Rav Hirsch and the 10 Commandments

Over Shavuot I learned through R’ Hirsch on the עשרת הדברות (Ten Commandments). He systematically classifies the first 5, concluding that:

• The first two – אנכי ה׳ (I am Hashem your God) and לא יהיה לך (Do not have Other gods) – are about control of Mind and Spirit
• לא תשא (Do not take His name in Vain) is about control of Word
• זכור את יום השבת (Guard and Remember the Shabbat) is about control of our Activities in recognition that Hashem created the universe and
• כבד את אביך ואת אמך (Honor your Parents) is about the importance of Family as the means of transmission of our holy tradition.

R’ Hirsch then connects the first 5 Commandments to the last 5 in a general sense, but I think there’s a 1-to-1 parallel we can draw between them, with an important (and scary) lesson that comes out of it.

To figure out which correspond, we can start with some of the more obvious ones.

לא תחמוד (Don’t be Jealous) directly corresponds to לא יהיה לך (Don’t Have Other gods). They are both about controlling our thoughts and not thinking we should have something different that what we already have.

לא תענה ברעך עד שקר (Don’t Bear False Witness) corresponds with לא תשא (Don’t take His name in Vain). Both are about ensuring that we keep our Word, and only use our speech for truth.

לא תנאף (Don’t Commit Adultery) and כבד את אביך ואת אמך (Honor your Parents) go together, with both highlighting the paramount importance of the family unit, both between parent and child, and between husband and wife.

And לא תגנוב (Don’t Steal) corresponds with זכור את יום השבת (Keep Shabbat). If we think that we’ll earn more money by working on Shabbat, the day that Hashem tells us to rest, we’re mistaken. And if we think that by stealing or kidnapping, we’ll have more, we’re wrong as well. For both time, as well as all our physical possessions are given to us by Hashem.

That leaves us with just one remaining pair. 

לא תרצח (Don’t Murder) must correspond with אנכי ה׳ (I am Hashem your God). If someone murders another person they are כפר בעיקר (reject our fundamental principles of belief), because by murdering, they are denying the Divine nature of the person being killed; בצלם אלוקים ברא אותם (Hashem created man in His image).

This last pairing has a very scary implication. It means that if we look at another person, and reject (even just in thought and mind) that they are a manifestation of the Divine, it is, on some level, as if we are murdering them!

But there’s an uplifting part of this equation too. Some mitzvot, like giving charity, keeping Shabbat or doing Chesed, are mitzvot that we have many opportunities to keep. But how often do we get an opportunity to actively fulfill Don’t Murder? Maybe occasionally, if someone cuts us off in traffic? But even then we’re not really serious.

But now, every time we look at a person (even ourselves), and instead of looking down at them, we say “Wow! This is a צלם אלוקים! This is a manifestation of the Divine!” we are actively fulfilling the commandment not to murder. And not just that – we are also actively fulfilling our obligation to believe that the whole world, and everything in it, including this holy person in front of us, are creations of and an indivisible part of He Who is One.