Broken Tablets: Restoring the Ten Commandments and Ourselves - Hardcover

Kushner, Lawrence; Wolf, Arnold Jacob

4.07

15 ratings by Goodreads

9781580230667: Broken Tablets: Restoring the Ten Commandments and Ourselves

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1580230660 ISBN 13: 9781580230667

Publisher: Jewish Lights, 1999

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Let the Ten Commandments command your imagination ... and enrich your life.

When the Holy One gave the Torah, no bird chirped, no fowl flew, no ox lowed, not one angel stirred its wing or sang its song. The sea did not roar, creatures did not speak―the whole world was hushed into breathless silence; it was then that the voice went forth: "I am the Lord your God...."
―Exodus Rabba 29:9

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?

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. In voices that are personal and diverse, they help us take a closer look at the ten utterances that not only touch every aspect of our lives, but also present each of us with a profound challenge.

Contributors:

Rabbi Eugene B. Borowitz � Leonard Fein � Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer � Rabbi Laura Geller � Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman � Dr. Menachem Kellner � Rabbi Peter S. Knobel � Rabbi Lawrence Kushner � Rabbi Richard N. Levy � Rabbi Rachel S. Mikva � Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi � Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman � Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf

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Review:

Broken Tablets: Restoring the Ten Commandments and Ourselves, edited by Rabbi Rachel S. Mikva, is a collection of writings that attempt to explain why the Ten Commandments exert such a powerful hold on so many people--even those who do not consider themselves Jews or Christians. Introduced by Lawrence Kushner, this collection includes essays by 10 prominent rabbis about each individual commandment, as well as two shorter pieces that, in rabbinical fashion, interrogate and locate the others' arguments in Jewish tradition. What all of these essays have in common is the effect of personalizing the commandments for today's readers, by demonstrating the power of this short scriptural passage to touch every aspect of a person's life. Each essay makes provocative and surprising observations. Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer, writing on the third commandment, asks, "By too easily claiming and naming God, by encouraging others to do the same, did I take the name of the Lord in vain?" Writing on the second commandment, Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi observes, "Real idolatry today is the worship of money, technology, addictions, absolute political systems--even of 'Judaism' and of the personal ego." This is a book that will help readers become more aware of God's claim on their lives, more honest with themselves, and more attuned to the ways that Scripture has shaped the way believers live together and in the wider world. --Michael Joseph Gross

About the Author:

Rachel S. Mikva is committed to sharing with others the rewards of spiritual study and the power of a relationship with God. She is rabbi of Community Synagogue in Rye, New York, and was ordained at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion. While she serves on the Reform movement's Commission for Religious Living as well as on the Responsa Committee and on numerous other community and national not-for-profit boards, she dedicates most of her time to teaching, which she considers her most important work.

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