To listen to the Recording, click on https://youtu.be/sXAoZJHsn3A
If we look at the events unfolding in the world today, it seems that people are going mad. There is so much anger and division. We don’t know who to believe or who we can trust. We seem to have lost our moral compass.
As a 30-year student of the Torah, the answer lies in this book which is not a Jewish book. It’s a book filled with principles given to us by a greater power, the Creator of all humanity so that we might learn how-to live-in harmony with each other, with the animals and with the planet. Our part is to hear and obey. We may not realize it, but therein even lies the solution for the Environment issue. But that’s a story for another day.
We have so quickly forgotten the words that we were taught not that long ago in our schools and which embody the scales of justice in our courts of law but because they have been removed from both institutions, we are swiftly falling into chaos.
Just what are these words? Simply put…they are the Ten Commandments. They are not Jewish commandments; they are for everyone. They were, however given to the ancient Israelites who were the emissaries, messengers commissioned by the Creator to bring them to the rest of humanity. That’s who we are, no better, no worse, we just were given a different role.
But because they are largely being ignored, right now, all over the world as I speak, the weakest among us, our children are crying out for help. Never mind that they are being lied to by people they are supposed to trust, worse than … so many are being raped, abused, and murdered. The Torah teaches us to care for those who cannot take care of themselves. Instead, we are taught that Darwin’s survival of the fittest is the truth even though that is man-made ideology.
The Creator of all humanity tells us that we are all created equal, that we simply have different roles and that individuals who have been allotted certain functions in this life which hold more responsibility, theyare supposed to help us care for the weakest among us, not support the systems that allow them to die or even worse, kill those who are no longer deemed to be a benefit to society.
It is not popular to speak about the godly values that I as a grandmother would like to teach this younger generation. When I speak out, I am mocked and silenced because the words of the Torah are not politically, socially or even in many cases, theologically correct.
So, who will speak up for these little ones who cannot defend themselves?
Today we hear slogans like the Great Reset or Population Control. Where do these fit in with the Commandments that tell us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves? Well, they don’t. We are learning that it’s every man for himself contrary to the Creator’s desire for His humanity. He formed community in which we are to say “yes” to the question, ‘am I my brother’s keeper?’
So, what can you and I do to turn the tides? All we each can do is the small part that each of us have been assigned in this great orchestra called life. The Creator is our conductor. He gave us the notes to play, but like great jazz, there is freedom in how we play our part as long as we remain within the boundaries set down for us and these called the Ten Commandments. I’d like to talk about these boundaries over these next few weeks. You may ask, Why? Didn’t I hear them already? Yes, you did, and so did the millions of people who stood at the base of Mt. Sinai. The issue is not whether we heard them, it’s ‘do we do them’? ‘Do we obey them?’
So, let’s begin with number one; I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of slavery; you are to have no other gods before me.
Why was this first commandment changed to only “You are to have no other gods before me. ‘Why is the first part important enough that someone thought it needed to be eliminated?
In my understanding it identifies and separates the Creator, the God of Israel from all other man-made deities. It introduces the only God who played and still plays a vital and active role in our history and in our daily lives. He doesn’t want us be slaves to gods, systems, people who demand blind faith from their followers and are in constant need of appeasement. You do such and such for me and I will do such and such for you in return. Our Creator doesn’t play games with us.
He doesn’t demand perfection in us. He knows our strengths and our weaknesses. He didn’t give us Ten Commandments that are impossible for us to do, then watch us fail and punish us when we do. No, He loves us as a loving father who is always ready to forgive us and help us move on when we do fail …as long as we are ready to turn back to Him. That’s what true teshuva is. Acknowledging what we do, to Him, to ourselves and to others, make restitution and begin again. He is the God of Beginning Again.