Shavuot, one of the three major Festival holidays, celebrates the receiving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai and the culmination of the Exodus from Egypt, transforming the Israelites from a liberated group to a nation bound by a spiritual covenant. The Ten Commandments (Aseret Hadibrot in Hebrew) are recorded twice in the Torah, the first time in Parashat Yitro (Exodus 20) and the second in Parashat Va’etchanan (Deut. 5). Although there are some slight (but not irrelevant) differences in the two versions, these ten commandments are the moral guide for honoring God and for maintaining a peaceful and holy community.
What important lesson about community is reflected in the public reading of the Ten Commandments?
It is interesting to note that there are two cantillation marks (trope signs) on most words for the Ten Commandments, which is not the norm for the rest of the Torah. There is an upper set of tropes (known as Ta’am Ha-elyon) and a lower set (known as Ta’am Ha-tachton). Ta’amay Hamikrah, Tropes, or cantillation marks, which were established by the family of Ben Asher in Tiberias in the ninth century as a guide for the reading of Biblical texts, serve three crucial functions: 1) how to chant the word, 2) where to accent the word and 3) the syntax or punctuation of the sentence. With these functions in mind, especially the third, one can see that changing the cantillation can radically change the meaning of the text.
Why then are there multiple trope signs on such a fundamental text? Scholars tell us that the two sets of tropes developed as a result of a difference of opinion between the sages of Babylonia and those of Palestine as to how the “Dibrot” should be divided and counted. The upper set of tropes, which originated in Babylonia, arranges the “Dibrot” into ten verses — one for each commandment. As a result of this division, however, there are some very long verses (2 and 4) and some very short verses (6, 7 and 8). The lower set of tropes, on the other hand, divides the “Dibrot” into more-or-less average length verses which total twelve rather than ten and the short commandments (6, 7, 8 and 9) are combined into one verse.
Both sets of trope signs are printed as a compromise and are an example of the Jewish tradition of respecting differing opinions! The public reading of the Ten Commandments teaches that a strong community requires not only a shared moral foundation while simultaneously recognizing individual boundaries, but also demonstrates the importance of honoring individuality and differing opinions within the community.
On this festival of Shavuot, let us join together in celebration of the covenant between God and the Jewish people, and also celebrate the caring, warmth, rootedness and vibrancy of our own CBI Kehillah Kedoshah (sacred community)!
Hag Same’ach!
Cantor Lorna
(Sources for this article: Biblical Chant, by A.W. Binder, and “The Cantillation of the Decalogue”, by Joshua Jacobson, Journal of Synagogue Music, May 1995.)
