10 to 10 and the Movement from Receiver to Partner
At the end of the Pesach Seder just two weeks ago, we sang the famous Echad Mi Yodea where we recall all of the famous numbers from 1-13 in our tradition.For the number ten, we answer, asarah dibraya, the ten commandments. The aseret hadibrot are the famous “tens” we sing about, However, there is another famous ten that also has to do with words, that is less known but so important.
With ten phrases, the entire world was created. The term for God’s spoken words in this Mishna is not dibur, it is, rather, amira. (Avot 5:21)
While verbal statements from the Divine characterized each of these two critical moments of God’s chesed, God’s kindness, the Pachad Yitzhak, R. Hutner, picks up on this difference between the choice of phrases that characterize these two events.
The gift of the world’s creation through amira was done through the element of chesed, of a type of gifted kindness, known as chesed vitur. This is the type of kindness done without strings attached, one done out of love without the need for the other side to reciprocate.
At the moment of the world’s creation, all living creatures, including human beings, were passive. They were given the gift of life and the incredible world around them with God’s generous spirit and unconditional love.
However, the gift of the Ten Commandments, the dibrot, of the Torah on Mt. Sinai, was a different type of kindness. This kindness is called chesed mishpat, a kindness done that is linked to justice, where each side must fulfill responsibilities. At the moment of revelation, all of Am Yisrael, were active. They were given the gift of the connection with God, the gift of law and Torah, but only with the condition that they step up and do their share and fulfill their part in the covenant.
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R. Hutner says that what marks the development from creation to revelation, from amira to dibbur, was the Jewish story, the sipur and the haggadah. God’s intervention in our people’s history took our relationship to the next level.
This season from Pesach to Shavuot is one of story. It begins with the telling of our Exodus story and we move forward into contemporary narratives on Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron. Yom HaAtsmaut and Yom Yerushalayim. It culminates with the moment of revelation in the story of the Torah on Shavuot. It is the identifying with, and the internalizing of, these stories that takes us from passive observers to active participants, from unconditional recipients to partners in the dream for a world of goodness, holiness and justice.
With ten phrases, the entire world was created. The term for God’s spoken words in this Mishna is not dibur, it is, rather, amira. (Avot 5:21)
While verbal statements from the Divine characterized each of these two critical moments of God’s chesed, God’s kindness, the Pachad Yitzhak, R. Hutner, picks up on this difference between the choice of phrases that characterize these two events.
The gift of the world’s creation through amira was done through the element of chesed, of a type of gifted kindness, known as chesed vitur. This is the type of kindness done without strings attached, one done out of love without the need for the other side to reciprocate.
At the moment of the world’s creation, all living creatures, including human beings, were passive. They were given the gift of life and the incredible world around them with God’s generous spirit and unconditional love.
However, the gift of the Ten Commandments, the dibrot, of the Torah on Mt. Sinai, was a different type of kindness. This kindness is called chesed mishpat, a kindness done that is linked to justice, where each side must fulfill responsibilities. At the moment of revelation, all of Am Yisrael, were active. They were given the gift of the connection with God, the gift of law and Torah, but only with the condition that they step up and do their share and fulfill their part in the covenant.
.
R. Hutner says that what marks the development from creation to revelation, from amira to dibbur, was the Jewish story, the sipur and the haggadah. God’s intervention in our people’s history took our relationship to the next level.
This season from Pesach to Shavuot is one of story. It begins with the telling of our Exodus story and we move forward into contemporary narratives on Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron. Yom HaAtsmaut and Yom Yerushalayim. It culminates with the moment of revelation in the story of the Torah on Shavuot. It is the identifying with, and the internalizing of, these stories that takes us from passive observers to active participants, from unconditional recipients to partners in the dream for a world of goodness, holiness and justice.
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