Shalom faithful readers!
Parashat Yitro brings us one of the three places in the Torah that frames the Decalogue (10 Commandments). Many rabbis throughout the ages have asked: Which is the hardest of the 10 commandments for a person to fulfill faithfully?
Of course there is no unanimous opinion, but consensus tends to lean toward the fifth commandment: "Kabed et avicha v'et imecha...": "Honor your father and your mother...." After all, some have reasoned, why else would this commandment need to be distinguished as the only one of the ten to offer the promise of a "reward" for compliance? To wit: "...so that your days may be prolonged upon the land that the Eternal your God is giving you."
Underscoring the difficulty of keeping this commandment, earlier this week I received this question from an anonymous source:
How does someone honor the commandment to "honor thy father/mother" when you've been raised with severe dysfunction and abuse at the hand of those parents?
To read my answer to this thought-provoking question, just click here.
Comments are most welcome.
Shabbat shalom and happy studying!
1) "Parashat Yitro brings us one of the three places in the Torah that frames the Decalogue (10 Commandments)" - One of 3? The portions "Yitro" and "VaEtchanan" are the only two.
ReplyDelete2) Regarding the picture here included, with tablets rounded at the top, perhaps you'll want to refer to this post:
http://hezbos.blogspot.com/2010/03/flat-rectangular-tablets-with-10.html
3) "Many rabbis throughout the ages have asked: Which is the hardest of the 10 commandments for a person to fulfill faithfully?" I, for one, cannot figure why a rabbi would ask such a question. If the circumstances are such as the abused child, then of course that which is applicable is hardest to apply. But otherwise, the question is simply a question that promotes idle talk, for what difference does it make? Beside, does it make sense to ask, "Is believing in ONE G-D 'harder' than believing you should not covet? This question cannot be asked without laying out circumstances in each case.
There are 2 places in Torah where the Ten Commandments are "listed", albeit with some differences--in Yitro and Va'etkhanan--as correctly observed.
ReplyDeleteI believe there are 3 places in Torah where the Ten Commandments ('aseret hadevarim) are "explicitly mentioned"--in Ki Tisa' (Ex 34:28), in Va'etkhanan (De 4:13), and in 'Ekev (De 10:4).
As to the semantics of the English word "frames", I think there is probably some ambiguity. Generally, in this context, it means to put into words. If we were debating actual words of Torah, I'd invest in the debate. As we are dissecting an English sentence in Rabbi Blake's blog posting, I will pass...no offense to Rabbi Blake.
As to the assertion of "promotes idle talk", I cannot conceive of a sincere discussion of Torah which could be considered "idle talk".
DavidS
Btw, there is some debate over whether Kedoshim contains a (Priestly) version of the Decalogue. The Jewish Study Bible doesn't think so:
ReplyDelete"The Priestly literature is completely unfamiliar with the Decalogue tradition; there is no logical explanation for the missing commands; and the six scattered parallels are outweighed by the remainder of ch 19, which does not resemble the Decalogue at all." [pp.252-253]
DavidS