When the Ten Commandments Broke Itself
by Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Dear Companions,
The tale below may look a little like a news story, but it is not. Perhaps it is a parable. After this story, I will explain what it might be a parable about! There is one truthful fact behind this story: Louisiana did recently pass a law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom.
– AW
When the Ten Commandments Broke Itself
It was a very hot day in May when a sweaty workman brought a poster into classroom 314 at the “Andrew Jackson Public School” in Baton Rouge. On the poster was a beautifully calligraphed list of the Ten Commandments, using the King James Version as a translation from the Hebrew.
The kids all clustered around the poster, chattering, singing. One of them, shorter and smaller than the others, hung back a little. I noticed he was wearing a sky-blue beanie on his head. When the rumpus quieted down, he calmly said, “There’s a problem.”
“What kind of problem?” said a couple of other kids.
“Well,” he said, “This poster says, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ I was taught that is a wrong translation. There are two Hebrew verbs. One means ‘kill.’ The other means ‘murder.’ There’s a big difference between them. And the one in the Ten Commandments means ‘murder.’ ”
A jumble of shouts broke out from the other kids. “Says who?” “This is the true version!” “King James got it right. He was KING!” Amid the clamor, one voice rose: “Wait a minute, everybody. Who exactly taught you different?”
“My Hebrew-school teacher. Rabbi Katz. He’s very good. Loves to hear our questions. And is always asking us questions. Like, what does the Torah mean when it says we were all made in the Image of God?”
“Oh, so you go to a Jewish school? This one isn’t good enough for you?” And the big athletic guy punched the blue-beanie kid in the nose.
He fell; blood fell profusely. Many of the kids started screaming. Teachers from other classrooms ran in, they tried to stanch the blood. It wouldn’t stop.
Finally one kid, a girl, knelt beside him with a mirror in her hand, close to the blue-beanie kid’s nose and mouth.
She looked up, crying. Between her sobs she stammered. “He’s sure enough not breathing. Sure enough dead. Only question is, was he killed or murdered?”
First of all, the story could happen, except for the unlikely death at the end, wherever any government tries to proclaim and impose the “universal” teachings of any religious tradition. There is no “universal” agreement on any religious doctrine, not even the Ten Commandments.
I promised to suggest how this story is a parable. About what? About what will happen, on a much larger scale, if white male Christian nationalism takes over this country — as it is threatening to. The derangement in its bosses, the courage in its victims, as well as the death and disaster in both.
With blessings of shalom to our readers and our country
— Arthur
Foundations of the Law, Los Angeles County Courthouse; Albert Stewart, sculptor (detail). Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash.