Dvar Torah - Yitro: The 10 Commandments - Which is the toughest commandment?

Parshat Yitro:  The Most Challenging of the 10 Commandments

Which is the most challenging of the 10 commandments?  Which one is the most difficult for us to do, or to refrain from doing? 

In the 1930 film version of Erich Maria Remarque’s classic book ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’, a story of World War 1, the conflict that started just over 100 years ago, the main character Paul Baumer the German soldier speaks to the lifeless form of his enemy whom he has shot down, “Oh, God! why did they do this to us? We only wanted to live, you and I. Why should they send us out to fight each other? If they threw away these rifles and these uniforms, you could be my brother, just like Kat and Albert.”

This sad, reflective statement about loss asks a compelling question, ‘Why were we sent to do a given task?’ 

We need not focus here on the fact that it is war and that officers command soldiers to act. 

Two issues here come forward:  First, why is it that we most often question what others instruct us to do when we must do things that are difficult or challenging? 

Second, by what authority does the commander send us into action, whatever the task may be?

These two questions help identify the most challenging of the 10 Commandments.  I believe it is the first commandment, the statement, “I the Lord am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt…”

It is a statement, an implied command, that according to Maimonides means that ‘We must believe in God’s existence, that there is a cause and a motivating force behind all that exists.’

Let’s examine the first commandment with the 2^nd question.

By what authority does God command, send us into action?  God explains that God brought us out of the land of Egypt, the house of slavery, here, in the words of the first commandment, God expects our loyalty in return for the gift of freedom.  We accept God’s authority as a way of showing our gratitude, as a way of showing that our faith in the One who liberated us that one time, will keep us free, will guide us, and help give our lives meaning as free people.

It is fortunate and welcome that God here does not prohibit us from asking questions, doubting, wondering about who God is and how God operates.  As long as we do not worship other gods, we are still the people of Ado-onai.

But it is not always easy to be loyal to an invisible commander.  It is not always logical how God functions in the world since many who follow God’s words suffer equally with those who are clearly and chronically wicked.

And now to the first question, one that applies in the realm of faith as much as in other human situations.  The mitzvot, the commandments, that are pleasing, that are understandable, that are fun – we tend not to challenge God on these.  When it comes to more challenging mitzvoth, mitzvoth without natural or logical explanation, mitzvoth that require huge amounts of energy and time, we take deep breaths, we sigh, we wonder if our strongest striving will enable us to see these through.

I am proposing an experiment for this Shabbat, for this coming week.  Let’s each choose one easier, more convenient or pleasant, mitzvah and one that is more challenging or time consuming.  Let’s try fulfilling the more challenging one without a second thought, with complete enthusiasm and no looking back, with no second guessing or questions.  And then let’s take the easier one and let’s pull it apart into all its philosophical and theological pieces, let’s challenge why we do it, and how we do it. 

The 10 Commandments are a gift that, as a whole, are not the core of our beliefs, they are a starting point, a beginning, an invitation into a relationship with God.  This week, let’s try the experiment in order to freshen up that relationship, to take a look at what we do as Jews in a way that goes against our instincts. 

In this way, we will re-enter that amazing moment when God speaks to all of us at once, and all of us individually, welcoming us into a journey through peace, and war, through love and conflict, through pain and prosperity, into the living and breathing present.

Shabbat Shalom.