SHAVUOS IN-A-BOX 2020/5780 CONTRIBUTORS RABBITZACHIDIAMOND RABBIMANUHASS MS. ADELELERNER RABBIYOSSISCHWARTZ RABBISIMONTAYLOR PRODUCTION RABBIDOVIDBASHEVKIN MRS. RINAEMERSON MRS. ALIZA (ENGLISH) EISENBACH RABBIARYEHWIELGUS WITHGRATITUDETOOURSPONSORSANDPARTNERSINTHISPROJECT: LANDERCOLLEGEDIVISIONSOFTOUROCOLLEGE WWW.TOURO.EDU SHIRAANDJEFFHOCHBERG MIRIAMANDCHAIMWIELGUS לע"נ אליהו בן יבלח"ט מרדכי הלוי NCSY is the international youth movement of the OU. WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF TEN “We hate math, say 4 in 10 — a majority of Americans” If this headline didn’t make you scratch your head, you’re probably one of the four who hate math. But while terms like Gödel's Incompleteness eorem may make you slightly nauseous, numbers and their deeper meaning are crucial to understanding many areas of Judaism. Remember the Passover song: “Who Knows One”? If you thought it was just a lullaby, you may have had a little too much to drink. In the Torah, numbers are not merely a measure of quantity, they also give a glimpse into the underlying spiritual concepts. For example, if you’ve ever wondered why there were specifically 3 forefathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), it might help to consider the fact that a table needs at least 3 legs in order to remain standing. is truth reflects the inner quality of the number 3 which is balance and permanence, and therefore there are specifically 3 individuals who are the “pillars” of our tradition. So too every other number in the Torah is specific and conveys a particular concept. e number that is the basis of the Jewish number system is the number 10. We are taught that the world was created through 10 utterances of God; Abraham (the first Jew) needed to overcome a series of 10 tests in order to become the founder of the Jewish nation; the greatest enemy of the Jewish people - the ancient Egyptians - were crushed through the 10 plagues; and of course, we are introduced to God with the 10 Commandments. It would take at least 10 pages to even begin explaining the significance and deeper meaning of the number 10, but we will suffice with these 10+ words: 10 represents a group of individual parts that unify into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. at’s why 10 has a 1 - which signifies unity - in it. is explains why there are 10 utterances of creation. e world which seems to be made up of so many pieces and details actually has a deeper meaning and purpose that unifies all of its seemingly disparate parts. Can you figure out how the other examples of the number 10 reflect this idea? Can you think of any other 10s in Judaism that fit with this concept? THE CONVERSATIONS e Hebrew word dibra is usually translated as “commandments” but literally means “to converse”. ese are the top 10 ways we can develop our conversation and relationship with G-d: 1. I am the Lord your G-d, who 6. Don’t murder brought you out of the land of Egypt, Not only can I be found in your soul, I can out of the house of slavery also be found in the soul of every human. Hi! I am your God. I personally took you out Respect his or her life like it is Mine, because of Egypt where you were entrenched in moral it is. decay. I will always be there for you and no matter how hard you’ve fallen I will always be 7. Don’t commit adultery there to personally pick you up. Honor your relationships and those of others. e only way you can enjoy our relationship is 2. Do not have any other gods before if you recognize the beauty of human ones. Me Don’t be blinded by the various forces and 8. Don’t steal powers through which I run the world. I want Every single thing in your life was tailored to have a personal relationship with you, not made by Me for you. Don’t try to get what I through any emissaries or messengers. didn’t already give you because there is nothing else that can add to your inherent value. 3. Don’t take the name of G-d in vain In order to make it super easy for us to 9. Don’t bear false witness connect, I put Myself in your soul. Make sure Honesty is My middle name. It is the you don’t waste the opportunity for greatness foundation of any relationship, especially with that this affords you. Me. 4. Remember the day of Shabbat and 10. Don’t covet make it holy I love you the way you are. Don’t even want I would like to spend some time with you each what others have, as it is unnecessary for me to week. It’s like a date night. I look forward to it be interested in you. as much as you do. 5. Honor your father and mother e best way to relate to Me is through your relationship with your parents. When you honor them you are honoring all those that created and love you, including Me. FIVE FIVE TEN e 10 commandments were engraved on two stone tablets in sets of five. e first five commands are focusing on the relationship between man and his creator known as bein adam l’makom and the second five focus on the relationships between man and fellow man known as bein adam l’chaveiro. In Judaism we believe that we need to constantly be working on these two types of relationships and that they should both enhance the other. Although the 10 commandments begin with the commandments between man and God, seemingly giving them more importance we need to look a little deeper. Take a look at this image below and at closer inspection you will notice something very strange. What’s more strange is that this inaccurate image is used in synagogues all over the world. e real set of 10 commandments contained all the words of the commandments rather than the set we have become accustomed to with many words missing. e first five commandments contain many more words than the second five and therefore were engraved in a much smaller font. When Moses came down the mountain holding the two tablets the Jewish people were first able to read the commandments between man and man because of the larger font size. e fact that the laws between man and man were seen first and were in such large font teaches us an important lesson. Not even pursuing a relationship with God Himself should come at the expense of another person's wellbeing. God wanted to make sure that the Jewish people would keep the correct perspective and understand that the possibility of connecting to the creator of the universe should only enhance one’s relationship with others and never harm it. On Shavuot, we celebrate the Jewish people receiving the Ten Commandments. It was a huge deal! G-d put on a special light show, with thunder and lightning, and Moshe came down from Mount Sinai holding the Tablets. But wait! ose tablets aren’t the ones that the Jewish people ended up with! Why not? After Shavuot, Moshe went back up the mountain to keep learning Torah from G-d. In that time, the Jewish people felt, more than ever, their disconnection from the lofty beings they had become when G-d appeared to them on Shavuot. ey had become like angels, temporarily immortal, perfect in every way. But when Moshe left, their humanity hit them – hard. Even though they had just been closer to G-d than anyone in history, the distance between them just seemed too big. A few weeks ago, they were slaves in Egypt, being tortured by their human masters, and now they were supposed to speak to G-d directly? To have a close bond with the Creator of the Universe? Being so close to G-d made the Jews feel imperfect, unworthy of connecting to G-d without someone else or something else creating the connection. So, they did what they had seen their Egyptian taskmasters do: they built an idol and worshiped it. In that moment, Moshe smashed the first set of tablets, essentially ripping up the Jewish people’s first contract with G-d that detailed their path to perfection, like angels. G-d commissioned Moshe to make a new set of tablets. It was different, more human than the first, with room for growth, failure and mistakes. It wasn’t like the first set, which was miraculous, and reminded the Jews of the angel-like state they had achieved. Instead, it was made of materials they were used to, fashioned by human hands that fused together the perfect Divine commands with imperfect human effort. And with that, G-d invited the Jewish people to partner with him to take the Tablets and use them as a springboard for the greatest fusion of heaven and earth: the Torah as we know it today. And what about the old tablets? eir broken pieces were kept in the Holy of Holies in the the holy Ark along with the new tablets, to show that G-d wants a relationship with us even in our broken moments, and to remind us of the importance of growing, breaking and rebuilding to higher heights. Both sets of tablets were created out of sapphire. G-d Himself created the first tablets which had letters carved completely through the stone and could be miraculously read from both sides. Some !had their stone centers floating in mid-air ,ם and ס letters, like Moshe himself made the second tablets with G-d’s guidance, and instead of carving, he wrote the letters onto them like ink on paper.