or Commandments . . . or the Decalogue (from deka, ten, and logos, word), are supreme among the precepts of the Torah, both on account of their fundamental and far-reaching importance, and on account of the awe-inspiring manner in which they were revealed to the whole nation. Amid thunder and lightning and the sounding of the shofar, amid flames of the fire that enveloped the smoking mountain, a Majestic Voice pronounced the Words which from that day to this have been the guide of conduct to mankind.

That Revelation was the most remarkable event in the history of humanity. It was the birth-hour of the Religion of the Spirit, which was destined in time to illumine the souls, and order the lives, of all the children of men.

The Decalogue is a sublime summary of human duties binding upon all mankind; a summary unequalled for simplicity, comprehensiveness and solemnity; a summary which bears divinity on its face, and cannot be antiquated as long as the world endures. It is at the same time a Divine epitome of the fundamentals of Israel’s Creed and Life; and Jewish teachers, ancient and modern, have looked upon it as the fountain-head from which all Jewish truth and Jewish teaching could be derived. ‘These Commandments are written on the walls of Synagogue and Church; they are the world’s laws for all time. Never will their empire cease. The prophetic cry is true: the word of our God shall stand forever’ (M. Joseph).

The most natural division of the Ten Commandments is into—

man’s duties towards God, the opening five commandments engraved on the First Table;
and man’s duties to his fellow-man, the five Commandments engraved on the Second Table.

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FIRST TABLE; DUTIES TOWARDS GOD

FIRST COMMANDMENT: RECOGNITION OF THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

2. I am the LORD thy God. Jewish Tradition considers this verse as the first of the Ten Words, and deduces from it the positive precept, To believe in the existence of God.

I. Heb. anochi. The God adored by Judaism is not an impersonal Force, an ‘It’, whether spoken of as ‘Nature’ or “World-Reason’. The God of Israel is the Source not only of power and life, but of consciousness, personality, moral purpose and ethical action (M. Joel).

thy God. The emphasis is on thy. He is the God not merely of the past generations, but of every individual soul in each generation.

who brought thee out of the land of Egypt. God is not here designated, ‘Creator of heaven and earth’, Israel’s God is seen not merely in Nature but in the destinies of man. He had revealed Himself to Israel in a great historic deed, the greatest in the life of any people: the God who saved Israel from slavery had a moral claim, as their Benefactor and Redeemer, on their gratitude and obedience. ‘The foundation of Jewish life is not merely that there is only one God, but the conviction that this One, Only and True God, is my God, my sole Ruler and Guide in all that I do’ (Hirsch). The first Commandment is thus an exhortation to acknowledge the sovereignty of God, lit. ‘the taking upon ourselves the yoke of he Kingdom of Heaven’).

The reference to the redemption from Egypt is of deepest significance, not only to the Israelites, but to all mankind. The primal word of Israel’s Divine Message is the proclamation of God as the God of Freedom. The recognition of God as the God of Freedom illumines the whole of human history for us. In the light of this truth, history becomes one continuous Divine revelation of the gradual growth of freedom and justice on earth.

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SECOND COMMANDMENT: THE UNITY AND SPIRITUALITY OF GOD

Jewish Tradition (based on Talmud, Midrash and Targum) makes v. 3 the beginning of the Second Commandment.

3. thou shalt have no other gods. Because there are no other gods beside God. The fundamental dogma of Israel’s religion, as of all higher religion, is the Unity of God.

before Me. Or, ‘besides Me’; or, ‘to my face’ (Koenig). Nothing shall receive the worship due to Him. Neither angels nor saintly men or women are to receive adoration as Divine beings; and the Jew is forbidden to pray to them. This Commandment also forbids belief in evil spirits, witchcraft, and similar evil superstition. Furthermore, he who believes in God will not put his trust in Chance or ‘luck’.

4. a graven image. This verse forbids the worship of the One God in the wrong way. Judaism alone, from the very beginning, taught that God was a Spirit; and made it an unpardonable sin to worship God under any external form that human hands can fashion. No doubt this law hindered the free development of plastic arts in ancient Israel; but it was of incalculable importance for the purity of the conception of God.

nor any manner of likeness. Nor is He to be worshipped under any image, though such be not graven, which the human mind can conceive.

in heaven above. i.e. of the heavenly bodies; such as the ancestors of the Hebrews in Babylonia adored.

in the earth beneath,e.g. of animal, such as the Israelites saw the Egyptians worshipping.

in the water under the earth. The monsters of the deep.

5. a jealous God. The Heb. root for ‘jealous’, kanna, designates the just indignation of one injured; used here of the all-requiting righteousness of God. God desires to be all in all to His children, and claims an exclusive right to their love and obedience. He hates cruelty and unrighteousness, and loathes impurity and vice; and, and even as another is jealous of all evil influences that rule her children, He is jealous when, instead of purity and righteousness, it is idolatry and unholiness that command their heart-allegiance. It is, of course, evident that terms like ‘jealousy’ or ‘zeal’ are applied to God in an anthropomorphic sense. It is also evident that this jealousy of God is of the very essence of His holiness. Outside Israel, the ancients believed that the more gods the better; the richer the pantheon of a people, the greater its power. It is because the heathen deities were free from ‘jealousy’ and, therefore, tolerant of one another and all their abominations, that heathenism was spiritually so degrading and morally so devastating.

visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. The Torah does not teach here or elsewhere that the sins of the guilty fathers shall be visited upon their innocent children. The soul that sinneth it shall die proclaims the Prophet Ezekiel. And in the administration of justice by the state, the Torah distinctly lays down, ‘The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin’ (Deut. XXIV,16). However, human experience all too plainly teaches the oral interdependence of parents and children. The bad example set by a father frequently corrupts those that come after him. His most dreadful bequest to his children is not a liability to punishment, but a liability to the commission of fresh offences. In every parent, therefore, the love of God, as a restraining power from evil actions, should be reinforced by love for his children; that they should not inherit the tendency to commit, and suffer the consequences of, his transgressions.

Another translation is, ‘remembering the sins of the fathers unto the children’; i.e. God remembers the sins of the fathers when about to punish the children. He distinguishes between the moral responsibility which falls exclusively upon the sinful parents, and the natural consequences and predisposition to sin, inherited by the descendants. He takes into account the evil environment and influence. He therefore tempers justice with mercy; and He does so to the third and fourth generation.

of them that hate Me. The Rabbis refer these words to the children. The sins of the fathers will be visited upon them, only if they do transgress God’s commandments.

6. unto the thousandth generation. Contrast the narrow limits, three or four generations, within which the sin is visited, with the thousand generation that His mercy is shown to those who love God and keep His commandments. ‘History and experience alike teach how often, and under what varied conditions, it happens that the misdeeds of a parent result in bitter consequence for the children. In His providence, the beneficent consequences of a life of goodness extend indefinitely further than the retribution which is the penalty of persistence in sin’ (Driver).

that love Me. Note the verb ‘love’, used to designate the right attitude to God: “Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deut. VI,5). Love of God is the essence of Judaism and from love of God springs obedience to His will.

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THIRD COMMANDMENT: AGAINST PERJURY AND PROFANE SWEARING

The Second Commandment lays down the duty of worshipping God alone, and worshipping Him in spirit and not through images. The Third Commandment forbids us to dishonour God by invoking His Name to attest what is untrue, or by joining His Name to anything frivolous or insincere.

7. take the name of the LORD. Upon the lips; i.e. to utter.

in vain. lit. ‘for vanity’, or ‘falsehood’; for anything that is unreal or groundless.

God is holy and His Name is holy. His Name, therefore, must not be used profanely to testify to anything that is untrue, insincere or empty. We are to swear by God’s Name, only when we are fully convinced of the truth of our declaration, and then only when we are required to do so in a Court of law. This verse, according to the Rabbis, forbids using the Name of God in false oaths (e.g. that wood is stone); as well as using the Name of God in vain and flippant oaths (e.g. that stone is stone). God’s Name is, moreover, not to be uttered unnecessarily in common conversation.

will not hold him guiltless. i.e. will not leave him unpunished. Perjury is an unpardonable offence, which, unless repressed by severest penalties, would destroy human society. The Rabbis ordained a special solemn warning to be administered to anyone to take an oath in a Court of law. In various ages, saintly men have avoided swearing altogether. The Essenes, a Jewish Sect in the days of the Second Temple, held that ‘he who cannot be believed without swearing is already condemned’. ‘Let thy yea be yea, and thy nay, nay,’ says the Talmud.

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FOURTH COMMANDMENT; THE SABBATH

8. remember. The use of the word ‘remember’ may indicate that the institution was well known to the Israelites, long before their manna experiences; that it was a treasured and sacred institution inherited from the days of the Patriarchs. The Rabbis however explain “Remember the Sabbath day” to mean,

Bear it in mind and prepare for its advent;
think of it day by day,
and speak of its holiness and sanctifying influence.

They instituted the Kiddush prayer,

praising God for the gift of the Sabbath,
to celebrate its coming in;
and theHavdalah blessing,
- praising God for the distinction between the Sabbath and the six weekdays,
- to mark its going out.

sabbath day. Heb. shabbath, from a root meaning desisting from work.

to keep it holy. To treat it as a day unprofaned by workaday purposes. In addition to being a day of rest, the Sabbath is to be ‘a holy day, set apart for the building up of the spiritual element in man’ (Philo). Religious worship and religious instruction–the renewal of man’s spiritual life in God–form an essential part of Sabbath observance. We therefore sanctify the Sabbath by as special Sabbath liturgy, by statutory Lessons from the Torah and the Prophets, and by attention to discourse and instruction by religious teachers. The Sabbath has thus proved the great educator of Israel in the highest education of all; namely the laws governing human conduct. The effect of these Sabbath prayers and Synagogue homilies upon the Jewish people has been incalculable. Leopold Zunz, the founder of the New Jewish Learning, has shown that almost the whole of Israel’s inner history since the close of bible times can be traced in following the development of these Sabbath discourses on the Torah. Sabbath worship is still the chief bond which unites Jews into a religious Brotherhood. Neglect of such worship injures the spiritual life of both the individual and the community.

9. shalt thou labour. Work during the six days of the week is as essential to man’s welfare as is the rest on the seventh. No man or woman, howsoever rich, is freed from the obligation of doing some work, say the Rabbis, as idleness invariably leads to evil thoughts and evil deeds. The proportion of one day’s rest in seven has been justified by the experience of the last 3000 years. Physical health suffers without such relief. The first French Republic rejected the one day in seven, and ordained a rest of one day in ten. The experiment was a complete failure.

work. Heb., that which man produces by his thought, effort and will.

10. a sabbath unto the LORD. A day especially devoted to God.

thou shalt not do any manner of work. Scripture does not give a list of labours forbidden on Sabbath; but it incidentally mentions field-labour, buying and selling, travelling, cooking, etc., as forbidden work. The Mishna enumerates under 39 different heads all such acts as are in Jewish Law defined as ‘work’, and therefore not to be performed on the Sabbath day; such as ploughing, reaping, carrying loads, kindling a fire, writing, sewing, etc. Certain other things cannot be brought under any of these 39 Categories are also prohibited, because they lead to a breach of Sabbath laws as well as all acts that would tend to change the Sabbath into an ordinary day. Whatever we are not allowed to do ourselves, we must not have done for us by a fellow-Jew, even by one who is a Sabbath-breaker. All these Sabbath laws, however, are suspended as soon as there is the least danger to human life; say the Rabbis. The Commandments of God are to promote life and well-being, a principle based on Lev. XVIII,5, ‘and these are the precepts of the LORD by which ye shall live.‘

thou.The head of the house, responsible for all that dwell therein.

manservant . . . maidservant. Or, ‘bondman’ . . . ‘bondmaid”; Deut. V,14. Not only the children but also the servants, whether Israelite or heathen, nay even the beasts of burden, are to share in the rest of the Sabbath day. ‘The Sabbath is a boundless boon for mankind and the greatest wonder of religion. Nothing can appear more simple than this institution, to rest on the seventh day after six days of work. And yet no legislator in the world hit upon this idea! To the Greeks and the Romans it was an object of derision, a superstitious usage. But it has removed with one stroke the contrast between slaves who must labour incessantly, and their masters who may celebrate continuously’ (B. Jacob).

thy cattle. It is one of the glories of Judaism that, thousands of years before anyone else, it so fully recognized our duties to the dumb friends and helpers of man.

thy stranger. The non-Israelite, who agrees to keep the seven Noachic precepts; though the Sabbath was not included in these precepts, he too is to enjoy the Sabbath rest for his own sake as a human being.

within thy gates. Within the borders of the town.

11. rested. By keeping the Sabbath, the Rabbis tell us, we testify to our belief in God as the Creator of the Universe; in a God who is not identical with Nature, but is a free Personality, the creator and ruler of Nature. The Talmudic mystics tell that when the heavens and earth were being called into existence, matter was getting out of hand, and the Divine Voice had to resound, ‘Enough! So far and no further!’ Man, made in the image of God, has been endowed by Him with the power of creating. But in his little universe, too, matter is constantly getting out of hand, threatening to overwhelm and crush out the soul. By means of the Sabbath, called ‘a memorial to Creation,’ we are endowed with the Divine power of saying ‘Enough!’ to all rebellious claims of our environment, and are reminded of our potential victory over all material forces that would drag us down.

blessed the sabbath. Made it a day of blessing to those who observe it. The Sabbath was something quite new, which had never before existed in any nation or in any religion–a standing reminder that man can emancipate himself from the slavery of his worldly cares; that man was made for spiritual freedom, peace and joy (Ewald). ‘The Sabbath is one of the glories of our humanity. For if to labour is noble, of our own free will to pause in that labour which may lead to success, to money, to fame is nobler still. To dedicate one day a week to rest and to God, this is the prerogative and the privilege of man alone’ (C.G. Montefiore).

and hallowed it. Endowed it with sanctifying powers. The sanctity of the Sabbath is seen in its traces upon the Jewish soul. Isaiah speaks of the Sabbath as ‘a delight’; and the Liturgy describes Sabbath rest as ‘voluntary and congenial, happy and cheerful.’ ‘The Sabbath planted a heaven in every Jewish home, filling it with long-expected and blissfully-greeted peace; making each home a sanctuary, the father a priest, and the mother who lights the Sabbath candles an angel of light’ (B. Jacob). The Sabbath banishes care and toil, grief and sorrow. All fasting (except on the Day of Atonement, which as the Sabbath of Sabbaths transcends this rule of the ordinary Sabbath) is forbidden; and all mourning is suspended on the Sabbath day. Each of the three Sabbath meals is an obligatory religious act and is in the olden Jewish home accompanied by Table Songs. The spiritual effect of the Sabbath is termed by the Rabbis the ‘extra soul’, which the Israelite enjoys on that day.

Ignorant and unsympathetic critics condemn the Rabbinic Sabbath-laws with their numberless minutiae as an intolerable ‘burden’. These restrictions justify themselves in that the Jew who actually and strictly obeys these injunctions and only such a Jew, has a Sabbath. And in regard to the alleged formalism of all these Sabbath laws, a German Protestant theologian of anti-Semitic tendencies has recently confessed: ‘Anyone who has had the opportunity of knowing in our own day the inner life of Jewish families that observe the Law of the fathers with sincere piety and in all strictness, will have been astonished at the wealth of joyfulness, gratitude and sunshine, undreamt of by the outsider, which the Law animates in the Jewish home. The whole household rejoices on the Sabbath, which they celebrate with rare satisfaction not only as the day of rest, but rather as the day of rejoicing. Jewish prayers term the Sabbath a “joy of the soul” to him who hallows it; he “enjoys the abundance of Thy goodness”. Such expressions are not mere words; they are the outcome of pure and genuine happiness and enthusiasm (Kittel).

Without the observance of the Sabbath, of the olden Sabbath, of the Sabbath as perfected by the Rabbis, the whole of Jewish life would in time disappear.

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FIFTH COMMANDMENT: HONOUR OF PARENTS

This Commandment follows the Sabbath command because the Sabbath is the source and the guarrantor of the family life; and it is among the Commandments engraved on the First tablet, the laws of piety towards God, because parents stand in the place of God, so far as their children are concerned. Elsewhere in Scripture, the duty to one’s parents stands likewise next to the duties towards God (Lev. XIX,3.)

12. honour thy father and thy mother. By showing them respect, obedience and love. Each parent alike is entitled to these. For although ‘father’ is here mentioned first, in Lev. XIX,3 we read, ‘each one shall fear (i.e. reverence) his mother and his father.’ And this obligation extends beyond the grave. The child must revere the memory of the departed parent in act and feeling. Respect to parents is among the primary human duties; and no excellence can atone for the lack of such respect. Only in cases of extreme rarity (e.g. where godless parents would guide children towards crime) can disobedience be justified. Proper respect to parents may at times involve immeasurable hardship; yet the duty remains. Shem and Japhet throw the mantle of charity over their father’s shame: only an unnatural child gloats over a parent’s disgrace or dishonour. The greatest achievement open to parents is to be ever fully worthy of their children’s reverence and trust and love.

that thy days may be long. i.e. the honouring of one’s parents will be rewarded by happiness and blessing. This is not always seen in the life of the individual; but the Commandment is addressed to the individual as a member of society, as the child of a people. The home is infinitely more important to a people than the schools, the professions or its political life; and filial respect is the ground of national permanence and prosperity. If a nation thinks of its past with contempt, it may well contemplate its future with despair; it perishes through moral suicide.

TORAH STUDY

The Ten "Declarations": 1-5/ Man’s Duties toward GOD

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THE TEN COMMANDMENTS [Exodus/Shemoth XX, 1-14]

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The most natural division of the Ten Commandments is into—

man’s duties towards God, the opening five commandments engraved on the First Table;
and man’s duties to his fellow-man, the five Commandments engraved on the Second Table.

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FIRST TABLE; DUTIES TOWARDS GOD

FIRST COMMANDMENT: RECOGNITION OF THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

2. I am the LORD thy God. Jewish Tradition considers this verse as the first of the Ten Words, and deduces from it the positive precept, To believe in the existence of God.

thy God. The emphasis is on thy. He is the God not merely of the past generations, but of every individual soul in each generation.

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SECOND COMMANDMENT: THE UNITY AND SPIRITUALITY OF GOD

Jewish Tradition (based on Talmud, Midrash and Targum) makes v. 3 the beginning of the Second Commandment.

3. thou shalt have no other gods. Because there are no other gods beside God. The fundamental dogma of Israel’s religion, as of all higher religion, is the Unity of God.

nor any manner of likeness. Nor is He to be worshipped under any image, though such be not graven, which the human mind can conceive.

in heaven above. i.e. of the heavenly bodies; such as the ancestors of the Hebrews in Babylonia adored.

in the earth beneath,e.g. of animal, such as the Israelites saw the Egyptians worshipping.

in the water under the earth. The monsters of the deep.

of them that hate Me. The Rabbis refer these words to the children. The sins of the fathers will be visited upon them, only if they do transgress God’s commandments.

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THIRD COMMANDMENT: AGAINST PERJURY AND PROFANE SWEARING

7. take the name of the LORD. Upon the lips; i.e. to utter.

in vain. lit. ‘for vanity’, or ‘falsehood’; for anything that is unreal or groundless.

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FOURTH COMMANDMENT; THE SABBATH

Bear it in mind and prepare for its advent;
think of it day by day,
and speak of its holiness and sanctifying influence.

They instituted the Kiddush prayer,

praising God for the gift of the Sabbath,
to celebrate its coming in;
and theHavdalah blessing,
- praising God for the distinction between the Sabbath and the six weekdays,
- to mark its going out.

sabbath day. Heb. shabbath, from a root meaning desisting from work.

work. Heb., that which man produces by his thought, effort and will.

10. a sabbath unto the LORD. A day especially devoted to God.

thou.The head of the house, responsible for all that dwell therein.

thy cattle. It is one of the glories of Judaism that, thousands of years before anyone else, it so fully recognized our duties to the dumb friends and helpers of man.

within thy gates. Within the borders of the town.

Without the observance of the Sabbath, of the olden Sabbath, of the Sabbath as perfected by the Rabbis, the whole of Jewish life would in time disappear.

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FIFTH COMMANDMENT: HONOUR OF PARENTS