Where in the Ten Commandments Are We Told: Be Kind?

Most people are familiar with the Ten Commandments. But if I asked you: “Where in the Ten Commandments does it say that we should be kind to other Jews,” would you know what to reply?

The Ten Commandments begins with, “I am the Lord your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”

The second commandment is as follows:

“You shall not have the gods of others in My presence ... You shall neither prostrate yourself before them, nor worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a zealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, and performing acts of kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments” (Shemot 20:3-6).

Idolatry is not child’s play. A person who dares to bow down to an idol will be severely punished; furthermore, Hashem will also punish his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

But then, right after stressing this point, in what appears at first glance to be going off on a tangent, Hashem tells us that those who choose the Torah path of life will be greatly rewarded.

Rashi, the great medieval Talmudic commentator, explains exactly what is meant here:

“Hashem stores up the kindnesses that a person does, to reward these actions to a thousand generations of the person’s descendants.

“It follows, therefore, that the measure of reward for goodness is five hundred times greater than the measure of punishment for wrongdoing...”

But how does Hashem rewarding us for being kind to our fellow Jews follow on from the prohibition of idolatry?

**

To put this into some more perspective, we should note that this is the second commandment of the ten. This is significant because the Torah tells us that Hashem spoke the first two commandments directly to the Jewish People. The experience was so overwhelming that Moshe Rabbeinu transmitted the other eight. So these teachings about acting kindly toward other Jews came directly from Hashem to us.

Idolatry is one of the three cardinal sins (the other two are bloodshed and immorality) concerning which a person must forfeit his life rather than transgress. The punishment for serving idols is severe—and the reward for being kind to a fellow Jew is five hundred times greater!

Just something to think about...