Aseret Hadibrot: Oneness And Twoness

Regenerate “Le’aleph” means to teach, elevate, or lift to a higher spiritual dimension; “aluph” refers to the highest-ranking military position; and “eleph” is the highest number in the Hebrew decimal system.

The Torah begins with the letter beis, because Parashas Bereishis begins by describing Hashem’s creation of the physical world, the process of Hashem’s oneness becoming expressed into multiplicity. This process is most appropriately encapsulated by the letter beis – the letter of twoness that stems from oneness.

While the creation of the physical world reflects the finite expression of oneness into multiplicity, Matan Torah was exactly the opposite. The experience of Torah being brought into this world was an ascension from twoness to oneness. This was an experience of Hashem Himself – an unparalleled experience of truth, oneness, and the transcendent spiritual dimension of reality. The Aseret Hadibrot therefore begin with an aleph, the letter of oneness and transcendence. (The Aseret Hadibrot begin with the words: “Anochi Hashem.”)

Emanation

Building on the concepts we have just developed, we can now understand the uniqueness of the Aseret Hadibrot in relation to the rest of the Torah. Many assume that the Aseret Hadibrot are simply the ten most important mitzvot in the Torah, which is why they receive special attention. However, there is much deeper significance to these specific ten mitzvot. Rashi explains that the Aseret Hadibrot include the rest of the mitzvot within them (Shemos 24:12). These Ten Commandments are the fundamental root mitzvot, and the other 603 mitzvot emanate from these ten root categories. [Rav Saadia Gaon describes at great length the breakdown of the mitzvot into their respective categories. It’s also fascinating to note that there are 620 letters in the Aseret Hadibrot, reflecting the idea that the 613 mitzvot and the sheva mitzvot B’nei Noach are all contained within these ten root categories.]

Rav Tzadok explains that just as the 613 mitzvot emanate from the Aseret Hadibrot, all of the Aseret Hadibrot, and by extension, all the mitzvot in the Torah, emanate from the first of the Aseret Hadibrot, “Anochi Hashem.”

This first dibrah declares Hashem’s existence and establishes the necessity of our faithfulness to Hashem and his will. Whenever a person performs a mitzvah, they express their adherence to the first of the Aseret Hadibrot by acknowledging Hashem’s existence and their commitment to fulfilling His will.

Rav Tzadok continues by explaining that the second dibrah, the prohibition of avodah zarah, is the root of all mitzvot lo saaseh (negative commandments). When one denies the will of Hashem, transgressing a negative commandment, he distances himself from Hashem, serving himself instead. This is an abstracted form of avodah zarah, as idolatry is the concept of betraying our loyalty and relationship with Hashem. On a deeper level, when one violates a lo saaseh, it is also a violation of the first dibrah, Anochi Hashem, as this root mitzvah contains within it all of avodas Hashem. When one fails to acknowledge Hashem, they squander the opportunity to fulfill the first dibrah of building a loving connection with our Creator.

A Fundamental Problem

However, there is a major problem. If the Luchot are an expression of the oneness of Torah and the root of our connection to Hashem in this world, then why are the dibrot split into two separate groups, the right side and the left side? Why fragment the ultimate expression of oneness into two separate pieces? In our next article, we will delve deeper into this topic in order to build a paradigm through which we can answer this question on a profoundly deep level.