דבר אל כל עדת...קדושים תהיו; after the presence of G’d had manifested itself among the Jewish people, sanctifying them for eternal life, as had been the meaning of the verse in Exodus 19,6 “you shall become for Me a nation of priests a holy nation,” and taking into consideration G’d’s statement in Leviticus 11,45 “I have led you out of the land of Egypt in order to be your G’d and your becoming holy,” G’d had in the meantime separated the Jewish people from impurity through the legislation concerning forbidden foods, skin eczemas, ritual impurity contracted through cohabitation with menstruant women, or women afflicted with excretions from their vaginas at times other than when they were experiencing menstruation. G’d had also elaborated on other ritual contaminations contracted through sinful contact. The objective of all these parts of Torah legislation was to establish a nation that could be described as “holy,” not least of it the legislation concerning incest. At this point, i.e. after achieving this “holiness,” i.e. emulating the Creator’s holiness in the maximum manner possible for creatures, the Torah spells out this objective by saying כי קדוש אני, “For I the Lord am holy;” the message is that the original intention in creating man in the image of G’d (Genesis 1,26) had already had as its declared goal for this “image” to become something constant. The Torah now proceeds to list laws which appeared on the first of the Two Tablets, whose objective it is to ensure enduring life for the Jewish people as we explained on Exodus 20,11.

The Torah now begins to explain in detail the commandment to honour father and mother, by writing that everyone is to relate with reverence to his mother and father respectively. These words teach that in addition to providing for aged and economically unstable parents with food, drink and clothing, the children (adults by then) must not look down on their parents who in the meantime have become economically dependent on their children. Our sages spelled this out in Kidushin 31 where they said: “sometimes someone feeds his father the most delicious and expensive dishes while the manner in which he does this contributes to the son’s losing his share in the hereafter, whereas on the other hand, a son could earn his share in the hereafter even by expecting his father to perform physically hard labour.” In the latter case, the son explains to the father lovingly why he cannot offer him luxuries but he treats him with love and concern and listens to his father’s words of advice. Having dealt with the implications of the fifth of the Ten Commandments, the Torah now turns to the fourth of the Ten Commandments, that of Sabbath observance, and writes:

ואת שבתותי תשמורו, words which do not only refer to the Sabbath of Creation, but to a variety of “Sabbath” legislations such as the “Sabbath” of the land known as sh’mittah, as well as the Sabbath of “money,” i.e. the demand for the lender to forego repayment of past due debts by the debtor at the end of the sh’mittah year. Al these types of “Sabbath” legislation are testimony to the fact that the Creator Who legislates such laws was the originator of the universe, hence His right to demand such obeisances from His creatures.

When the Torah now continues with the second of the Ten Commandments by warning us אל תפנו אל אלילים, the Torah elaborates that it is not only forbidden to make oneself such deities in order to worship them, etc., but that it is equally prohibited to display respect for such deities worshipped by other peoples as their gods. Nothing is to be done which would indicate that one invokes the supposed “power” of such deities to further one’s personal interest and concerns.

וכי תזבחו, at this point the Torah explains that when G’d issued the very first of the Ten Commandments with the words: “I am the Lord your G’d, etc.,” (20,2) this meant that the Israelites must accept Him as the exclusive divine power in the universe. They are to do so without reservation, just as they did during the song of thanksgiving for their miraculous salvation after crossing the sea with dry feet, when they sang (Exodus 15,2) זה א-לי ואנוהו, אלוקי אבי וארוממנהו, “this is My G’d and I will enshrine Him, the G’d of my forefather and I will exalt Him.” Not only must the Jewish people accept G’d’s dictates and carry them out, but they must be concerned with preserving His great name and not even in their thoughts do anything which would desecrate this great name of His.

ובקצרכם...לעני ולגר תעזוב אותם, The Torah now turns to how we can emulate G’d’s attributes in [practice after having accepted that it is our purpose on earth to emulate G’d’s characteristics to the extent that He has revealed them to us. We are to perform acts of charity and righteousness. Part of such acts of charity are the providing for the underprivileged out of the bounty G’d has seen fit to grant us. The specific items known as leket, shikchah, and peyah are examples of such demonstrations of our generosity towards the poor. אני ה' אלוקיכם, this recognition of G’d as our G’d is demonstrated by our meticulously fulfilling these commandments relating to the time when we gather in our harvest. Before we even give tithes of the completed harvest which has been brought into the barn we already allow for the poor to help themselves to what other, gentile farmers, might consider the product of their own hard earned labour.

After this the Torah explains various aspects of civil law some of which are addressed to the people at large, whereas others are addressed to the judiciary and the manner in which they deal with the people. Others again are addressed to the heads of the nation. Still others emphasise that individuals must not infringe on others’ property, hence לא תגנובו לא תכחשו ולא תשקרו, all damages involving financial property. Also,

לא תשבעו בשמי לשקר, revolves around felonious attempts to deny financial obligations one has entered into. וחללת את שם אלוקיך, by causing financial damage to your fellow man you would desecrate the holy name of the Lord your G’d.

At this point the Torah warns that one must not cause distress to one’s fellow man by undermining his dignity, his self image and the image he enjoys among his peers. Example are: לא תקלל חרש, this is a damage that the deaf person does not even become aware of. Next, the Torah discusses tangible damages, such as

לפני עור לא תתן מכשול, indirect damages, for who knows if the blind will trip over the obstacle? The one causing even indirect damage is held responsible by the Torah. [this is presumably in the realm of heavenly judgment, seeing that the Talmud feels that people, as opposed to animals, who have eyes in their head, should watch out for obstacles in their path. Ed.]

Now the Torah addresses the judges who are charged with dispensing fair judgment. לא תעשו עול במשפט, a warning not to relate sternly to one litigant while being lenient towards his opponent. Do not allow one litigant to sit down while his opponent is required to remain standing upright. This is followed by admonitions applicable to different levels of leadership in the people and the spirit of jealousy which often prevails between competing layers of the bureaucracy. Examples are: Doeg badmouthing David so as to gain favour with the king. (Samuel I 22,9) From such admonitions it is only a small step to warn against badmouthing people generally, especially when it even involves slander. The sin of slandering is considered so serious by the prophet Ezekiel that he describes it as being equal to bloodshed (Ezekiel 22,9)

There follows a general, all inclusive rule to be observed in relations towards one’s fellow, phrased as ואהבת לרעך כמוך, telling us to apply the same yardstick to our concern for our fellow that we would want applied to ourselves if we were in his shoes in similar situations.

One of the foremost ways in which to demonstrate our fear/reverence of the Lord is not by observing commandments which we find reasonable and useful, but by observing those commandments which we fail to understand, or worse, which run counter too what our intelligence dictates to our mind as being useful. Hence the Torah urges: את חוקותי תשמורו, you must make a special point of meticulously observing G’d’s statutes. The motivation for doing so must not be merely fear of punishment, but blanket recognition that “Father knows best,” that the fact it was G’d Who legislated these statutes proves that they are intelligent and beneficial for us even if we fail to understand this. It is interesting that the Torah enumerates examples of such chukkim in areas which have nothing to do with “religion” as such, but with the most mundane of our activities. Examples are: the efforts to produce better strains of domesticated animals, better strains of agricultural products, etc. In each of these situations, even though scientific research may lead us to conclusions other than the ones indicated by the Torah, we must ignore such results of our own research. [I am updating the wording of the author to make them more relevant to our century. Ed.] Clearly, He Who created this universe would not legislate something that would endanger its existence. What applies in the field of agriculture, our economic base, applies equally in the sexual mores we are to observe [including such matters as “cloning” Ed.] as well as our foods, [maybe outlawing certain kinds of additives, in addition to such matters as mixing milk and meat. Ed.] Even in such apparently unrelated matters as trying to divine the future, the Torah is on record with a variety of statutes limiting our methods of enquiry. All of these laws, of course, come under the heading of chukkim, statutes.

It is a fact that most of the statutes listed appear to forbid only things which appear opposed to what we are familiar with as “laws of nature.” The prominent exception to this is the legislation involving the שפחה הנחרפת לאיש. Surely, the fact that the male partner does not become subject to the penalty of 39 strokes whereas the female partner does, appears hard to understand and to reconcile with what logic dictates. Furthermore, the fact that the male partner in the sin is required to offer a guilt offering, איל אשם, although he committed the sin knowingly, seems completely at variance with what we know about the function of such offerings. Nonetheless, the Torah herself provides a partial answer to this unusual legislation by writing כי לא חופשה, his sin is viewed as somewhat less serious seeing that she had not been legally capable of entering a binding marriage, the requisite financial token signifying her betrothal to the man being legally meaningless as she could not “own” anything, still being enslaved to one of her former masters. His principal sin consists of desecrating the institution of marriage, a Divine institution, hence a desecration of G’d’s name when ignored. Engaging in sexual intercourse with a woman who is still partially a slave is a form of practicing promiscuity. [my words. Ed.] The scenario described by the Torah denigrates in the first instance the dignity of the active partner, the male, not that of the passive partner the female. It is most likely, that she, the “passive” partner had seduced him and is therefore deserving of the penalty decreed for her by the Torah. The deliberate nature of the sin, as far as the male is concerned, is the fact that he knowingly demeaned himself. This makes it akin to an inadvertent sin, qualifying for the guilt offering decreed.

לא תאכלו על הדם לא תנחשו ולא תעננו, all of these practices were commonplace also among the Israelites who were desperate to gain advance knowledge of what was in store for them individually. Such practices had to be eradicated if the people were to progress from an overall environment of spiritual morass, רוח טומאה, to spiritual bliss, רוח טהרה ונבואה, spiritual purity and prophetic spirit.

Seeing that it is part of revering the Lord and honouring Him not to desecrate our own bodies which He sanctified to enable us to serve Him, the Torah begins with a list of prohibitions designed to emphasise this point. לא תקיפו, we must not desecrate our heads by removing its hair as is the custom of gentile clergy or fools and drunkards. Neither are we to shave off the beard which represents man’s dignity, הדרת פנים שלו, “Shabbat 152. Neither are we to make incisions on our skin, something that is customary amongst pagans as an expression of their grief for family members who have died. Excessive mourning of this kind could be interpreted as questioning G’d Who allowed the departed to die. The same applies to a well known method of tattooing one’s skin with indelible ink below the skin, a permanent defacing of one’s body, described as כתובת קעקע. The only “improvements” to our G’d given body we are to make is the sign of the covenant, i.e. the removal of the foreskin of our males. Allowing or encouraging one’s unmarried daughter to devote her life to one of harlotry is a major desecration of one’s purpose on earth. Not only does the daughter desecrate the name of G’d by doing so, but she also desecrates the image of her father and all that he stands for. The death penalty by burning is decreed for such conduct under certain conditions in Leviticus 21,9.

את שבתותי תשמורו, After the Torah warned concerning a number of practices that constitute a desecration, it now proceeds to legislate days and places and people who are sacred in varying degrees. This begins with את שבתותי תשמורו, to preserve the sanctity of the Sabbath days, a sanctity bestowed on the Sabbath by G’d Himself, and including all holy convocations, מקראי קדש, whose dates have been confirmed by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court.

ומקדשי תיראו, a warning to treat all holy sites with awe and reverence. This includes synagogues and all places dedicated to the service of the Lord, especially, the ones used for such activities by the public.

Seeing that the seeking out of oracles such as the ov or yidoni for the gentiles is something akin to enquiring about their fate from G’d, and it involves instead of consulting the living G’d consulting the dead or their remains, the Torah prohibits this in the strongest terms saying אל תפנו אל האובות, meaning not only must you not turn toward them, but you must turn your back on them and on any other phenomena similar to them. The Torah does not need to add that no respect or deference must be shown to such phenomena.

אל תבקשו לטמאה בהם, do not search them out as they would confer spiritual contamination on you. However, the Talmud did permit us to study the manner in which these phenomena are being used when the objective is merely to understand the phenomenon, not to make use of it. [based on Deuteronomy 18,9 as interpreted in Shabbat 75. Ed.]

מפני שיבה תקום, while it is in order to show respect and deference to someone whose experience in life is based on his age, this does not compare to the respect and deference that we must show to

פני זקן, the elder who has achieved his rank in society due to his Torah knowledge, his constant striving to become more closely attached to G’d. (compare Kidushin 32.)

After the Torah warned that the Torah scholars, etc., must be shown due respect, it also warns us not to treat with disdain people who are on the lower rung of the economic ladder. וכי יגור אתך גר לא תונו אותו, even if this unfair treatment consists only of words, not deeds. The Torah continues,

לא תעשו עול במשפט במדה במשקל ובמשורה, seeing that the term אונאה, unfair dealings, also includes unfair business practices, the Torah issues a general prohibition concerning this addressed both to the locally born Jew and the recent convert, or stranger. The words used include measures for measuring liquids, dry matters, as well as the use of deceptive weights.

ושמרתם את כל חקותי ואת כל משפטי, study them so that you will become aware of how fair they are.

ועשיתם אותם, through your study of both My statutes and My social legislation you will become impressed with their worth so that you will observe them and carry them out as a result of having gained greater insight of their meaning.

'אני ה; the Torah means to remind us that observance of G’d’s laws must be because they are G’d’s laws, i.e. we must not add or detract from the details of these laws in the mistaken belief that we would improve them by our additions or subtractions. Seeing G’d Himself is surely perfect, how could His legislation be any less than perfect?