Published June 2022
“WILSON V. CLEMENCEAUS”
Rabbi Meir Alter of Ger once posted the following question: Why is the festival of Shavuot called “the time of the giving of our Torah”, and not “the time of the receiving of our Torah”? The answer is because the giving of the Torah happened at one specified time, but the receiving of the Torah happens at every time and in every generation.
That is why we have to read The Ten Commandments every Shavuot, again and again, because in in each generation they are understood differently. The principles stand; only the applications change. Obviously things are much more complicated today than in the distant past. However, the point really is that if we kept the Ten Commandments we would not need any more laws, prisons, or punishments or anything else.
After World War 1, President Woodrow Wilson promulgated the famous Fourteen Points. Premier George Clemenceau, who was known as the “Tiger of France”, criticized him and said, “Look at Wilson; he’s trying to do better than Moses. Moses gave us ten commandments, and Wilson wants to give us fourteen!” Woodrow Wilson retorted: “Mr. Clemenceau, if you promise to live up to the Ten Commandments, I will give up my fourteen commandments”.
Rabbi Alvin Kass
Chief Chaplain of the NYPD