This is dedicated to the runners of Team Yitzi, who are running the Miami marathon on Sunday. Raising money for the Hurwitz Family fund, which keeps me going, and allows me to continue to write these dvar Torahs, they bring Hashem into the most mundane activity of running, by doing Tzedaka through it. I am so grateful for every one of them.
To support their efforts go to https://run4yitzi.com/runners/ and make a donation.
This is difficult to understand, because the Ten Commandments, "encapsulates the whole Torah," it encapsulates all of the mitzvahs, as Rav Saadia Gaon tells us. That is also the reason the Ten Commandments has 620 letters, is for the 613 biblical mitzvahs, plus the 7 rabbinical mitzvahs.
In the Ten Commandments itself, every one of us heard the first two, "I Am Hashem your G-d..." And "you shall not have any other gods before Me," directly from Hashem. The first two Commandments themselves encapsulates all of the mitzvahs. "I Am Hashem your G-d..." which is positive, represents the 248 positive commandments. And "you shall not have any other gods before Me," which is negative, represents the 365 negative commandments.
Within the first two, "Anochi, I Am Hashem your G-d..." is the greater of the two, because it's only about Hashem, while "you shall not have any other gods before Me," is only after one possibly has a thought about other gods.
Within the first Commandment, there is, "Anochi Havaya Elokecha," which represents three different ways Hashem relates to the world.
Havaya surrounds the world, it is the creative force that makes the world exist. However, that light is too great for the physical world to handle. Elokecha, is the same as Elokim, it acts like a shield that protects the world by translating the light of Havaya, filling every part of existence with the exact amount of the light it needs, and thereby, it allows nature to exist. Havaya is the G-dly force of existence, Elokim allows for nature.
Anochi, is "Who I Am," the essence of Hashem, higher than both Havaya and Elokim. According to the Zohar, the word Anochi itself, encapsulates the whole Torah. It begs the question: Why is the essence of Hashem, in the Ten Commandments, represented by an Egyptian word?!
The question becomes stronger if you consider the hierarchy of languages. The Torah is written in the Holy Language, the highest of all. It is called the Holy Language, because it doesn't have words for inappropriate things. The terms are borrowed from other languages.
The lowest of all languages, is from the most licentious and degenerate society of all time, Egypt. Anochi, which is the essence of Hashem, is written in the lowest of all languages, Egyptian. Why?
The Midrash says that the main thing that happened with the giving of the Torah, is that "What is above could now go below, and what is below could now go above." And that is the mission of the Jewish people, to infuse the physical with G-dliness through using the physical for Torah and mitzvahs, and even more than that, to do our daily mundane activities for Hashem, "acknowledge Him in all your ways."
How far does this have to go? How important is this to our mission?
Hashem tells us in the first word of the Ten Commandments, and the first word He ever said to us. "Anochi," Hashem wants us to bring His deepest essence into the lowest of places, into even what represents the extreme low, the Egyptian language.
And that is what Moshe responded to the angels who wanted the Torah to stay in heaven, "did you go down to Egypt?" Are you able to draw the essence of Hashem into the lowest physical place? He doesn't want to be in heaven, but on earth, to be revealed in the lowest levels.
It is not enough to keep the letter of the Torah law, we have to, "Acknowledge Him in all our ways." If not, it brings the opposite, destruction, heaven forfend, as our sages tell us, "Jerusalem wasn't destroyed, but because they established their laws in accordance with Torah law," and not more. It is not enough to seal ourselves in a cocoon of Torah, we have to go into the world and bring Hashem's ways into the most mundane activities, we have to "Acknowledge Him in all our ways."
It is the same in our relationships. It is not enough to follow the letter of the law, it is not enough to do just what is expected. You have to have a heart, and be a mentch. You have to love your spouse in every way.
If we "Acknowledge Him in all our ways." If we bring Hashem into everything we do, even in the most mundane, we will surely merit to see the rebuilding of Jerusalem, with the coming of Moshiach. May he come soon.
Beautiful article, we love it. We are so amazed that you write these articles. From, the Kustiner family in
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