Everybody but Chazal knows that the aseret hadibrot<\/i>\u00a0(Ten Commandments) appear only twice in the Torah (Yitro\u00a0and Va’etchanan).<\/p>\n
In the sharp analysis of R. Levi\u00a0(1)<\/a>, a third, more eclectic sighting can also be found (2)<\/a> in the opening section of Kedoshim, wherein he finds explicit and\/or strong allusive references to all of the dibrot<\/i>. While the formal aseret hadibrot<\/i>\u00a0(Yitro\/Va’etchanan) are rigidly defined and particularly ordered, their presentation here in Kedoshim are interspersed amongst other mitzvot, occupy no apparent order, and are not always obvious. (Several times I have challenged my students to find all ten and it makes for an incredible learning experience.) One may wonder then what\u2019s the point of this radically different presentation.<\/p>\n A famous bad joke goes like this:<\/p>\n The minister had just given a delightful sermon, a paean on the wonder and innocence of childhood, and was now bidding farewell to his parishioners on the church steps. Suddenly he caught out of the corner of his eye some children playing in the freshly poured cement on a few squares of new sidewalk ineffectively fenced off with yellow tape. He rushed over, red in the face, and began scolding them, as close to the verge of profanity as someone in his profession could come. A particularly shocked bystander turned to the minister and said, \u201cWhy, Reverend, you just told us how much you love children!\u201d The minister answered, \u201cI love children well enough in the abstract but this is in the concrete.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n In my office, a placard that reads \u201cThe Ten Commandments are not multiple choice\u201d (signed by God) often evokes a smile. For the traditional Jew, that is axiomatic. And yet – to many faithful Jews the dibrot\u00a0<\/i>still remain abstract realities. By weaving the aseret hadibrot\u00a0within the rubric of common interpersonal mitzvot, Kedoshim implicitly proclaims that the dibrot<\/i>\u00a0are to be found in the very fabric of one\u2019s being and discovered in the rich texture of daily life. After all these years, Shabbos details still require vigilant watching and constant reexamination in light of new technology; sometimes religion and family can create potential chasms; business deals must comport to appropriate honesty and a higher authority. The aseret hadibrot<\/i>, a paradigm for all of Torah, pulsates anew, alive and well, even (and especially) into the twenty first century!<\/p>\n The great midrash<\/i> mystery however is the search for lo tachmod<\/i> (do not covet). Whereas belief in Hashem (Ani Hashem Elokeichem<\/i>), respecting parents, Shabbos, bearing false oaths, etc. are explicated and murder (3)<\/a>, adultery are intimated, the coveting prohibition appears elusive.<\/p>\n Ibn Ezra and Ramban cite different midrashic traditions (4)<\/a>. The former quotes \u201clo taashok es reiacha<\/i>\u201d (5)<\/a> (do not cheat your friend). Apparently, the notion is that cheating a fellow Jew is often the ultimate consequence<\/i> of coveting. Indeed even when one pays for a coveted object (6)<\/a>, he still violates the prohibition \u2013 so long as he caused an unwilling separation between owner and object (salesmen and realtors beware!)<\/p>\n Ramban however finds lo tachmod<\/i> residing in a completely different neighborhood:<\/p>\n \u05dc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05d7\u05de\u05d5\u05d3 \u05d5\u05db\u05ea\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d4\u05db\u05d0 \u05d5\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1\u05ea \u05dc\u05e8\u05e2\u05da \u05db\u05de\u05d5\u05da<\/em><\/p>\n There is it is written \u201cdo not covet\u201d and here it is written Love your neighbor like yourself<\/em><\/p>\n Remarkable! \u201cDo not covet\u201d equals \u201cLove your neighbor like yourself\u201d. Their formulations appear so different and yet in midrashic<\/i> analysis their fates converge. How so?<\/p>\n Ostensibly, the link is as follows: Jealousy is an impediment to love. The master of lo tachmod<\/i> will naturally gravitate towards loving his neighbor in a deep and abiding way. If I can figure out how to fargen<\/i> – how to not begrudge one his success, a natural state of love will reside. In this formulation, v\u2019ahavta l\u2019reiacha kamocha<\/i> is the result<\/b> of one who internalizes the message of lo tachmod<\/i>. A simple formulation however begets a lifetime\u2019s work of implementation. At the end of the midrash<\/i>, we are still left groping for tools of tachmod<\/i> transcendence.<\/p>\n Perhaps there is a bit more going one here. We may speculate that the \u201cDo not covet\/ Love your neighbor stream\u201d flows in the opposite direction as well. Maybe consideration of v\u2019ahavta l\u2019reiacha kamocha<\/i> will give us the tools to overcome our natural jealous desires.<\/p>\n Parents are not jealous of children who outperform them – they kvell<\/i>. Why? Intuitively we understand that a child is part parent \u2013 they are united on so many levels. Jealousy only begins when there is an apriori sense of disunity.<\/p>\n That\u2019s precisely the point.<\/p>\n Jews are<\/b> guf echad<\/i> (one entity). One united neshama<\/i> (soul) under God! Multiple sources indicate this idea in the most profound of manners (7)<\/a>. Areivus<\/i> (the doctrine of mutual halachic responsibility) is not a superimposed halachic category but reflective of a spiritual reality of deep connectedness. If you haven\u2019t fulfilled your obligation, then I can make a blessing for you and it is not in vain, because You and I are one<\/b>, and therefore I haven\u2019t completely fulfilled my obligation either.<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t always feel that way. Sometimes, Jews argue. Thus God, in His Torah subtly links the two notions as if to say:<\/p>\n \u201cDear Jews \u2013 think deeply about v\u2019ahavta l\u2019reiacha kamocha, love your neighbor because he is kamocha<\/b> – an extension of yourself. Your life will be that much happier, that much more doused with joy and liberated from the drain and strain of a covetous (read: keeping up with the Joneses) nature. Learn to unite with your friend.<\/em><\/p>\n One final thing dear Jews, and this may be an incentive to you as well. If you find room for that friend in your life, you’ll earn a third one \u2013 free of charge. V\u2019ahavta l\u2019reiacha kamocha – ani Hashem<\/b>. I too shall be your third friend (8)<\/a>.<\/p>\n Good Shabbos,\u00a0Asher Brander<\/p>\n FOOTNOTE<\/span>:<\/p>\n <\/a>1. The midrash (\u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0 \u05e8\u05d1\u05d4 (\u05d5\u05d9\u05dc\u05e0\u05d0) \u05e4\u05e8\u05e9\u05d4 \u05db\u05d3 ) reads as follows: <\/a>2. According to some sources, yet a fourth allusion to the aseres hadibros can be found in the second section of Shema (v\u2019haya im shamoa<\/i>)<\/p>\n <\/a>3. 19:16 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05e2\u05de\u05d3 \u05e2\u05dc \u05d3\u05dd \u05e8\u05e2\u05da<\/p>\n <\/a>4. Ibn Ezra follows the Midrash Tanchuma (Kedoshim 3) whereas Ramban quotes the aforementioned Midrash Rabah.<\/p>\n <\/a>5. 19:13 Lo ta’amod al dom re’echa<\/i><\/p>\n <\/a>6. Cf. Bava Kamma 62a, Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 34:13<\/p>\n
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