A copy of the Ten Commandments that God presented to Moses on Mount Sinai are hung in the synagogue.

The Story of the Ten Commandments

Moses and the Israelites fled the slavery of Egypt, and wandered in the desert for many months. God supplied them with food (manna) and water. Moses led the Israelites to the base Mount Sinai, where they camped and enjoyed the lush grass, trees and flowers, a great change from the dry, bare desert.

On the third day of the Hebrew month of Sivan, God commanded Moses to prepare the Jewish people for his visit. So the people cleaned their clothes and their bodies. Three days later, on the sixth day of the month of Sivan, thunder and lightening awakened the Israelites. Mount Sinai was surrounded by thick, dark clouds, and blasts of the Shofar echoed across the desert. As the earth began to tremble and shake, God's voice spoke to the Israelites, and he gave them his Ten Commandments.

    1. "I am the Lord your God, Who has taken you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery"
    2. "You shall have no other gods but me"
    3. "You shall not take the name of your Lord in vain"
    4. "You shall remember and keep the Sabbath day holy"
    5. "Honor your father and mother"
    6. "You shall not murder"
    7. "You shall not commit adultery"
    8. "You shall not steal"
    9. "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor"
    10. "You shall not covet your neighbor's goods. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his bull, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's'"

Moses climbed Mount Sinai and returned with the two stone tablets containing these Ten Commandments. Shavuot is a holiday when Jewish people commemorate God's giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites.

Note: These are the Jewish version of the Ten Commandments. Different religions have different versions of the commandments.

 

Examples of the Ten Commandments~~

Related Links

The Ten Commandments Recited
...hear the Ten Commandments read in Hebrew

Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress:
Journey Across the Sinai

 

  

Sources:
http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Scripture/Torah/Ten_Cmds/ten_cmds.html
http://www.holidays.net/shavuot/ten.htm
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments
http://scheinerman.net/judaism/synagogue/krakow.html

  

 

Virtual Synagogue • Sacred Objects

Wellesley Middle School
February 2006