This week we read the portion of Yisro, which contains one the most famous passages of the Torah – the Ten Commandments. We read of the build-up, the aftershock, and the actual giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.
Of the Ten Commandments, the first two were spoken by G-d and the other eight by Moses. In the Book of Psalms, King David refers to this, and says, “one did G-d speak, two were heard”. The Talmud explains this to mean that G-d spoke the first two commandments simultaneously, but as this was incomprehensible to us, He repeated them as two separate commandments. As the creator of man, G-d was well aware of human constraints, so why did He speak both commandments at once if He knew He would have to repeat them?
The Torah comprises a total of 613 commandments broken down into two categories. There are 248 positive commandments that we must act upon such as putting on tefillin, family purity, and making kiddush on Shabbat. The other 365 are “negative” commandments that inform us what we must refrain from, such as prohibited actions on Shabbat and non-kosher food. This division is echoed in the first two Ten Commandments. The first commandment is positive – we must express our belief in one G-d – and the second is negative – we must refrain from worshipping other gods.
Fulfilling the different mitzvot also has different effects. A positive commandment draws down positive energy into this world, making the world a better place to live in with blessings and spiritual light. The reward for negative mitzvot is the removal of negativity – reducing evil in the world and removing sickness, suffering, war, and spiritual darkness.
When G-d spoke the first two commandments at the same time, then repeated them separately, He was teaching us that although the commandments seem to differ in their form and effect, they are essentially one and the same – to make the world a better place. Whatever situation we find ourselves in, positive or negative, G-d is teaching us that there’s a way to bring blessing and goodness into the world.
