 | Ten Commandments. We've read them. We've seen the art. We've seen the movie. Jewish continuity, ethical purpose and spiritual becomingness all trace back to the pivotal sense-scrambling scene at Sinai. It is said that each of us was there, the roots of our souls joined in the creation of our collective covenant. On the Ten Commandments would come to rest not only Jewish life but also all Western law and morality. But what if there weren't Ten Commandments but rather Eleven? And what if this Eleventh Commandment came first? And what if the Eleventh is the one that brings all others alive? Heads up: the Eleventh aims at us, right now. |
By Rabbi David Evan Markus
Yitro 5785 (2025)
The Ten Commandments. However we learn of Jewish life (or Christian life, or Western religious systems generally), for sure we learn about the Ten. We learn of Torah's narrative that the God of Infinite Being and Becoming spoke the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, the Children of Israel's first destination after freedom from slavery.
It all unfolds in this week's Torah portion. Seven weeks out of Egypt, our spiritual ancestors (and, spiritually speaking, all of us) assembled around Mount Sinai and heard the Voice. So awesome was the scene that it scrambled our ancestors' senses: in spiritual synesthesia, they even "saw the thunder" (Exodus 20:14).
Centuries of Jewish life probed this spiritual moment that changed humanity forever. All Western law and morality anchor in the Ten Commandments. These Ten Utterances map to the Ten Pulses of Creation in which Torah records the Creator to speak beingness into being with ten repetitions of the fateful words "Let there be" (Genesis 1). These Ten Utterances and Ten Pulses of Creation, in turn, map to the Ten Sefirot, the Ten kabbalistic energy centers of the Tree of Life.
Ten. For sure Ten.
But what if the Ten Commandments of Sinai actually are Eleven? And what if the Eleventh actually came first? And what if the Eleventh is the one that brings all others alive? And what if this Eleventh aims directly at each of us particularly right now?
I've read this idea nowhere else: Jewishly speaking, it's a hiddush – a totally new take.
When the people reached Mount Sinai, Moses recounted to his father-in-law Yitro (Jethro) all that happened in Egypt – the bondage, the awesome power, the signs and wonders, the miraculous liberation (Exodus 18:4-12). As the people camped around the Mountain of God, Yitro rejoiced for the miracles and salvation, and reunited Moses with his wife and children.
The next day, however, Yitro saw Moses on the verge of burnout, working round the clock to handle everything for the Israelites, including all of their disputes. Moses explained it that he had to do so, because people came inquiring of God (Exodus 18:13-16).
Yitro took his son-in-law aside and gave him a talking to. Not just a talking to: Yitro was Priest of Midian, himself a man of God for his people as Moses was for the Israelites, so Yitro's words carried oomph (Exodus 18:19-23):
Yitro 5785 (2025)
The Ten Commandments. However we learn of Jewish life (or Christian life, or Western religious systems generally), for sure we learn about the Ten. We learn of Torah's narrative that the God of Infinite Being and Becoming spoke the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, the Children of Israel's first destination after freedom from slavery.
It all unfolds in this week's Torah portion. Seven weeks out of Egypt, our spiritual ancestors (and, spiritually speaking, all of us) assembled around Mount Sinai and heard the Voice. So awesome was the scene that it scrambled our ancestors' senses: in spiritual synesthesia, they even "saw the thunder" (Exodus 20:14).
Centuries of Jewish life probed this spiritual moment that changed humanity forever. All Western law and morality anchor in the Ten Commandments. These Ten Utterances map to the Ten Pulses of Creation in which Torah records the Creator to speak beingness into being with ten repetitions of the fateful words "Let there be" (Genesis 1). These Ten Utterances and Ten Pulses of Creation, in turn, map to the Ten Sefirot, the Ten kabbalistic energy centers of the Tree of Life.
Ten. For sure Ten.
But what if the Ten Commandments of Sinai actually are Eleven? And what if the Eleventh actually came first? And what if the Eleventh is the one that brings all others alive? And what if this Eleventh aims directly at each of us particularly right now?
I've read this idea nowhere else: Jewishly speaking, it's a hiddush – a totally new take.
When the people reached Mount Sinai, Moses recounted to his father-in-law Yitro (Jethro) all that happened in Egypt – the bondage, the awesome power, the signs and wonders, the miraculous liberation (Exodus 18:4-12). As the people camped around the Mountain of God, Yitro rejoiced for the miracles and salvation, and reunited Moses with his wife and children.
The next day, however, Yitro saw Moses on the verge of burnout, working round the clock to handle everything for the Israelites, including all of their disputes. Moses explained it that he had to do so, because people came inquiring of God (Exodus 18:13-16).
Yitro took his son-in-law aside and gave him a talking to. Not just a talking to: Yitro was Priest of Midian, himself a man of God for his people as Moses was for the Israelites, so Yitro's words carried oomph (Exodus 18:19-23):
| עַתָּ֞ה שְׁמַ֤ע בְּקֹלִי֙ אִיעָ֣צְךָ֔ וִיהִ֥י אֱלֹהִ֖ים עִמָּ֑ךְ הֱיֵ֧ה אַתָּ֣ה לָעָ֗ם מ֚וּל הָֽאֱלֹהִ֔ים וְהֵבֵאתָ֥ אַתָּ֛ה אֶת־הַדְּבָרִ֖ים אֶל־ הָאֱלֹהִֽים׃ וְהִזְהַרְתָּ֣ה אֶתְהֶ֔ם אֶת־ הַחֻקִּ֖ים וְאֶת־הַתּוֹרֹ֑ת וְהוֹדַעְתָּ֣ לָהֶ֗ם אֶת־הַדֶּ֙רֶךְ֙ יֵ֣לְכוּ בָ֔הּ וְאֶת־הַֽמַּעֲשֶׂ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר יַעֲשֽׂוּן׃ וְאַתָּ֣ה תֶחֱזֶ֣ה מִכָּל־הָ֠עָ֠ם אַנְשֵׁי־חַ֜יִל יִרְאֵ֧י אֱלֹהִ֛ים אַנְשֵׁ֥י אֱמֶ֖ת שֹׂ֣נְאֵי בָ֑צַע וְשַׂמְתָּ֣ עֲלֵהֶ֗ם שָׂרֵ֤י אֲלָפִים֙ שָׂרֵ֣י מֵא֔וֹת שָׂרֵ֥י חֲמִשִּׁ֖ים וְשָׂרֵ֥י עֲשָׂרֹֽת׃ וְשָׁפְט֣וּ אֶת־הָעָם֮ בְּכָל־עֵת֒ וְהָיָ֞ה כָּל־הַדָּבָ֤ר הַגָּדֹל֙ יָבִ֣יאוּ אֵלֶ֔יךָ וְכָל־הַדָּבָ֥ר הַקָּטֹ֖ן יִשְׁפְּטוּ־הֵ֑ם וְהָקֵל֙ מֵֽעָלֶ֔יךָ וְנָשְׂא֖וּ אִתָּֽךְ׃ אִ֣ם אֶת־הַדָּבָ֤ר הַזֶּה֙ תַּעֲשֶׂ֔ה וְצִוְּךָ֣ אֱלֹהִ֔ים וְיָֽכָלְתָּ֖ עֲמֹ֑ד וְגַם֙ כָּל־הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה עַל־מְקֹמ֖וֹ יָבֹ֥א בְשָׁלֽוֹם׃ | Now listen to my voice. I will give you counsel, and God be with you! You represent the people before God: you bring their stuff to God. Enjoin on the people the laws and the teachings, showing them the way they must go and the things they must do. But seek out among all the people capable ones having awe of God – people worthy of trust, who spurn ill-gotten gain. Set them over the people as chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens, and let them handle the people at all times. They can bring you every major dispute, but let them decide minor disputes themselves. Make it easier for yourself by letting them share the burden with you. If you do this – and God so commands you! – then you will be capable, and all these people will go their way in peace. |
Yitro's words, spoken explicitly in God's name, are what I call the Eleventh Commandment: "Delegate. The community itself must step up. Otherwise there can be no community and no journey for one, much less to the destination of shalom – peace, and also wholeness."
This Eleventh Commandment comes immediately before the actual Ten Commandments that the Voice spoke at Sinai (Exodus 20:1-14) – and I believe the order is both purposeful and necessary. Without active community engagement to make leadership sustainable and vested in the community, there can be no community. Without vibrant community led sustainably, there can be no basis for collective spirituality, and therefore no need to have and hold a collective experience at Sinai. Put simply, without the Eleventh Commandment, there would not be the first Ten.
Even more, the Ten Commandments mirror the Eleventh in a pivotal way that is purposeful and necessary to both. Most of Torah reads speaking to the collective: "God spoke to Moses saying: Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them..." – collectively, in the plural. But the Ten Commandments are to each individual ("you"), not to the collective ("y'all"). Just as the Eleventh Commandment is on each of us, so too the first Ten.
It is on each person to contribute to community and make leadership sustainable and vested in community. It is on each person to help lead something in community and on behalf of community. Only that way can there be a collective standing together to receive, uplift and live the Ten Commandments.
Torah is teaching us that you must step up, whoever you are. It doesn't matter how young or old, what our skills are, what our other commitments might be, whether we think ourselves talented or not, or even whether we've done our time in leadership before. It doesn't matter if we've led before. The Eleventh Commandment is possible only if folks step up and co-create a culture of doing so.
It's in your hands. Such is the Jewish way. And for effective spiritual communities – especially small ones like Shir Ami that care so vitally for each person – it's the only way.
This Eleventh Commandment comes immediately before the actual Ten Commandments that the Voice spoke at Sinai (Exodus 20:1-14) – and I believe the order is both purposeful and necessary. Without active community engagement to make leadership sustainable and vested in the community, there can be no community. Without vibrant community led sustainably, there can be no basis for collective spirituality, and therefore no need to have and hold a collective experience at Sinai. Put simply, without the Eleventh Commandment, there would not be the first Ten.
Even more, the Ten Commandments mirror the Eleventh in a pivotal way that is purposeful and necessary to both. Most of Torah reads speaking to the collective: "God spoke to Moses saying: Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them..." – collectively, in the plural. But the Ten Commandments are to each individual ("you"), not to the collective ("y'all"). Just as the Eleventh Commandment is on each of us, so too the first Ten.
It is on each person to contribute to community and make leadership sustainable and vested in community. It is on each person to help lead something in community and on behalf of community. Only that way can there be a collective standing together to receive, uplift and live the Ten Commandments.
Torah is teaching us that you must step up, whoever you are. It doesn't matter how young or old, what our skills are, what our other commitments might be, whether we think ourselves talented or not, or even whether we've done our time in leadership before. It doesn't matter if we've led before. The Eleventh Commandment is possible only if folks step up and co-create a culture of doing so.
It's in your hands. Such is the Jewish way. And for effective spiritual communities – especially small ones like Shir Ami that care so vitally for each person – it's the only way.
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