As we begin the High Holy Day season, we are reminded of all the commandments in Judaism that we are expected to follow. We are told that if we do, we get rewarded. If we don’t, we get punished; maybe not now, but eventually. But how familiar are you with the Top Ten? (look above our ark) Actually, the Torah does not call them the Ten Commandments.

Translating the Hebrew that introduces these laws:
God spoke all these words, saying:
The Hebrew word D’varim means words, or things – so these are really called the Ten things that God told us.

Which of the commandments do you know?

REVIEW OF THE COMMANDMENTS

1. Belief in God: I, Adonai, am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage.

2. Don’t Worship the way they do: You shall have no other gods besides Me. You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image. You shall not bow down to them or serve them

3. Don’t Make inappropriate oaths – You shall not swear falsely by the name of Adonai your God

4. We have Sacred Times: Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of Adonai your God: you shall not do any work — you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements. For in six days God made heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; therefore Adonai blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.