I would love to see an indepth look at and discussion of each of the 10 Commandments. Perhaps we could start with a discussion of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Commandments - I found the revelations in YY on these to be extremely interesting and insightful. It really opened my eyes to the truth (and beauty) of them.

Oh yes, lets not forget the very first Commandment - why did/does Yahuweh feel it was necessary to idenfify himself as: the God that brought you out of the land of Egypt?

I am looking forward to hearing from everyone - especially what kp has to say on the subject.

-Yada

Oooo, Yada, I love a challenge. The question is, how patient are you?

Here's what I mean. Having "finished" writing The Owner's Manual (by the way, Jeannie, thanks for the kind word), two more "Torah" projects immediately present themselves. First, I need to do a chapter (or two or three...) on "what Maimonides missed," that is, covering the Torah precepts he either didn't notice or avoided on purpose. I'm currently working on a scripture index for the book, which I'll need in order to figure out what's missing. I'm already aware, of course, of some things the Rambam skipped over simply because I picked them up while covering his anemic and selective "613" list. But there has to be a lot more---I just don't know how much. Yet.

But I can't shake the feeling (maybe it's the Spirit's nudging) that there ought to be a real, definitive "List of Yahweh's Precepts." You know, one that corrects the errors, omissions, and rabbinical agenda that Maimonides built into his list. It has existed, of course, for the past 3,500 years in the Torah itself, but God only provided us with the puzzle pieces---He didn't actually give us the picture so we'd know what the scene would look like when we put it all together. It's like a big parable. It's up to us to figure out what it means.

And here's where the "Ten Commandments" discussion comes into play. Something tells me that everything in the entire Torah fits nicely under one of these ten headings---that the tablets of stone upon which Yahweh wrote "the Law" with his own finger (so to speak) are in reality a concise summary of everything we need to know. I can't prove it yet, and I may be wrong. But I'm willing to spend the time it takes to puzzle it out. Until then, we'll have to settle for piecemeal insights, the first of which is: there aren't 613 mitzvot. There may only be ten.

kp