Sedra Yitro: Hertz Chumash p. 288 Exodus Chap 18. verse 1

This week's Sedra is generously sponsored by Paul Southwick.

SYNOPSIS:

While Moses carried out his mission in Egypt, his family had returned to Midian. Now that the Israelites were in the wilderness, Moses' father-in-law, Yitro, brought his daughter, Zipporah, and Moses's son to Rephidim. Moses welcomed Yitro affectionately and related all that G-d had done for the Israelites. His father-in-law fully acknowledged G-d's power and offered sacrifices to Him.
Observing that Moses was overburdened with judicial duties, Yitro advised his son-in-law to create a judicial system at graded levels and to delegate his authority while concentrating only on the difficult cases. Moses acted on this sage advise.

On the first day of the third month (Sivan) after they had departed from Egypt, the Israelites arrived in the wilderness of Sinai and camped in front of Mount Horeb. Moses approached the mountain and heard the voice of G-d instructing him to remind the people how He had delivered them from Egypt. If they obeyed Him, they would be transformed into a "kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Moses descended from the mountain and repeated G-d's words to the Elders and to the people. A united nation responded, "All that the L-rd has spoken we will do!"
Moses reported these words to G-d and was told that G-d would appear in a thick cloud and speak to him before the entire assembly so that His Divine mission would never again be doubted. The people were to prepare themselves for three days in anticipation of the great event of the acceptance of the Torah. They were not to touch the boundaries around the mountain under penalty of death.

After these three days had elapsed, on the sixth of Sivan, thunder and lightning erupted and a dense cloud descended on the mountain. The call of the shofar was heard and Moses brought the people to the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was enveloped in smoke and G-d summoned Moses to its summit. G-d bade him to warn the Israelites not to gaze upon the Divine Manifestation. Moses did as ordered. Then followed the supreme moment in the history of the world. The voice of G-d Himself was heard by every man, woman and child as He declared the foundations of religious and moral conduct for all time :
1. I am the L-rd your G-d who delivered you from the land of Egypt...
2. You shall have no other gods before Me...
3. You shall not take the name of the L-rd your G-d in vain...
4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy...
5. Honour your father and your mother...
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
} 8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
10. You shall not covet your neighbour's house...

The people were so awed by all they had witnessed that they withdrew from the mountain and pleaded with Moses to speak to them in place of G-d lest they die.
Moses then drew near to the thick darkness and received a series of laws. The first four precepts dealt with important aspects of Divine worship: the prohibition of idolatry; the creation of an altar made of earth for sacrificial offerings but only when G-d commands that an altar of stone must be built of unhewn rock and not fashioned by iron instruments; and, to guard his dignity, the law that the priest should ascend to the altar not via steps but on a slope.

HAPHTORAH : HERTZ CHUMASH P. 302 Isaiah Chap. 6

The haphtorah opens with the prophet's declaration : ".... I saw the L-rd ..." This, and the ensuing description of his awe inspiring vision of "...the L-rd sitting upon a throne high and exalted ..." are a fitting response to momentous events of Revelation and the Giving of the Torah as described in the Sedra. The call to Isaiah to undertake a sacred mission is reminiscent of G-d's call to Israel to be a "kingdom of priests and a Holy nation".

TELL ME RABBI ... THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (Literally : The Ten Sayings).

The recitation of the Ten Commandments originally accompanied the daily sacrificial service in the Temple. This practice was abolished early in the Talmudic period "so that the heretics should not say these (commandments) alone were given at Sinai". Since then they no longer feature in the statutory service. Similar reasoning forms the background to the difference in custom between those authorities who maintain one aught to stand during the recitation of the Decalogue and those authorities who assert that one should remain seated.

For Maimonides the equal importance of all parts of the Torah was so basic that he asserted in the Eighth of this Thirteen Principles of Faith (Mishnah commentary of Sanhedrin, Chapter 10): "There is no difference between the verse 'Timna was the concubine of Eliphaz' (i.e. the grandmother of Amalek) (Gen. 36:12) and 'I am the L-rd your G-d' of the Ten Commandments.

The Decalogue was retained at the end of the Morning Service only for private recitation, together with other passages from the Torah recited daily by the pious. The difference between private and public recitation was marked even in the cantillation - uniquely among Biblical texts.
Individuals reading the Decalogue are to use the "Taam Tachton - Lower Notes" which divide the Hebrew text into verses like the rest of the Torah, whilst the "Taam Elyon - Upper Notes", which break up the text into ten paragraphs - one single and complete section for each Commandment - are meant exclusively for public recitation on the Sabbaths when the Ten Commandments are read in the portion of the week (Yitro and Va'etchanan) and on Shavuot.

"Shabbat Shalom" is generously sponsored by Rosetta and Nathan Baron