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Thoughts on the Parsha ~
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 public 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 as Jews 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'Turim[2]
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 Rosh[3]
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 are 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 Gemara[4]
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 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 Ramban[5]
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 Malbim[7]
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 mishna[9]
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]
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