Think & Reflect:
Shavuot begins on Saturday night, June 4th and continues through Monday, June 6th. It is a important and meaningful holiday but we tend to think about all night learning (sounds great to some) and eating dairy foods (ice cream and cheesecake are always favorites). But the story of the experience of receiving the Torah in the book of Exodus continues with midrashim and commentaries that describe what it felt like.
My favorite midrash is the one that tells that the people stood beneath the mountain as G-d spoke. The rabbis say that G-d lifted the mountain above them and basically asked if they wanted to follow the rules. Of course, the people said to put down the mountain and they will do whatever they should do. Why is this so important? The Israelites who had just escaped slavery celebrated their freedom and then took on more rules. We know that we must have rules for our world to exist but often we only follow those rules with threat of punishment (a mountain held above us)!!
Questions to Ponder
Dennis Prager in his little book “The Ten Commandments” says, “The Ten Commandments are preoccupied with goodness. Each commandment is a moral tour de force. Together they present the most compelling plan every devised for a better life and good world.” Talk together about one or more (nice to do all 10) and share what each one tells us about making the world a better place
Do & Share
The Ten Commandments are often said to be divided in half – the first half about our relationship to G-d and the second half our relationship to people. For those who have a strong belief in G-d, in a higher authority, the first “side of the tablets” truly set the stage for the next side. For those who do not believe (or struggle to believe), those first ones make less sense. This may be a hard conversation but certainly one that will take to late into the night on Shavuot and may continue after the sun comes up!
A Challenge for a Week (or longer)
We have had a challenging few weeks as we have struggled with mass shootings. Would following commandment 6 have been a deterrent? Go to the commentaries and learn why the commandment is not “do not kill” but “do not murder”. The Bible recounts wars and killings – but murder is different. How can we become a moral world?
Laura Seymour | Camp Director Emeritus | Jewish Experiential Learning Director
Lseymour@jccdallas.org
