Why do the 10 Commandments matter for you?

What do the 10 Commandments have to do with combatting antisemitism and building a strong Australia?

First, a quick quiz: how many of the 10 commandments can you name? A follow up could be how many you have broken, are breaking, or intend to break.

The energy behind contemporary antisemitism is a desire to tear down and destroy our western, judaeo-christian civilisation and replace it with either a marxist utopia or an Islamic caliphate (or perhaps a confused conflation of the two).

I have spoken about this in numerous places. Try here or here.

To resist these destructive and divisive forces we need to understand, defend, and transmit our western tradition and culture.

Do you know, that the book of Deuteronomy in the Torah (bible) is the source of the many of the political, legal and philosophical ideas that have made our civilisation great (not perfect, but so, so much better than competitors).

Think about what we have learned from the 10 commandments, recorded for us in Deuteronomy 5.

1. The moral order of the universe comes from God. The important point here, even if you don’t believe in god and read this text as divine revelation, is that the moral order, the law, transcends all humans and therefore applies to all humans, including kings and rulers. Kings, rulers, despots, don’t get to make up the rules about reality. They are accountable just as any citizen or subject. This is revolutionary!
   
   
2. The moral order of the universe respects and maximises human freedom and dignity. It says, here’s 10 things you should not do, for the rest of it, go ahead and do what you want. You are free to think, to reason, and to choose. Just don’t do these things and you, and your society, will be just fine. Talk about limited government! Just contrast this with Marxism or Islam…
   
   
3. The detailed way in which the moral ordering is to be applied therefore is context dependent. So in the Torah, great details are given about how to live out these 10 principles within the emerging nation state of Israel. 3500 years ago. Those applications are not viewed as permanent, binding instructions. Each generation has to work out how to live within this moral order as we develop and grow. So we have 3500 years of sophisticated moral philosophy to guide us. 
   
   
4. So our civilisation is woven together by the threads of freedom, responsibility, and love. Pretty amazing?! And we would have none of this without the Jewish people…

The 10 Commandments are just one example of this incredible intellectual, moral, spiritual, and political tradition that has made Australia such a wonderful country. 

Now you understand this, you need to defend this part of our tradition. We must not let this precious heritage be ripped away from us.

And finally, we have to transmit this to our children and our children’s children. For we must not let this heritage be ripped away from them. 

Freedom. Responsibility. Love. 

The recipe for a strong Australia courtesy of our Jewish family.