Two-Sided Tablets

The Ten Commandments were written on two sides of the Tablets. One side (the right) was designated for Laws between Man and God while the other side was for Laws between Man and Man. An obvious question is why is the Law concerning respect for parents is considered to be a law between Man and God. The answer for this comes from the Talmud. The Talmud stated that every person has three Creators, God, mother and father. The message is obvious; our parents are considered to be worthy of the respect we accord to the Divine.

Man learns how to behave by imitating the behavior of others. We learn how to give and how to love because we all experienced these feelings as young, helpless children. We learn how to be “givers” in life by the example set by our parents. In this respect, as sustainers of life, our parents are deemed to be a partner of God.

One of the prominent teachers of Jewish Ethics was Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler. In an essay, Rabbi Dessler speaks of “givers”. He states that we labor under a false impression if we believe that parents give so much to their children because they love them. Rather, Rabbi Dessler teaches, parents give so much to their children, they therefore grow to love them. The act of giving is the act of loving. For this reason, the Torah places such a premium on the respect we owe our parents.