Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

Who is buried in Grant’s tomb?

When was the War of 1812?

Who fought the French and Indian war?

If a plane crashed on the border of the United States and Canada, where do they bury the survivors? 

These kinds of riddles are told by Dad’s to their kids when their children reach the age that they  begin to appreciate irony and sarcasm. The answer to all of these riddles is contained in the question itself. They are funny because the answer is obvious. I would like to add a riddle to this genre, as we are chanting the Ten Commandments in our ritual Torah reading for the week: 

How many commandments are in the Ten Commandments?

Before we answer the riddle, a little background information. The Ten Commandments are not called the “Ten Commandments” in the Bible. That would be “aseret ha-mitzvoth”. In the Book of Exodus (34:28) they are referred to as the “aseret ha-devarim” or the “Ten (groups of) Words”. The rabbis referred to the Ten Commandments as “aseret ha-dibrot”, or, “The Ten Utterances”. The first appearance of the translation from the Hebrew “aseret ha-devarim” to the English “The Ten Commandments” is in the 1560 Geneva Bible, from which the King James Bible borrowed it in its 1611 English translation. 

So how many commandments are there in the Ten Commandments? (Exodus 20: 2-14) Let’s count.

1. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the Land of Egypt. (That is, you shall believe in God who liberated you from Egypt.)
2. You shall have no other gods before you.
3. You shall not make for yourself a graven image
4. You shall not bow down to any graven image.
5. You shall not serve any other god.
6. You shall not swear in vain.
7. Remember the Sabbath day (by reciting Kiddush)
8. Keep the Sabbath holy (by abstaining from work)
9. Honor one’s parents
10. Do not murder
11. Do not commit adultery
12. Do not steal
13. Do not bear false witness
14. Do not covet that which is another’s.

How many commandments are there in the Ten Commandments? FOURTEEN! Fourteen commandments in ten utterances by God. 

Who is buried in Grant’s tomb? If you answered “Ulysses S. Grant” you would be wrong again, on two accounts. Grant is not “buried” there, he is interred above ground. Furthermore, his wife Julia is also interred in Grant’s tomb. 

Shabbat Shalom