From the Rabbi’s Desk

Rabbi Manes Kogan

920 Franklin Rd. SW Roanoke, VA 24016

Phone: (540) 343-0289

E-mail: kogan@rev.net

Yitro

This morning I was sitting in my office thinking about the Devar Torah that I would deliver today. I guess that because of the importance of the main theme of our Sidra – the Ten Commandments- I was unsure of how to make the best use of my Devar Torah (the Hebrew expression word "Devar Torah" is preferable for me than the word Sermon). Trying to concentrate, I was playing with the pencil I use to write notes, and I realized that on the pencil was written the following sentence: "The Ten Commandments Are Not Multiple Choice". As you can see, this pencil is one of the pencils, students use in their multiple-choice tests.

Because I don't believe very much in coincidences, I understood that here was an invitation to share a message with you.

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, in his major work, Jewish Literacy, brings the following reflection:

Ask even knowledgeable Jews what the word mitzvah means and you will be often told, "good deed". But in reality, mitzvah means "commandment". The difference between "good deed" and "commandment", though subtle, is significant. "Good deed" implies a voluntary act, "commandment" an obligatory one. In contemporary western society, most people believe voluntary act to be on a higher plane than obligatory ones; after all, they reason, isn’t a person who does an act voluntarily nobler than one who does it because he feels obligated? Yet the Talmud takes precisely the opposite point of view: "Greater is he who is commanded and carries out an act, than he who is not commanded, and carries out an act, than he who is not commanded, and carries it out" (Kiddushin 31ª). Apparently, the rabbis of the Talmud believed that obligatory acts will be carried out with greater consistency and staying power than voluntary ones.

To illustrate his point, he brings this good example:

At one point or another almost all of us go on diets. The two standard motivations for dieting are very powerful: to be physically more attractive, and to be healthier. Yet almost all of us break our diets, usually quite quickly. Compare this unhappy reality with the experience of people who keep "kosher". Kashrut does not guarantee health or greater physical attractiveness; yet, because its practitioners feel obligated to observe its laws, they can go a lifetime without eating pork or shellfish. In fact, I have often speculated that were the government to mandate putting pork into all chocolate products, I could finally take off the pounds I need to shed.

In a multiple choice, you select the answer you like the most; you understand that it is more logical, is closer to your feelings, or corresponds to your way of seeing reality. The word commandment – on the other hand - doesn't apply to any or all these categories.

However, regarding commandments, we have a choice: you can fulfill the commandment or not. The difference is that your position regarding the commandments doesn't change the fact that they are still commandments, and because they are commandments, if you chose to ignore them, you need to confront the consequences of your acts. The same –by the way- is true regarding our parents: we have the choice to disobey them, but we need to confront the consequences of our disobedience.

And what are these consequences? Early and modern commentators are divided on this topic. To discuss the wide range of answers is a task that requires more time that the ten minutes people can listen to me without animosity.

However, I would like to share with you a personal answer.

The giving of the Ten Commandments was a one-time event in history in which God brought Himself close to an entire people, our people: the people of Israel. As we'll read in the Torah tomorrow: "Hashem said to Moses: Go to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow...Let them be prepared for the third day, for on the third day Hashem shall descend in the sight of the entire people on Mount Sinai" (Exodus 19:10-11)

God brought Himself close to us by giving us the Torah, as a father who cares about us indicates to us a path to follow and instructs us to not go astray.

By fulfilling God-s commandments, we not only do what is right, but we also bring ourselves close to God.

Each commandment we fulfill, even though it is apparently a small commandment, brings us closer to our father in heaven (by the way, the expression "Our Father in Heaven" is a very Jewish one). Each time we light Shabbat candles, each time we put on Tefilin, each time we thank God after we enjoy His blessings, we bring ourselves closer to God. And there is no greater reward than this.

A good deed is a very important thing. However, a commandment –a Mitzvah-not only is a good deed, but is also a religious experience: each time we fulfill a commandment we renew our covenant with God, the same covenant that was established at Mount Sinai 3500 years ago.

Shabbat Shalom!