Our Sages reflect on why this portion is named Yitro,
considering that in it the Ten Commandments were presented along with the Torah to
the children of Israel.
“Now Moses' father in law, Yitro,
the priest of Midian, heard all that God had done for Moses and for
Israel, His people that the Lord had taken Israel out of Egypt.” (18:1)
They point out among other things that the Torah
had to be given to Israel and the converts who joined them, including Yitro,
who said,
“Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the
deities, for with the thing that they plotted [Pharaoh and the Egyptians], [the
Lord came] upon them.” (18:11)
In this context, Yitro is considered the epitome
of the idolatrous consciousness who later recognized the Oneness of God.
“In the third month of the children of Israel's departure from
Egypt, on this day they arrived in the desert of Sinai.” (19:1)
Our Sages explain that
seven weeks had to pass before the giving of the Torah, as a period of
self-purification in which the children of Israel refined and redirected all
aspects, levels and dimension of consciousness that were subjugated under the
dominion of Pharaoh (ego) and the bondage in Egypt (attachment to lower
passions and instincts).
After this self-refinement,
the most transcendental event in Jewish history and consciousness took place:
the embrace between the Creator and His Chosen People in which the Torah
establishes that connection, the Oneness with Him.
“I am the Lord, your God,
who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” (20:2)
This is one of the foremost
and fundamental statements in which Judaism recognizes and acknowledges that
only the Creator is, and His Creation exists because of Him and
it is sustained only by Him; therefore He is our God.
We also must comprehend this statement in the context that it is written,
meaning that He is the One who takes us from the bondage in the land of ego and
its illusions to bring us to His reality, which is the
only true reality.
The second as well as the
remaining Ten Commandments are obvious implications of the first.
“You shall not have the
gods of others in My presence. You shall not make for yourself a
graven image or any likeness which is in the Heavens above, which is on the
Earth below, or which is in the water beneath the earth. You shall neither
prostrate yourself before them nor worship them, because I, the Lord your God,
am a zealous God who visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the
third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, and perform loving
kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and to those who keep My
Commandments.” (20:2-5)
The Creator is our One and
only reality that we have to know through His Torah and Commandments. As we
have mentioned before, He is a zealous God because His Love does not cohabit
with anything different than His ways and attributes. This again is reminded.
“You shall not make [images
of anything] with Me. Gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for
yourselves.” (20:19)
Hence we must not create
any individual or collective fantasies and illusions for ourselves based
on ego’s materialistic desires.
“You shall not take the Name
of the Lord, your God, in vain, because the Lord will not hold blameless anyone
who takes His Name in vain.” (20:6)
How can we afford the
luxury of tampering or transgressing the Essence that is the Name with which we
are created and sustained? We are responsible for the life we were
given and for the Love of God that conceived it along with all His
Creation.
“Remember the Shabbat day to
sanctify it. Six days may you work and perform all your labor, but the seventh
day is a Shabbat to the Lord, your God; you shall perform no labor, neither
you, your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your beast,
nor your stranger who is in your cities. Because [in] six days the Lord made
the Heavens and the Earth, the sea and all that is in them, and He rested on
the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Shabbat day and sanctified
it.” (20:7-10)
We have mentioned in
previous commentaries that God, the Shabbat, the Torah and Israel are One.
Hence as co-creators with God we must emulate His ways and attributes,
including working six days by being and doing His Commandments in order to
prepare our way to be in His Presence and Oneness that is this special Day of
Rest.
“Honor your father and your
mother, in order that your days be lengthened on the land that the Lord, your
God, is giving you.” (20:11)
Again, life is reminded to
be honored and respected through the ones who give it. Our mystic Sages teach that father and mother represent wisdom and understanding, and we as their offspring represent knowledge as the synthesis of both.
In this context our parents also represent the tradition, legacy and heritage
we received from our ancestors and forefathers. Therefore we have to honor
them.
This Commandment is clearly
related to our life within the Land that God has given us which
includes not only our history but our unification with Him.
“You shall not murder. You
shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false
witness against your neighbor.” (20:12)
Our Sages explain that
the first five Commandments are linked to our relationship with God and the
remaining five to the relationship with our fellow man. This points out
that indeed all of them are related to the Creator because we are His image and
likeness. Murder negates life that is given and sustained by God’s Love as His
manifest reality.
Adultery is one of the many forms of idolatry with which one rather lives in his/her own individual illusion than the one true reality that is God’s Love. Stealing falls into the same category in which the feeling of lack leads one to take what is not his/hers.
As we have said often, feeling lack is the manifestation of our separation of the Oneness that God's Love is, and it is equalized to taking His Name in vain. We must be responsible to be permanently aware of our constant connection with the Creator as an individual and collective awareness. That includes living in this Truth for ourselves and others, not allowing negative thoughts that make us fall into ego’s fantasies and illusions which may lead us to bear false statements against our fellow man.
Again we are reminded to be eternally zealous and vigilant of our connection with the Creator and not allowing any thought, emotion or feeling of lack.
“You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or whatever belongs to your neighbor.” (20:13)
In our awareness of God’s Love we are provided in order to live in His ways and attributes, as it is written in this portion and reiterated countless times in the Torah.
“But Moses said to the people, ‘Fear not, because God has come in order to exalt you, and in order that His awe shall be upon your faces, so that you shall not sin’.” (20:16)
Thus we realize that “sin” is the choice that we make instead of living in Love’s ways and attributes. Love is goodness and we emanate from by God’s Love with the goodness of His blessings.
“(…) wherever I allow My Name to be mentioned, I will come to you and bless you.” (20:20)
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