What is the Eleventh Commandment? This week, our Torah portion gives us the second iteration of the famous Ten Commandments, and though many of us may struggle to get them exactly right and in their precise order, we pretty much get the gist of what's in them. But if you had to add one more, what would it be? A lot of jokes have been made around this concept, like the infamous "Thou Shalt Not Get Caught," which has various attributions. It's also been used in political speech, like Ronald Reagan's famous version of the 11th Commandment, "Thou Shalt Not Speak Ill of Any Fellow Republican." The idea of adding one more to the famous Ten is that something is a value to ME, and to my community, and it's almost as important as the ten most significant principles in life. So what might YOU add?
I think it's also interesting to note, in the context of this conversation, what is NOT included in the Aseret Ha-Dibrot, the Ten Commandments. Nothing is said of keeping Kosher, for instance, which might seem surprising, and most Jews (and Catholics) would probably be shocked to learn that guilt is not explicitly commanded! Another big one for me is Israel, or some talk of a relationship to the Holy Land. None of the Big Ten talk about land, or even any laws pertaining to maintenance of the farmland, produce, animals, or anything along those lines. I'm certain that some people today would offer "dwelling in the Land of Israel" as a good candidate for 11th Commandment. Though, of course, that would be a little awkward for all of us Diaspora Jews who live elsewhere around the world, wouldn't it?
For me, at least, making aliyah and moving to Israel is not an option. I'm a proud Diaspora-nik. And yet, I still might want some mention of Israel to make its way into the top commandments; number eleven, if not into the main Decalogue itself. Because Israel is SUCH an integral part of what makes us Jews. We face Jerusalem in prayer; we express a longing to go there at the end of our Pesach Seder and our Yom Kippur services; and so much of our history, culture, legal code, theology, and identity is rooted in its soil. But it is also true that Israel is not entirely absent from this section of our Torah reading. Just a few, short verses after the Ten Commandments are spoken, God says: "I will speak to you the commandments, statutes, and rules which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I am giving them to possess" (Deut. 5:31). So perhaps Israel is not the "what" of the commandments, but the "where." It is the place in which to make the mitzvot come alive for our people.
This week, I'm traveling to Israel with a group of Ohevites. I'm not even sure how many times I've been to Israel at this point, well over a dozen, including two separate instances of living there for a year. I'm not going to make aliyah, but I can't even imagine understanding the past, present, and future of Judaism without connecting it to our Homeland? It may not be one of the Ten Commandments, and it may not even be the Eleventh, but I think Israel provides us with the context for ALL of it. I love bringing people there to experience it for the first time, or perhaps for the first time in decades. I look forward to sharing with you here some of the highlights from this trip, and perhaps to inspire you to come see it for yourself. What does Israel mean for you? Is it a commandment, a vehicle for observing the commandments, unrelated to the commandments, or perhaps even a violation of them?? However we relate to Israel, it is a part of who we are. I am so thankful for yet another opportunity to go there, and can't wait to write to you again from the Holy Land!
L'Shavua Ha-bah b'Yerushalayim - Next WEEK in Jerusalem!!
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