Rabbi’s Update 8/8/2025

Dear Friends:

This week’s Parasha, VaEtchanan, contains both the Shema and a reprise of the Ten Commandments.

At some point you have probably been told that the Shema is “the most important prayer in Judaism.” You yourself may actually believe that to be the case. But there is a certain irony in that statement since “the most important prayer in Judaism” is not, in fact, a prayer at all. A prayer is directed at God: it might praise God, it might thank God, or it might ask God for something. But the Shema does none of these things and it isn’t directed at God -- it is directed at us as Jews. It is a creed or a statement of faith but it most definitely is not a prayer.

What may surprise you as much or more as discovering that “the most important prayer in Judaism” isn’t a prayer is that the Ten Commandments aren’t all commandments and there aren’t ten of them. “Ten Commandments” is not a Jewish term and is not found in the Torah or the Talmud. In the Torah they are called “aseret ha-d’varim” which literally means “the ten words” or “the ten things.” The term in the Talmud is close but slightly different: “aseret ha-dibrot” which is best translated as “the ten utterances” or “the ten statements.”

Jews, Catholics, and Protestants all agree on the “ten” part but that’s about it. For Jews, the “Ten Commandments” begin with “I am Adonai your God who brought you out of the Land of Egypt.” Just like the Shema which isn’t a prayer, this isn’t a commandment. It’s a statement or a preamble. I have had discussions where people have said something along the lines of “it’s an implied commandment to believe in God”, but the plain text is not, in and of itself, a commandment.

Both Protestants and Catholics agree that “I am Adonai your God” isn’t a commandment and in line with St. Augustine they want Ten Commandments so they begin their counting with “You shall have no other gods before Me” which in the Jewish enumeration is number two. But since the Torah text explicitly says that there are ten they need to split up the text differently than we do. The Catholic Church accomplished this by separating what we consider the tenth “commandment” against coveting in two. The Catholic church considers the Ninth Commandment to be the prohibition against coveting your neighbor’s wife and the Tenth Commandment the prohibition against coveting your neighbor’s property.

But when Protestantism arose, they wanted to emphasize the stringency of the prohibition against idolatry and their belief that the Catholic use of icons and statues was idolatrous. So to emphasize this belief, they split what we consider the second “commandment” and what the Catholics consider to be the first, in two: not to worship any other god, and a separate commandment not to worship idols.

Since I know this is a bit hard to follow, I’ve included below the breakdown of the Ten Commandments according to Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism:

Jewish:

I am the LORD your God.

You shall have no other gods before Me; you shall not make for yourself an idol.

You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Honor your father and your mother.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet.

Catholic:

I am the Lord your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me. (This includes the prohibition of idols).

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day.

Honor your father and your mother.

You shall not kill.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.

You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.

Protestant:

You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol.

You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Honor your father and your mother.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet.

This is one of the many reasons why legislative attempts to require display of the “Ten Commandments” in public schools are so problematic. While most Americans might assent to the statement that “Christians and Jews both accept the Ten Commandments” the fact is that we actually don’t agree on the content or the enumeration. Since the government is not supposed to decide that one religion’s beliefs or practices are right and another’s wrong, this alone should be a reason to oppose such laws.

As a reminder, I am having drop-in hours on Thursday afternoons from 2 to 4 at the shul. For my drop-in hours, you do not need to make an appointment -- that would negate the whole point of drop-in hours -- but I’d urge you to check and make sure I am there regardless as sometimes there are unavoidable pastoral or other emergencies which might take me away from the building.

As always, if I can do anything for you or you need to talk, please contact me at rabbi@kehilatshalom.org or 301-977-0768 rather than through the synagogue office. I am happy to meet you at the synagogue by appointment; if you want to speak with me it’s best to make an appointment rather than assuming I will be there when you stop by. 

Additionally, if you know of a Kehilat Shalom congregant or another member of our Jewish community who could use a phone call, please let me know.

L’shalom,

Rabbi Charles L. Arian