EXOD988 Thus, through observance of the laws and restrictions one places upon oneself, one demonstrates a sense of freedom. This is precisely the intention of the Mishnah Avot 6:2 that connects the Hebrew word cherut, freedom , with a similar word charut, engraved. When the Torah says [this verse] that the hand of God was engraved on the tablets of the Ten Commandments, one should read freedom, not engraved.

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EXOD1012 Why does God want the Jews to perform all of the 613 commandments? On a certain level, we can never truly understand God's motives. There are numerous sources that tell us that, by definition, man cannot possibly understand God. Even Maimonides, the rationalist, explains in Hilchot Yesodei Hatorah 1:10 that man cannot truly understand the Almighty in the manner that man perceives other humans. Moses in [this verse] tries to understand God, and the Almighty responds Exodus 33:19 – 23 that man cannot truly perceive Him from the front, but lets Moses perceive God from the rear. Nevertheless, we can begin to understand certain motives of God through the Scriptures themselves, which gives us some clues.

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EXOD1019 See [[EXOD947]] Exodus 25:16 deposit AMEMEI 257

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EXOD1020 The Written Law was meant not only for the Jewish people but for all the non-Jews of the world as well. [Rashi on this verse.] That is why it was given publicly, even though holiness is usually a hidden event. It was crucial that non-Jews knew of the Written Torah so that they might eventually come to adopt it.

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EXOD1058 See [[EXOD973]] Exodus 31:14 keep AMEMEI 281

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EXOD1059 [T]here is a positive rabbinic mitzvah to light candles before Shabbat that will burn on Shabbat. Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 263:2. On the other hand, lighting a fire on Shabbat itself is absolutely forbidden [this verse, codified in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 261:1]. Thus, lighting a fire one minute before nightfall is a mitzvah. One minute later, lighting that same fire is a sin. Thus, the sensitivity to time is needed by the Jew to know that small differences between day and night, between mitzvah and sin.

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LEV8 In Judaism, we will see that not only must a person withhold information that was specifically told in confidence, but even information that was not told "confidentially" must also not be revealed. Why, in the Talmud (Yoma 4b) after calling Moses, does God use the expression "saying" followed by the phrase "Speak to the children of Israel"? [this verse] It is obvious that if God calls Moses to speak to him and uses the phrase leimor, "saying," that this is intended for the people. Why then add the extra words, "Speak to the people"? The answer is that without the last phrase telling Moses to tell it over to the people, Moses would be prohibited from telling the Jewish people what God had said. Only when there is specific permission to tell information, may it then be repeated to another. Without that permission, even if not spoken in confidence, it would be forbidden to tell the facts of the conversation. Thus, in Judaism, all information is, in its essence, considered confidential. One need not say "Keep this confidential" to indicate secrecy. This concept is also discussed in detail by the Or Hachaim commentary on the first occasion (of the hundreds of occasions) where this double phraseology of "saying" and "Tell the People of Israel" is mentioned in the Torah. Rashi (commentary on Yoma 4b) then reinterprets the word leimor, "saying," to mean two other Hebrew words, lo amar, you shall not reveal. Therefore, this word tells us that no information maybe revealed to another unless explicit consent to do so is granted.

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LEV73 Since th[e] mitzvah [of preserving dignity] is truly important, it will be shown that both the Torah and the rabbis went to great lengths to preserve a person's dignity. The Talmud (Berachot 19b) says that preserving dignity is so important that one may violate a negative mitzvah for the sake of preserving dignity. Later authorities rule that a person may violate any rabbinic (not biblical) injunction in order to preserve dignity (Maimonides, Hilchot Kelayim 10:29). Since most of Jewish practice is rabbinic, not biblical in nature, most practices in Judaism can be violated if doing the mitzvah would necessitate violating a person's dignity. ... The Torah in itself shows its sensitivity to the concept of not embarrassing anyone. [This] verse says that the place to which the burnt offering is brought should be the same place the sin offering "for accidental sins" is brought. The Talmud (Sotah 32b) explains that the Torah was trying to protect the identity of those who brought a sin offering, so that no one could tell by looking at a particular place in the Temple if the people were sinners or not. When the offering of the First Fruits (Bikurim) was brought to the Temple, a number of verses had to be read with the offering. Since not everyone could read, the rabbis (Mishnah, Bikurim 3:7) instituted a rule that there should be permanent readers to read for everyone. It would not suffice merely to have readers for those who could not read since their illiteracy would be obvious. By having a permanent reader, no one would know who could and who could not read, avoiding embarrassment. This is the practice adopted today in most Ashkenazic synagogues for Torah reading. Since most Ashkenazic people today cannot read the Torah with the proper melody, a Torah reader reads for everyone, even those who can read, in order to avoid embarrassment. In the same way, it was the custom to bring food to a shiva house (house of Jewish mourning). However, the poor used to bring in plain baskets while the rich brought in wealthier baskets, which caused embarrassment to the poor. Therefore, the rabbis (Mo'ed Katan 27a) instituted a custom everyone had to bring food in a plain basket to the house of mourning.

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LEV81 The most obvious manner (to the outside world) that an observant Jew shows the moral aspect of what he eats is his choosing not to eat certain foods based on the Torah's laws about kashrut. Just the desire to keep these laws shows a basic acceptance of God and His commandments. The specifics also demonstrate a certain level of morality, in that the animals eaten are also slaughtered in a kosher manner, the least painful way to kill an animal (Sefer Hachinuch, Mitzvah 451). The blood must be thoroughly drained and not eaten, because the blood represents the "soul" of the animal [this verse and Deut. 12:23]. Each of these details has an element of morality attached to it.

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LEV99 Based on the Torah itself, there is only one unique aspect to the pig. The Torah's two signs for a kosher animal is that the animal must both chew its cud and have split hooves [this verse]. Most animals in the world have either both symbols and are kosher or none of the symbols and are not kosher. But the Torah says that there are only four exceptions that have one symbol, not the other [Leviticus 11:4-7] (until today, they have never found a fifth exception in the entire planet). Three of the exceptions, the camel, the rabbit, and the fox, chew their cud but have no split hooves. Only the pig (of all the animals on earth) has split hooves but does not chew its cud. Why is that so detestable to the Jew (more than other animal)? It has been suggested that this symbol of the pig is the only animal in the world that has the outward symbol of kosher and not the inward symbol. Thus, the pig symbolizes the animal (and person) that is kosher on the outside but not on the inside. Someone who appears righteous to the world but who, in reality, is not righteous is indeed detestable to the Jew. This type of hypocrisy, "saying one thing (positive) but thinking another (negative)" is one of the categories of people that God detests (Pesachim 113b). A student whose inside did not match his outside was not permitted into the beit medrash (study hall) (Berachot 28a). The Talmud (Sanhedrin 104b) analyzes why the Megillah of Eichah, which describes the Temple's destruction, is in alphabetical acrostic order except for the letter Peh and the letter Ayin, which are reversed. It says that unlike the alphabet, when the spies in the desert put their mouths (Peh) before what their eyes (Ayin) had seen, they reported that the land should not be entered. It was for that sin, saying what they did not really see, that the Jews were not allowed entry to the land until that generation was wiped out and a new generation would be able to enter the land of Israel. Therefore, the degree of reprehensible of any person who acts differently from the way he or she thinks is reflected symbolically in the pig who looks kosher on the outside but is not on the inside. It is possible that it is for this moral reason that the pig is universally viewed as reprehensible to the Jew.

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