alt.education

Darrell Stec wrote:

>:|
>:|And who the hell is Jim McMeans and why have you screwed around with the
>:|sequence of the attributes and nesting of this thread?


Some information on the 10 Commandments from a Jewish perspective
Message #12366 of 12374
[posted by Jim McMeans]

The following information is from the Judaism 101 website.
and contains a Jewish perspective on the 10 Commandments controversy.

One of the important points in the article is that the word
"commandments" is not really an accurate translation of the original
Hebrew word. This leads to misunderstandings as to the number of
commandments and other matters. The article also explains that what
Christians call the 10 Commandments are not any more important than
the rest of God's commandments as given in the Torah.

My understanding is that the concept of the "importance" of the Ten
Commandments is more of a relatively recent creation by various
Christians such as John Calvin and other early reformationists.

In attempting to establish the necessity of a State-Church and Church-
State, and not finding any authority for such a course of action in
the New Testament, they cherry pick from the Old Testament as need be
to attempt to implement their designs.

Jim McMeans


http://www.jewfaq.org/10.htm

Aseret ha-Dibrot:
The "Ten Commandments"

Level: Intermediate
Aseret ha-Dibrot (in Hebrew)

According to Jewish tradition, G-d gave the Jewish people 613 mitzvot
(commandments). All 613 of those mitzvot are equally sacred, equally
binding and equally the word of G-d. All of these mitzvot are treated
as equally important, because human beings, with our limited
understanding of the universe, have no way of knowing which mitzvot
are more important in the eyes of the Creator. Pirkei Avot, a book of
the Mishnah, teaches "Be as meticulous in performing a 'minor' mitzvah
as you are with a 'major' one, because you don't know what kind of
reward you'll get for various mitzvot." It also says, "Run after the
most 'minor' mitzvah as you would after the most 'important' and flee
from transgression, because doing one mitzvah draws you into doing
another, and doing one transgression draws you into doing another, and
because the reward for a mitzvah is a mitzvah and the punishment for a
transgression is a transgression." In other words, every mitzvah is
important, because even the most seemingly trivial mitzvot draw you
into a pattern of leading your life in accordance with the Creator's
wishes, rather than in accordance with your own.

But what about the so-called "Ten Commandments," the words recorded in
Exodus 20, the words that the Creator Himself wrote on the two stone
tablets that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai (Ex. 31:18), which
Moses smashed upon seeing the idolatry of the golden calf (Ex. 32:19)?
In the Torah, these words are never referred to as the Ten
Commandments. In the Torah, they are called Aseret ha-D'varim (Ex.
34:28, Deut. 4:13 and Deut. 10:4). In rabbinical texts, they are
referred to as Aseret ha-Dibrot. The words d'varim and dibrot come
from the Hebrew root Dalet-Beit-Reish, meaning word, speak or thing;
thus, the phrase is accurately translated as the Ten Sayings, the Ten
Statements, the Ten Declarations, the Ten Words or even the Ten
Things, but not as the Ten Commandments, which would be Aseret ha-Mitzvot.

The Aseret ha-Dibrot are not understood as individual mitzvot; rather,
they are categories or classifications of mitzvot. Each of the 613
mitzvot can be subsumed under one of these ten categories, some in
more obvious ways than others. For example, the mitzvah not to work on
Shabbat rather obviously falls within the category of remembering the
Sabbath day and keeping it holy. The mitzvah to fast on Yom Kippur
fits into that category somewhat less obviously: all holidays are in
some sense a Sabbath, and the category encompasses any mitzvah related
to sacred time. The mitzvah not to stand aside while a person's life
is in danger fits somewhat obviously into the category against murder.
It is not particularly obvious, however, that the mitzvah not to
embarrass a person fits within the category against murder: it causes
the blood to drain from your face thereby shedding blood.
List of the Aseret ha-Dibrot

According to Judaism, the Aseret ha-Dibrot identify the following ten
categories of mitzvot. Other religions divide this passage
differently. See The "Ten Commandments" Controversy below. Please
remember that these are categories of the 613 mitzvot, which according
to Jewish tradition are binding only upon Jews. The only mitzvot
binding upon gentiles are the seven Noahic commandments.

1. Belief in G-d
This category is derived from the declaration in Ex. 20:2
beginning, "I am the L-rd, your G-d..."
2. Prohibition of Improper Worship
This category is derived from Ex. 20:3-6, beginning, "You shall
not have other gods..." It encompasses within it the prohibition
against the worship of other gods as well as the prohibition of
improper forms of worship of the one true G-d, such as worshiping G-d
through an idol.
3. Prohibition of Oaths
This category is derived from Ex. 20:7, beginning, "You shall not
take the name of the L-rd your G-d in vain..." This includes
prohibitions against perjury, breaking or delaying the performance of
vows or promises, and speaking G-d's name or swearing unnecessarily.
4. Observance of Sacred Times
This category is derived from Ex. 20:8-11, beginning, "Remember
the Sabbath day..." It encompasses all mitzvot related to Shabbat,
holidays, or other sacred time.
5. Respect for Parents and Teachers
This category is derived from Ex. 20:12, beginning, "Honor your
father and mother..."
6. Prohibition of Physically Harming a Person
This category is derived from Ex. 20:13, saying, "You shall not
murder."
7. Prohibition of Sexual Immorality
This category is derived from Ex. 20:13, saying, "You shall not
commit adultery."
8. Prohibition of Theft
This category is derived from Ex. 20:13, saying, "You shall not
steal." It includes within it both outright robbery as well as various
forms of theft by deception and unethical business practices. It also
includes kidnapping, which is essentially "stealing" a person.
9. Prohibition of Harming a Person through Speech
This category is derived from Ex. 20:13, saying, "You shall not
bear false witness against your neighbor." It includes all forms of
lashon ha-ra (sins relating to speech).
10. Prohibition of Coveting
This category is derived from Ex. 20:14, beginning, "You shall not
covet your neighbor's house..."

The Two Tablets: Duties to G-d and Duties to People

Judaism teaches that the first tablet, containing the first five
declarations, identifies duties regarding our relationship with G-d,
while the second tablet, containing the last five declarations,
identifies duties regarding our relationship with other people.

You may have noticed, however, that the fifth category, which is
included in the first tablet, is the category to honor father and
mother, which would seem to concern relationships between people. The
rabbis teach that our parents are our creators and stand in a
relationship to us akin to our relationship to the Divine. Throughout
Jewish liturgy, the Creator is referred to as Avinu Malkeinu, our
Father, our King. Disrespect to our biological creators is not merely
an affront to them; it is also an insult to the Creator of the
Universe. Accordingly, honor of father and mother is included on the
tablet of duties to G-d.

These two tablets are parallel and equal: duties to G-d are not more
important than duties to people, nor are duties to people more
important than duties to G-d. However, if one must choose between
fulfilling an obligation to G-d and fulfilling an obligation to a
person, of if one must prioritize them, Judaism teaches that the
obligation to a person should be fulfilled first. This principle is
supported by the story in Genesis 18, where Abraham is communing with
G-d and interrupts this meeting to fulfill the mitzvah of providing
hospitality to strangers (the three men who appear). The Talmud gives
another example, disapproving of a man who, engrossed in prayer, would
ignore the cries of a drowning man. When forced to choose between our
duties to a person and our duties to G-d, we must pursue our duties to
the person, because the person needs our help, but G-d does not need
our help.
The "Ten Commandments" Controversy

In the United States, a controversy has persisted for many years
regarding the placement of the "Ten Commandments" in public schools
and public buildings. But one critical question seems to have escaped
most of the public dialog on the subject: Whose "Ten Commandments"
should we post?

The general perception in this country is that the "Ten Commandments"
are part of the common religious heritage of Judaism, Catholicism and
Protestantism, part of the sacred scriptures that we all share, and
should not be controversial. But most people involved in the debate
seem to have missed the fact that these three religions divide up the
commandments in different ways! Judaism, unlike Catholicism and
Protestantism, considers "I am the L-rd, your G-d" to be the first
"commandment." Catholicism, unlike Judaism and Protestantism,
considers coveting property to be separate from coveting a spouse.
Protestantism, unlike Judaism and Catholicism, considers the
prohibition against idolatry to be separate from the prohibition
against worshipping other gods. No two religions agree on a single
list. So whose list should we post?

And once we decide on a list, what translation should we post? Should
Judaism's sixth declaration be rendered as "Thou shalt not kill" as in
the popular KJV translation, or as "Thou shalt not murder," which is a
bit closer to the connotations of the original Hebrew though still not
entirely accurate?

These may seem like trivial differences to some, but they are serious
issues to those of us who take these words seriously. When a
government agency chooses one version over another, it implicitly
chooses one religion over another, something that the First Amendment
prohibits. This is the heart of the controversy.

But there is an additional aspect of this controversy that is of
concern from a Jewish perspective. In Talmudic times, the rabbis
consciously made a decision to exclude daily recitation of the Aseret
ha-Dibrot from the liturgy because excessive emphasis on these
statements might lead people to mistakenly believe that these were the
only mitzvot or the most important mitzvot, and neglect the other 603
(Talmud Berakhot 12a). By posting these words prominently and
referring to them as "The Ten Commandments," (as if there weren't any
others, which is what many people think) schools and public buildings
may be teaching a message that Judaism specifically and consciously
rejected.

***************************************************************
You are invited to check out the following:

The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm

American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm

The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html

[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]

HRSepCnS · Historical Reality SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/

***************************************************************
. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
. . .
****************************************************************
USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote

"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"

That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.

It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.

*****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
****************************************************************