ב"ה
THEMES of Featured Mystical Classics Articles
Beginner
G-d's most beloved servants perform the most difficult of tasks.
G‑d is like a king who has two categories of servants at his command. Miinistering angels, whom G‑d employs forever, are assigned to duty within His palace, whereas the Jewish people's assignments are limited to the time allocated them on earth. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that this latter category is the more beloved of the two.
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Advanced
The features of the tablets hint to the letters of G-d's name
It is easy to understand that the Ten Commandments contain within them the whole Torah in "capsule form" according to the Shelah's teaching that the entire Torah consists of permutations of the name of G‑d which extend endlessly in all directions of the universe.
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True freedom only exists in the holiness of the Land of Israel.
G-d did not simply replace the Egyptians in Egypt with the Jews and establish us as the rulers in that land, instead leading us through the desert into the land of Israel because He did not want the Jewish people to live in a homeland which "belonged" to the guardian angel of the Egyptians but in a country directly under His personal guidance.
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Intermediate
Of the two tablets, one symbolized Heaven, the other Earth.
The first Five of the Ten Commandments deal with the honor of the Almighty, the Creator, whereas the latter five address man's needs and dignity. It appears that one set of five commandments was engraved on one of the two tablets, and the second on the other; we are to regard both groups of commandments as equally important.
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Jethro's arrival and conversion was a crucial preparation for the giving of the Torah.
Before Jethro heard about the splitting of the Reed Sea, he thought that there were two gods: one who does evil and one who does good.
But when he grasped that in the splitting of the Reed Sea G‑d both drowned the Egyptians and saved the Children of Israel, he realized that the same One performs evil and good. Jethro therefore came to shelter himself under His wings.
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