Broken Tablets: Restoring The Ten Commandments And Ourselves

Book Summary

Let the Ten Commandments command your imagination. . . Even people who claim not to be "religious" will generally maintain that they do observe the Ten Commandments. Why is it that these ten statements, thousands of years old, continue to have such a special hold on us? Broken Tablets helps us to understand the Ten Commandments and to see them as the very personal words that they are. Here, twelve outstanding spiritual leaders from across the spectrum of Jewish thought bring us to the life and soul of the Ten Commandments' unusual power. Inviting, accessible, and full of insights that may surprise you, Broken Tablets restores the Ten Commandments to wholeness. In the process, it restores us to a better understanding of what we do and don't do--and what this means to our spiritual lives. Contributors include: *Eugene B. Borowitz *Menachem Kellner *Leonard Fein *Peter S. Knobel *Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer *Richard N. Levy *Laura Geller *Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi *Lawrence A. Hoffman Levi Weiman-Kelman The author, Rachel S. Mikva , November 14, 1999 We still have so much to learn from these ten "words" As a rabbi, I get to ask people questions that few others dare to ask. One of my favorites is: What does your religion teach you about how to live your life? Although I mean to include what religion teaches about joy and meaning and goodness, people often assume I am talking about "rules." I cannot tell you how often they answer: The Ten Commandments. So I press them a little. First, we make sure we can name all ten, and see if they really feel all of them are important. Is observing the Sabbath essential for them, just like honoring parents? Then I may challenge whether they, in fact, learned these values from their religious tradition. Would they not know murder is wrong if it were not for religious training? It is not long, however, before I have to admit what a profound answer they gave when they mentioned the ten commandments. In these ten "words," we really do find great wisdom about joy and meaning and goodness as well as rules. They are not only emblematic of all that ! God tries to teach us; they actually reveal a multitude of things, some of which we have not yet imagined, few of which we have mastered. Through interpretations of the ages and fresh insights of the outstanding contributors, this book makes the ten commandments -- taken for granted for too long by too many of us -- challenge and inspire us all over again. In working on the volume, I found I learned the most about faithfulness: to God, to parents, to other human beings, to myself. The essays are personal, because each one of us meets the text in our own way. I hope you will discover yourself in these pages. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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