The Ten Commandments are so hot, right now, that its amazing some Beltway politico hasn\u2019t tried to hit Moses with a grand jury subpoena or a blast of rumors about his private life during all those mysterious years out in the desert.<\/p>\n\n
America\u2019s political establishment is struggling with the implications of Commandment No. 7: \u201cThou shalt not commit adultery.\u201d No. 9 issues a timely warning against perjury: \u201cThou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.\u201d Meanwhile, legislators and legions of social activists are fighting over whether it\u2019s legal to post this particular top 10 list anywhere in the public square.<\/p>\n\n
After all, they are called the Ten Commandments, which implies that someone \u2013 make that Someone \u2013 wants people to obey them, said Rabbi Stewart Vogel, co-author of a new book, with radio superstar Laura Schlessinger, entitled \u201cThe Ten Commandments: The Significance of God\u2019s Laws in Everyday Life.\u201d The book has gained a double-shot of momentum from the White House scandals and the Jewish High Holy Days, which conclude with Yom Kippur on Wednesday (Sept. 30).<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWithout a God \u2026 you end up with a subjective morality. There\u2019s no way around that,\u201d said the rabbi,\u201d who leads Temple Aliyah in Woodland Hills, Calif. \u201cTo believe in God is to believe that human beings are not mere accidents of nature. \u2026 Without God, there is no objective meaning to life and there is no objective morality. I don\u2019t want to live in a world where right and wrong are subjective.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Theologians and philosophers debate these kinds of lofty issues all the time without causing a ripple in homes and shopping malls. But this book may be different, because Dr. Laura\u2019s take-few-prisoners style of family counseling has won her a loyal audience of 20 million, leading to a string of bestsellers with punchy titles such as \u201cHow Could You Do That?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The book grew out of several years of personal discussions, since the talk-show host is active in Vogel\u2019s synagogue. While he is a Conservative Jewish rabbi, Schlessinger and her family recently completed a complicated religious journey by converting to Orthodox Judaism. Once a fierce skeptic, she describes herself as the product of an \u201cinter-faithless marriage\u201d between an unbelieving Jewish father and a culturally Catholic mother.<\/p>\n\n
As might be expected, the book blends two very different styles. The first-person singular voice is Dr. Laura\u2019s and she is clearly the source of the radio-based parables. But the rabbi said readers shouldn\u2019t assume that he wrote all the theological commentary, while she added doses of \u201creal life.\u201d Schlessinger has strong viewpoints on scriptural issues, he said, and rabbis also have to deal with tough, practical problems.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cBut we do tend to separate what we call \u2018religious life\u2019 from the kinds of issues Dr. Laura deals with day after day,\u201d said Vogel. \u201cWe end up with \u2018religious life\u2019 over here and \u2018radio life\u2019 over there and they never meet face to face. We tried to bring the two together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Thus, the book addresses both cultural and highly personal questions. The chapter on the sixth commandment, \u201cThou shalt not kill,\u201d covers issues ranging from murder to abortion, from acts of self-destruction to gossip that crushes the reputation of others. When addressing idolatry and other gods, the authors spend as much time on the old-fashioned worship of success as they do on trendy gospels of self-esteem.<\/p>\n\n
Hardly anyone wants to ditch the Ten Commandments, said the rabbi. Most people want their neighbors to follow the Ten Commandments, because that creates a safer, kinder, more just world in which to live. The problem is that so many people are simply too easy on themselves.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cOne thing leads to another,\u201d he said. \u201cSo people commit adultery and then they have to lie to cover it up. So No. 7 leads straight to No. 9. \u2026 And when people start lying, they are really setting themselves up as idols. So we\u2019re back to the issue of God. People are saying that they get to set up their own standards for what is right and wrong and it doesn\u2019t matter what happens to others. They put themselves in the place of God.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Ten Commandments are so hot, right now, that its amazing some Beltway politico hasn\u2019t tried to hit Moses with a grand jury subpoena or a blast of rumors about his private life during all those mysterious years out in the desert. America\u2019s political establishment is struggling with the implications of Commandment No. 7: \u201cThou […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n