Moshiach is Ready to Come All Day Long
The Ten-Ten Principle Applied
By Rabbi Shimon Raichik
Whenever the Torah follows the words “And Hashem spoke” with the word “leimor-to say (or respond)” the Torah is telling us to relate the parsha to others.
At the moment of Matan Torah by the giving of the Ten Commandments the Torah begins with the words; “And Hashem spoke all these words, to say”.
If the purpose of the word leimor teaches that we should relate this to others the question arises, whom? Everyone was present by Matan Torah. The Medrash teaches that even the souls of later generations were present by Matan Torah. The Maggid of Mezritch answers this question by stating that there are Ten Commandments given by Hashem and 10 Utterances by which Hashem created the world. The word ‘leimor’ at the beginning of the Ten Commandments teaches us that we need to integrate the 10 Commandments into the 10 Utterances thereby incorporating the Torah into all aspects of the world. This teaching shows us that the Ten Commandments and the 10 Utterances are not two separate things rather part of one greater whole and one greater purpose.
Many of us live dichotomized lives. We feel Jewish while davening in shul, learning the Torah and doing mitzvos but feel different when we do our business or walk in the street. While engaged in the mundane we don't feel the difference between a Jew and the rest of the world. When we eat food we make sure that it's kosher and make a bracha before and after. What about the eating itself? When we are eating our favorite foods do we also feel a connection to Hashem? The Rambam says that a wise person is recognizable not only while they are learning but also by how he or she eats, dresses, walks, talks, and does business.
The Rebbe once told a professor that there are many Jewish intellectuals that carry two briefcases. In one they place Sifrei Kodesh; Chumash, Gemara etc., and in the other they carry their secular works of mathematics, science and literature. They keep the holy and the mundane separate. The Rebbe told this professor that they are making a big mistake in thinking that they are separate. Actually they need to integrate the two. The world was created for the Torah and for a Jew to serve Hashem in every aspect and to teach about Hashem’s existence in this world. Only though this do we fulfill the purpose of creation.
The Rebbe once quoted the following pasuk from Tehillim (42:4):
הָֽיְתָה־לִּ֬י דִמְעָתִ֣י לֶ֭חֶם יוֹמָ֣ם וָלָ֑יְלָה בֶּאֱמֹ֥ר אֵלַ֥י כָּל־הַ֝יּ֗וֹם אַיֵּ֥ה אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃
My tears have been my food day and night; all of the day I am taunted with, “Where is your G-d?”
The Rebbe said that while we learn the Torah and do mitzvos we feel the connection to Hashem, but “kol hayom, all of the day” the rest of the day while we are preoccupied with our daily activities, “Where is your G-d”?
This is the message that the Maggid of Mezritch teaches to each one of us. By infusing the world which is created with the 10 Utterances with the Ten Commandments we instill kedusha into the mundane aspects of our lives. When we apply this teaching and we know Hashem in all of our ways, our mundane activities are permeated with a feeling and connection to Hashem just like we feel when we daven and learn.
This Shabbos when we read the Ten Commandments and relive the experience of Matan Torah may we merit to live lives connected to Hashem not only when we daven, learn and do mitzvos but also in everything we do. With this may we all merit that the knowledge of Hashem fill the earth like the waters cover the sea with the coming of Moshiach today.
A Good Shabbos, A Good Chodesh