Why were the "Ten Commandments" singled out from the rest of the Torah?

[edu]

What is special about the "Ten Commandments" that only they were included on the 2 stone tablets that Moshe{Moses} received at Sinai, while the rest of the Torah was not.
Anyone with a suggestion?
Just to start the discussion perhaps this is a hint to ten major tests that the Gentiles will challenge
Israel with in chronological order.
Pharoah said "who is G-d? " Shmot/Exodus 5:2
The first commandment of the "ten commandments" answers I am G-d your L-rd that has taken you out of the land of Egypt from the house of slaves.
The last commandment is you shall not covet your neighbor's house, etc. (Rabbi Kaplan translates it as do not be envious) which is exactly what Gog and Magog do in the end of days as described in Yechezkel/ Ezekiel 38 verses 10 to 13. Namely, they covet the wealth of the Jews in Israel (after they have been gathered back from the exile as described in Yechezkel / Ezekiel 38:8
I will leave you with some "homework" on how to fit the other 8 commandments in to Jewish history.

[Yaakov Mendel]

Maybe because they sort of sum up, in a broad and simple manner, the whole Torah. They are fundamental principles that should constantly guide you through your life : be humble, be respectful, be loyal, be faithful, do not lie, do not deceit, do not envy...
Of course they are very general and their meaning becomes more and more precise as the Torah unfolds.

[muman613]

It is learned that the Aseret Hadibrot are meta-categories of each of the 613 commandments.

I found this article on torah.org which discusses this concept:

http://www.torah.org/advanced/mikra/5757/sh/dt.57.2.05.html

10 --> 613?

That these 'Aseret haDibrot hold a special place in our historic and religious consciousness goes without saying; the two stone tablets, carved by God and including a graphic version of these Ten Statements were placed in the central vessel of the Mishkan (Sanctuary) - see Sh'mot 25:16. The question must be asked - why these ten? What is so special about these ten statements (and the 13-15 Mitzvot included therein) which merit their unique and sanctified place in revelation and on the tablets?

There have been many approaches which suggest that these ten statements serve as an outline for the Torah; that each of them is a super-category under which other Mitzvot are subsumed - such that all 613 Mitzvot are included (conceptually) in these 'Aseret haDibrot. See, for instance, JT Shekalim 6:1, Rashi on Sh'mot 24:12, R' Sa'adiah Ga'on's Azharot, Ralbag on Sh'mot 20 following v. 14. Perhaps the earliest source for this idea is Philo's De Decalogo.

Although these approaches have much to recommend them, there are some obvious difficulties they generate. In order to "include" all of the commands relating to forbidden foods, the Mishkan, the Kehunah (Priesthood), agricultural laws etc. - we have to utilize a lot of exegetical imagination. Besides this difficulty, the inclusion of "coveting" here is problematic - since it is no way a "category of Mitzvot". There are no Mitzvot which command a limitation of desire - just self-restraint against acting on that desire. (The entire subject of coveting is problematic - see MT Hilkhot Gezelah va'Avedah 1:9).

I would like to suggest another approach to understanding the 'Aseret haDibrot which explains the inclusion of specifically these Ten Statements in the revelation and on the tablets. There are three premises which must be established regarding the 'Aseret haDibrot:

[muman613]

I believe there is also a teaching that we should not consider the Aseret HaDibrot to be 'special' in a way which interferes with our ability to keep the 613 mitzvot. This is why there is controversy on whether we should stand during the Torah reading of the 10 commandments.

I believe part of this stems from the other religions which held them in higher esteem than the rest of the Torah...

Here is an article which discusses this concept:

http://www.oztorah.com/2010/05/ten-commandments-jewish-christian-views/

Ten Commandments – Jewish & Christian views

One of the few works of art found in most synagogues are the tablets of the Ten Commandments. They occupy a place of honour and appear to be the highest teaching of the Bible. People who keep very little day to day Judaism boast of their dedication to the Decalogue. Kashrut, daily prayer, even the m’zuzah on the door – all are brushed aside, but we are solemnly assured, “I do live by the Ten Commandments”. If only this were really true in an age when murder and mayhem, adultery and theft are so powerful! If only those who boast about the Ten Commandments kept the fourth one, about Shabbat!

Christianity gave Judaism some problems with the Decalogue. The Midrash revelled in its poetical acclaim for the Revelation, but the sages removed the Ten Commandments from the daily liturgy. That they were part of the daily service in the Temple is recorded in the Mishnah (Tamid 5:1), reflected in the Nash Papyrus in which they are side by side with the Sh’ma, and confirmed by fragments of t’fillin found in the Qumran caves.

However, Judaism abandoned the daily reading “because of the claims of the sectarians” (Ber. 12a). The followers of Paul believed that only the Ten Commandments and not the rest of the Mosaic law were Divine, eternal and binding. For Jews to give priority to the Decalogue might have signalled agreement with the sectarians, so the daily reading was abandoned in order to show that all the 613 mitzvot were Divine commands.

From then onwards, the Decalogue has not formed part of the statutory service, though some people add it to their personal prayers and the commentators averred that the teachings of the Ten Commandments were hinted at in the Sh’ma. Chief Rabbi JH Hertz wrote, “The Teachers of the Talmud were most careful to emphasise that the Ten Commandments did not contain the Whole Duty of Man. The Decalogue laid down the foundations of Religion and Morality, but was not in itself the entire structure of Human Duty”. Maimonides opposed standing for the Ten Commandments on Shabbat Yitro and Va’et’chanan or on Shavu’ot unless one always stood during the Torah reading, “as this may lead to the mistaken idea that one part of the Torah is greater than another”.

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[edu]

Yaakov Mendel wrote:

Maybe because they sort of sum up, in a broad and simple manner, the whole Torah. They are fundamental principles that should constantly guide you through your life : be humble, be respectful, be loyal, be faithful, do not lie, do not deceit, do not envy...
Of course they are very general and their meaning becomes more and more precise as the Torah unfolds.

Yaakov, there are Torah commandments such as Love Your Neighbor as Yourself that seem to sum up the Torah in a broad and simple manner, yet this is left out of the Aseret Hadibrot {Ten Commandments} Any theory why?

[muman613]

Yaakov Mendel wrote:Yaakov, there are Torah commandments such as Love Your Neighbor as Yourself that seem to sum up the Torah in a broad and simple manner, yet this is left out of the Aseret Hadibrot {Ten Commandments} Any theory why?

The commandment 'Love thy Neighbor' is actually contained in the 10th Dibrot.... "Do not covet thy neighbors house..."...

As I said in my post above, the Ten Commandments can be considered meta-categories for the 613...



http://vbm-torah.org/archive/intparsha68/30-68kedoshim.htm

http://www.ou.org/index.php/shabbat_shalom/article/39634/

The great midrash mystery however is the search for lo tachmod  (do not covet). Whereas belief in Hashem (Ani Hashem Elokeichem), respecting parents, Shabbos, bearing false oaths, etc. are explicated and murder (3), adultery are intimated, the coveting prohibition appears elusive.

Ibn Ezra and Ramban cite different midrashic traditions (4). The former quotes “lo taashok es reiacha” (5) (do not cheat your friend). Apparently, the notion is that cheating a fellow Jew is often the ultimate consequence of coveting. Indeed even when one pays for a coveted object (6), he still violates the prohibition – so long as he caused an unwilling separation between owner and object (salesmen and realtors beware!)

Ramban however finds lo tachmod residing in a completely different neighborhood:

לא תחמוד וכתיב הכא ואהבת לרעך כמוך
There is it is written “do not covet” and here it is written Love your neighbor like yourself-

Remarkable! “Do not covet” equals “Love your neighbor like yourself”. Their formulations appear so different and yet in midrashic analysis their fates converge. How so?

Ostensibly, the link is as follows: Jealousy is an impediment to love. The master of lo tachmod will naturally gravitate towards loving his neighbor in a deep and abiding way. If I can figure out how to fargen - how to not begrudge one his success, a natural state of love will reside. In this formulation, v’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha is the result of one who internalizes the message of lo tachmod. A simple formulation however begets a lifetime’s work of implementation. At the end of the midrash, we are still left groping for tools of tachmod transcendence.

Perhaps there is a bit more going one here. We may speculate that the “Do not covet/ Love your neighbor stream” flows in the opposite direction as well. Maybe consideration of v’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha will give us the tools to overcome our natural jealous desires.