Part 5

Overcoming Life's Disappointments
by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner

(Page 5 of 5)

Moses leads the Israelites out in triumph through the divided waters of the Red Sea, and brings them to the mountain, Mount Sinai, where God had first spoken to him from the burning bush. There one of the defining moments of human history takes place. In the midst of thunder and lightning and billowing smoke, the people hear God Himself proclaim the Ten Commandments as the basis of a covenant between a people and its God.

A covenant is like a contract, but more solemn and serious. More than an agreement, it is a binding commitment. Buying a house or a car involves a contract; once the deal is completed, the relationship between buyer and seller ends. Getting married is (or should be) a covenant, a lifelong, enduring obligation. In the covenant at Mount Sinai, the people of Israel agree to live a distinctive life, striving to bring holiness into every aspect of their lives, their diet, their dress, their speech, their treatment of the poor, the widow, the stranger. In everything they do, they will be mindful of the fact that they are living and acting in the presence of God. And God for His part promises to give them a land of their own, a proper showcase for their distinctive lifestyle.

The revelation at Mount Sinai came in two parts. First, the Ten Commandments were proclaimed publicly, in the hearing of all the people. Then Moses went up the mountain to be alone with God as God revealed to him several hundred additional laws by which He expected the Israelites to live.

What was the significance of the Ten Commandments, given the fact that earlier societies also deemed it wrong to murder, steal, lie under oath, or commit adultery? Two things make the revelation at Sinai distinctive and unprecedented. First, the opening words, "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage," established that these injunctions were not just a matter of practicality (what kind of world would it be if people were free to kill and steal?) but are the will of a God who had already introduced Himself into the lives of this particular people, demonstrating His concern for them by freeing them from oppression, and who was giving them these laws not to restrict their freedom (He reminds us that He is a God who stands for freedom) but out of love and concern for the content of their lives.

The serpent who said to Eve in the Garden of Eden, "Has not God said to you, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?" (Genesis 3:1) was the first in the long line of spokes- persons who would portray God as primarily interested in denying people their pleasures. Since then, many voices have followed the snake in posing a conflict between the allegedly "life-affirming" drive for pleasure, for food, wine, and sexual gratification without limits, and the "life-denying" killjoy voice of religion. Many people mistakenly include Sigmund Freud among those who advocate pursuing mental health by indulging, rather than repressing, our every instinct. (Freud would have been appalled at the thought.) In the Beatles movie Yellow Submarine, the villains are the Blue Meanies who are colored a dull, monochromatic blue and say No to every pleasure, in contrast to the brightly colored heroes who are unfettered by any inhibition. I know many Jews who see Judaism as nothing more than a lot of rules telling them what not to eat, when not to work, and whom not to marry, and at least as many Christians who see Christian morality as essentially condemning all sorts of normal behavior as sinful. That may be why God, before He utters a single commandment, identifies Himself as a liberator, telling the people, I am not forbidding murder, theft, and adultery in order to restrict your behavior and deny you pleasure. You may have left Egypt but you will never really be free until you learn to control your anger, your lust, and your greed. A man trying to stop smoking or drinking, a woman trying to lose weight, a married person embroiled in an extramarital affair would understand that message.

Second, other societies that outlawed murder, theft, and adultery did it on a case-law basis: If someone kills another person, the following is his punishment. If he kills a slave, this is his punishment. If he damages someone's property, this is his punishment. The Ten Commandments introduce a word and a concept that have not been found in any earlier law code. That word is Don't. There will be case-law passages later in Scripture telling the authorities how to deal with murder, theft, adultery, and perjury when they occur. But the message of the Ten Commandments goes beyond saying that those things are illegal and will be punished. It proclaims that they are wrong. Not "If you do . . ." but "Thou shalt not!" It tells us that there are moral laws built into the universe just as there are physical laws. People who disregard the Ten Commandments will cause themselves harm even as people who disregard the laws of gravity or a healthful lifestyle will.

The innovative concept of the Ten Commandments is the vision of the perfectibility of human nature. Codes of law by definition deal with misbehavior, with violations. No society passes a law that reads, "If a person tells the truth in court . . . ," or "If someone respects his neighbor's property . . ." Law codes, including those found in the Bible, anticipate that human beings will do things they should not do. But God, in the language of the Ten Commandments, proclaims that human misbehavior is not inevitable. God does not demand the impossible of us. He does not command people to go for more than a day without food and water. He does not tell us to go back in time and undo the wrong things we have done. If God tells us to spend the rest of our lives without murdering, stealing, or cheating, it must be possible for people to do so.

The revelation at Sinai, the unprecedented fashioning of a covenant between a people and its God based not just on exclusive worship and offerings but on righteous behavior, should have been the crowning moment of Moses' life. But even here, Moses would discover that there are few moments of unalloyed happiness in a person's life. Life will always be lived with other people, and other people can be unreliable, unpredictable, and easily distracted.

Copyright © 2006 by Harold S. Kushner.

About the Author

Harold S. Kushner is Rabbi Laureate of Temple Israel in Natick, Massachusetts, where he lives. His books include When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Who Needs God, and How Good Do We Have to Be?