Parshas Yisro - The Ten Commandments: A Pangrammatic Lipogram

Parshas Yisro

The Ten Commandments: A Pangrammatic Lipogram

By: Daniel Listhaus

וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹקים אֵת כָּל הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה לֵאמֹר: אָנֹכִי ה' אֱלֹקיךָ אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים: לֹא יִהְיֶה לְךָ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים עַל פָּנַי: לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה לְּךָ פֶסֶל | וְכָל תְּמוּנָה אֲשֶׁר בַּשָּׁמַיִם | מִמַּעַל וַאֲשֶׁר בָּאָרֶץ מִתַּחַת וַאֲשֶׁר בַּמַּיִם | מִתַּחַת לָאָרֶץ: לֹא תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה לָהֶם וְלֹא תָעָבְדֵם כִּי אָנֹכִי ה' אֱלֹקיךָ אֵל קַנָּא פֹּקֵד עֲוֹן אָבוֹת עַל בָּנִים עַל שִׁלֵּשִׁים וְעַל רִבֵּעִים לְשׂנְאָי: וְעֹשֶׂה חֶסֶד לַאֲלָפִים לְאֹהֲבַי וּלְשֹׁמְרֵי מִצְוֹתָי: לֹא תִשָּׂא אֶת שֵׁם ה' אֱלֹקיךָ לַשָּׁוְא כִּי לֹא יְנַקֶּה ה' אֵת אֲשֶׁר יִשָּׂא אֶת שְׁמוֹ לַשָּׁוְא: זָכוֹר אֶת יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת לְקַדְּשׁוֹ: שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תַּעֲבֹד וְעָשִׂיתָ כָל מְלַאכְתֶּךָ: וְיוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי שַׁבָּת | לַה' אֱלֹקיךָ לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה כָל מְלָאכָה אַתָּה | וּבִנְךָ וּבִתֶּךָ עַבְדְּךָ וַאֲמָתְךָ וּבְהֶמְתֶּךָ וְגֵרְךָ אֲשֶׁר בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ: כִּי שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים עָשָׂה ה' אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת הָאָרֶץ אֶת הַיָּם וְאֶת כָּל אֲשֶׁר בָּם וַיָּנַח בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי עַל כֵּן בֵּרַךְ ה' אֶת יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת וַיְקַדְּשֵׁהוּ: כַּבֵּד אֶת אָבִיךָ וְאֶת אִמֶּךָ לְמַעַן יַאֲרִכוּן יָמֶיךָ עַל הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר ה' אֱלֹקיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ: לֹא תִּרְצָח: ס לֹא תִּנְאָף: ס לֹא תִּגְנֹב: ס לֹא תַעֲנֶה בְרֵעֲךָ עֵד שָׁקֶר: לֹא תַחְמֹד בֵּית רֵעֶך ס לֹא תַחְמֹד אֵשֶׁת רֵעֶךָ וְעַבְדּוֹ וַאֲמָתוֹ וְשׁוֹרוֹ וַחֲמֹרוֹ וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר לְרֵעֶךָ

“Hashem spoke all these words, to say: 'I am Hashem, your G-d who took you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves. There shall not be unto you the gods of others before Me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image or any picture of that which is in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the water beneath the earth. You shall not prostrate yourself to them nor worship them, for I am Hashem, your G-d – a zealous G-d, Who visits the sin of fathers upon their children, upon the third and upon the fourth [generations], for thousands for those who hate Me; but Who does kindness for thousands [of generations], for those who love Me and observe My commandments. You shall not take the Name of Hashem, your G-d, in vain, for Hashem will not absolve anyone who takes His Name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it. Six days shall you work and do all your work; but the seventh day is Shabbos to Hashem, your G-d; you shall not do any work – you and your son and your daughter, your slave and your maidservant and your animal, and your convert within your gates – fir in six days Hashem made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, Hashem blessed the Shabbos day and sanctified it. Honor your father and mother, so that your days will be lengthened upon the land that Hashem, your G-d, gives you. You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness against your fellow. You shall not covet your fellow's house. You shall not covet your fellow’s wife, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your fellow.”

-Yisro 20:1-14

When learning about various religions in school, teachers teach their young students about how Judaism believes that Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive from G-d the luchos (tablets) with the Aseres Ha'dibros (Ten Commandments) on them. These students are taught that it is the Ten Commandments alone we are obligated to keep and the rest of the Torah is merely a recording of our travels as an early nation and what we claim to have experienced. There are numerous things wrong with this message. First, although Moshe did go up to receive the luchos from Hashem and was taught the entire Torah by Hashem Himself, every single member of B'nei Yisroel heard Hashem reveal to us and announce that He is the One and Only Hashem.¹ Second, Judaism contains a lot more commandments than just the Aseres Ha'dibros. We have 613 mitzvos which further translate into thousands of details and intricacies, minhagim (customs), and rabbinic decrees. Third, the purpose of the Torah is not as a history book, nor as a rulebook.

However, let us focus on the middle point. Judasism is extremely complicated. Calling it a religion does not really do it justice, nor does even terming it a lifestyle. It is broader and more encompassing than all of these, in one word it is reality. It is the instruction manual which guides us how to approach becoming a perfect person in this world. We believe the world has a purpose and each individual has his or her own reason to be here that must be accomplished on a personal level, as well as a connection and role to each community, the nation as a whole, and the world at large. In the hierarchy of the world there are varying levels of groups of people and each tier has its own slew of mitzvos. Kohanim, levi'im, men, women, children, goyim – each group has its own expectations and abilities and the mitzvos commanded to each group perfectly reflects what is necessary to maximize its potential. The mitzvos that we have as a nation are not limited to the Aseres Ha'dibros, however, there is some truth to the claim, for the taryag mitzvos are indeed represented by it. As a matter of fact, the Ba'al Ha'Turim² points out that the gematriya (numerical value) of the introductory line to the Aseres Ha'dibros: “Hashem spoke all these words, saying:” is the same as the sentence, “Everything contained in the Written and Oral Torah”. Furthermore, the Rosh³ points out that the Aseres Ha'dibros is comprised of 613 letters and that when the Torah commands that a Jewish king must have a Torah on him at all times, it refers to the Aseres Ha'dibros. Somehow, hidden within the Aseres Ha'dibros lay the roots for the entire Torah and its mitzvos.

A pangrammatic lipogram is when a piece of work contains every letter in the alphabet except for one. A common example is, “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog”, which contains every letter in English alphabet except for “S”. Pangrammatic lipograms are not necessarily hard to create, it just depends which letter the author chooses to leave out. Leaving out any high-valued tile in scrabble is not particularly difficult because most sentences could be created without letters such as J, Q, X, and Z. However, skipping more common letters such as S, T, or any vowel, is much harder. In 1939, Ernest Vincent Wright wrote a novel titled Gadsby, It was advertised as a story with over 50,000 words without the letter E. Not only did the author completely omit the letter E, he even omitted acronyms and abbreviations which if spelled out would contain the letter E. So, for example the abbreviation, Mr., is not used because spelled out would be “mister”. There is no doubt that such a work is quite an accomplishment. Not too many people could boast such a talent. However, as amazing as it is, it is not significant. It is nothing more than a feat, a hobby, and a pointless accomplishment for bragging rights.

Given what we know about the significance of the Aseres Ha'dibros, and how they represent the taryag mitzvos as a whole, it only makes sense that it should contain all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. However, the fascinating fact is that it does not! There is one letter missing: the letter tes. And unlike Gadsby, the pangrammatic lipogram that the Aseres Ha'dibros present, is indeed significant. The Aseres Ha'dibros represent a mini version of the whole Torah. How could it be that a single letter - the letter tes – is absent in such a crucial part of the Torah?

Truthfully, this question is not a new one. The Gemara⁴ records that Rebbe Chanina ben Ogil asked Rebbe Chiya bar Abba: “Why in the first set of luchos does it not use the word 'tov' (good), whereas in the second set of luchos, it does use the word tov?” Rebbe Chiya bar Abba replied, “You are asking me why it says 'tov' in the second luchos, but you should be asking me if it has the word tov or not! Go to Rebbe Tanchum bar Chanina, who is usually by Rebbe Yehoshua ben Levi who is an expert in aggadah [and ask him].” He went to him and the answer he received was that since the first luchos were to be broken, Hashem did not want to put the word tov in it in order that we should not conclude that when we sinned with the eigel ha'zahav (golden calf), that goodness completely deserted K'lal Yisroel.

When reading this Gemara, a number of questions come to mind. First, Rebbe Chanina ben Ogil seems to be so focused on the fact that it does not say the word tov. Why did he not ask our question that at least there should be a tes in the Aseres Ha'dibros? Was this question somehow either included in his own or perhaps dealt with with the final explanation of the Gemara?

Second, what did Rebbe Chiya bar Abba mean when he replied that the real question was whether the second luchos had tov or not? Certainly he knew that the second luchos contain an expression of tov, so why did he send Rebbe Chanina ben Ogil to go ask? What would they be able to tell them that they could not figure out for themselves? Just open any chumash and look to see if there is a lashon (expression) of tov in the second luchos?

The Ramban⁵ writes that there is no letter tes in the first luchos because the letter tes represents the word tov and, as the aforementioned Gemara established, Hashem did not want the word tov in the first luchos because since they ended up being smashed He did not want to give Klal Yisroel the impression that tov had permanently left them. The Ramban explains further that the reason that the letter tes represents tov more than any other word beginning with tes, or any other letter that could be used to construct a word related to goodness or kindness, is because the first time the letter tes is used in the Torah is for the word tov;⁶ that gives it a special significance and intricate relationship between the letter itself and kindness.

However, still, how do we understand the conversation taking place in the Gemara?

The Malbim⁷ writes that the word tov is really only needed as a reference point. Just like if there would be no such thing as darkness there would be no expression referring to light, so too without there being ra (evil) in the world, there is no need of an expression of tov; everything would just be that by definition. The Malbim continues that we know the passuk (verse)⁸ describes the luchos as the script of Hashem etched on the luchos. The word the Torah uses for etched is “charus”. The mishna⁹ comments that the word charus without punctuation could also be read as “cheirus” - which means freedom, for one who involves himself in learning is a true free man. The Malbim takes this a step further that with this dual meaning of reading charus as cheirus, there is a machlokes (dispute) whether it refers to the fact that had we not sinned with the eigel ha'zahav, we would have been free from death or if it would just mean that we would not have had to become slaves to other kingdoms throughout our history. So, it comes out that ra only permanently came to stay in the world after the story of the eigel and we had to get the second set of luchos. .The second set has the letter tes and the word tov because at that point when there is an expression of ra in the world, the expression of tov became necessary.

However, with this understanding it comes out that when it says tov in the luchos it is not really such a great thing after all because hidden behind the word tov is the fact that there is also ra, which is why the expression of tov is necessary. The Malbim continues and writes that this actually depends which side of the machlokes one takes. If one holds that the first luchos would have given the opportunity to have cheirus from death, then indeed it comes out that now that B'nei Yisroel sinned with the eigel, the tov in the second set of luchos is not really so good after all because it also represents the ra that entered the world. However, according to the one who holds that the first set of luchos without sin would have just guaranteed our own peace and kingdom as a nation throughout history, without being under the rule of the goyim, but that death would have still been part of reality, then really it could have and should have said tov in both sets of luchos equally. This, the Malbim writes, was precisely what Rebbe Chiya bar Abba meant when he told Rebbe Chanina ben Ogil that the real question is whether it really says tov in the second luchos or not – in other words, of course it says tov; but when it says tov in the second set of luchos after having been absent for the first, perhaps it is really bad because it represents the new layer of ra (i.e- death) brought into the world. On the other hand, perhaps it does not represent such a dramatic addition of death. He sent him to the master of aggadah to figure out how to learn, and the response was that really it does say tov in the second pair of luchos because the change was not as dramatic as adding the element of death into the world, but rather something which the first set of luchos should have said as well. However, because the first luchos were going to be broken, Hashem took out the letter tes and the word tov in order that it should not be broken with the luchos and give despair to K'lal Yisroel that goodness had been permanently removed.

If we stop to think about what the Malbim is telling us, it is absolutely incredible. He is learning from the gemara that really the word tov should have been in the first set of luchos. The mini version of the Torah, should have of course contained all the letters of the aleph-beis and should have even contained the full expression of tov. However, Hashem took it out because he did not want to leave any room for an erroneous feeling of depression among K'lal Yisroel that Hashem smashed tov and removed it from us. How incredible Hashem is that even during the time of the worst sin K'lal Yisroel did as a nation, He is still so sensitive to our feelings that He removed in advance from what should have technically been included in the Torah in order for us not to feel the additional distance and despair when the luchos would be broken.

We could take from here an incredible lesson that we should all know inherently but often times forget: Hashem has faith in us; that is why we are still alive! Even when we do fall and do incredibly bad things, Hashem does not give up on us. He keeps investing in us, so to speak, and continues to 'root' for us with a confidence that we could accomplish what we are supposed to. There is always hope for every single individual in K'lal Yisroel, and there is always hope for K'lal Yisroel as a nation. Who else believes in such a loving and caring G-d? “Praiseworthy is the people that Hashem is their G-d!”¹⁰

1Shemos 20:15-16

2Shemos 20:1

3Shemos 20:14

4Bava Kamma 54b-55a

5Kisvei Ha'Ramban – Ha'Emuna V'Habitachon end of Perek 19

6See Beraishis 1:4

7Malbim: Ha'Torah V'Hamitzva 20:12

8Shemos 32:16

9Avos 6:2 (could vary based on edition)

10Tehillim 144:15

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