Bernie and Esther did not come to shul very often. One Shabbos evening, as they were leaving shul, the Rabbi called out, “Bernie, it sure would be nice to see you and Esther here more often!” “I know,” replied Bernie, “but at least we keep the Ten Commandments.” “That’s great,” the Rabbi said. “I’m glad to hear that you keep the Commandments.” “Yep,” Bernie said proudly, “Esther keeps six of them and I keep the other four.”

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Yisro: More Positive than Positive

PRACTICE
Judaism is not merely a religion of faith but a tradition of practice. Actively practicing the commandments of the Torah is the path to bringing light to the world. The Torah portion of Yisro relates the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. How do the Ten Commandments enhance our understanding of the path of action?

UPPER AND LOWER CANTILLATIONS
Taking a look at the Ten Commandments in the Hebrew, one might notice that the cantillation marks, or musical notes, on the letters of the Ten Commandments are unique–there is nothing else like them in the entire Torah. Each word in the Torah carries a musical note called a ta’am. However, there are two full sets of musical notes upon the words of the Ten Commandments.

These two sets are called ta’am tachtin, the lower cantillations, and ta’am elyon, the upper cantillations.[1] The ta’am tachtin notes are used when one recites the Ten Commandments informally or individually. The ta’am elyon notes are used when the Ten Commandments are read publicly, as in a community prayer service. Not only are the melodies for the two sets different, but they have different phrasing structures. For example, in ta’am tachtin, the first two of the Ten Commandments are split into several separate passages. In ta’am elyon, the first two Commandments comprise a single passage.

The first two Commandments with ta’am tachtin and multiple verses:

The first two Commandments with ta’am elyon and as a single verse:

TWO FROM ONE
The Book of Psalms says,[2] “One did G-d speak, two were heard.” The Talmud says that on Mount Sinai, G-d began by speaking the first two commandments simultaneously.[3] This was totally incomprehensible to us, so G-d repeated the commandments, this time breaking them down into separate passages. Surely, the all-knowing G-d was aware that human beings could not comprehend two statements at once. Why did He pronounce them that way at all? Also, if in His infinite wisdom G-d knew the commandments had to be delivered in one verse, why did He also break them down into separate verses?

ACTIVE AND PASSIVE
The Torah is made up of 613 commandments. These are broken down into two categories: 248 positive commandments and 365 negative commandments.[4] An example of a positive commandment is, “Keep the Shabbos holy.” This commandment includes activities such as lighting Shabbos candles, making Kiddush, eating festive meals, and praying in the synagogue. Positive commandments are active practices–’stand up and do.’

An example of a negative commandment is, “Do not break Shabbos.” This means refraining from the thirty-nine prohibited labors, i.e., plowing, sowing, cooking, and baking, etc. The negative commandments are passive practices or non-doings–’sit down and abstain.’

The first of the Ten Commandments is positive: “I am G-d your G-d….” We must express our belief in G-d by doing acts of goodness and kindness. The second of the Ten Commandments is negative: “…You shall not make for yourselves other gods.” If someone who has the desire to make or bow down to an idol refrains from these actions, they fulfill this negative commandment.

SPIRITUAL EFFECTS
What is the reward for a positive commandment? A positive commandment draws down positive energy into this world making the world a better place to live in with blessing, rain, success, good health, and spiritual light.

The rewards for negative commandments are of removing negativity: diminishing evil and removing sickness, suffering, war, and spiritual darkness from the world.

THE END OF NEGATION
Ultimately, the spirit of impurity will be completely removed from the face of the earth with the coming of Moshiach. G-d will even slaughter the yetzer hara, the evil inclination that prompts people to acts that bring darkness.

However, the Rambam says the Torah will never be changed, even when the Messiah comes. In other words, not one of the 365 negative commandments will become defunct. But in a world of light, with no more evil to diminish, what will be their purpose? There must be a deeper purpose to their performance than simply diminishing evil.

BEYOND COMPREHENSION
The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains:[5] fulfilling a negative commandment actually brings a light into the world that is ‘more positive than positive’. This light is so overwhelming, so beyond our comprehension, that the only way to explain it with words is through the negative–saying what it is not. This is called the ‘darkness that is more brilliant than light’. It is the message of “One did G-d speak”–when the first and second commandments were delivered together as one.

The objective of “One did G-d speak” is to teach us that positive and negative commandments–doing and non-doing–are essentially one: they’re both positive. Furthermore, everything in the world is positive, even negative events, for deep within them there shines a positive light. This is the meaning of the ‘upper cantillations’.

WITHIN COMPREHENSION
In contrast, the lower cantillations relate to an individual who is beginning to study and understand Torah Law and serving G-d. In order to comprehend his path properly, he should dissect and analyze every verse and letter of the Law, and he should make clear distinctions between what is negative and what is positive in his life.

HEARING ONENESS
Clearly, both the upper and lower cantillations are important in the melody of our divine service. But how do we actually reach the level of the upper cantillations? We can reach this level through serving G-d as a congregation–unifying with others, just as we did at Mount Sinai. Then, the power of our individual spiritual actions is multiplied. When we gather together in unity, all we really need to do is to open our eyes, to sense the brilliant darkness beyond all light. As the Rebbe said, ‘The Messianic Era is already here. All we need to do now is open our eyes.’

* * *

Daniel Goleman, author of Working with Emotional Intelligence, reports on a study of four-year-olds at Stanford University that became known as the “marshmallow test”. Children at the university’s preschool were brought into a room, one at a time. A marshmallow was put on the table in front of each child, and they were told, “You can have this marshmallow now if you want. I’m leaving for a little while. If you don’t eat it while I’m away, you can have two when I return.” This study revealed that fourteen years later, as the participants were graduating from high school, the children who had eaten the marshmallow right away were less able to resist temptation or to achieve their goals and were more likely to “fall apart” under stress than the youngsters who had waited for their reward. Perhaps the most surprising result was that those children willing to defer gratification scored, on average, 210 points higher on the S.A.T. college entrance test than those who wanted to eat the marshmallow immediately.

This is perhaps the reason why there are more negative commandments than positive commandments–for we need them to condition us and raise us to a higher spiritual level.

ACTION:This Shabbos, go to your local synagogue to hear the reading of the Ten Commandments. Meditate on the upper cantillations and sense the brilliant darkness beyond light.

FOOTNOTES
[1] See Shulchan Aruch of Rav Schneur Zalman of Liadi, Orach Chayim, Chapter 494, Laws 8-11.
[2] Psalms, 65:12
[3] Makkos, 24a. See also Mechilta and Rashi’s commentary on Exodus, 20:1.
[4] Makkos, 23b. See also commentary of Chidushei Aggados of the Marsha.
[5] Sefer HaSichos 5751, p. 305