Counting On You?

Shabbat Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld

Feb 14-15, 2025 • 17 Shevat 5785 • Yisro (Ex 18-21).

Announcement - We just released a new and improved edition of Restoring the Kuzari.

Did you ever see a child counting on her fingers to solve a math problem and think, "She's got to learn how to do that without her fingers!"

Well, it has been known for almost a decade that counting on your fingers is actually good for your brain.

Brain scans have shown how a person who learned to add and subtract with their fingers has more brain activity in the "sensory" areas of the brain even later in life when they are no longer using their fingers. This connection may help explain why musical skill and especially piano often goes hand-in-hand with numeracy. 

(It also underscores the power of using physical "manipulatives" in education. Visual is great - hands-on is even better. I don't know how to get this message across to our school leaders, but I'll keep shouting it until somebody listens.)

Now, try this at your table: ask everyone to hold up their hands and look at their fingers. Then ask: "What Jewish connection do they invoke?"

I wonder how many Jewish v. non-Jewish people would immediately say, "The 10 Commandments!"

It never ceases to amaze me how many Jews are tuned out of the 10 Commandments and how many non-Jews care about them.

So then try this one at your table: "Name the 10 Commandments, in order."

(You may have to add, "OK, how about out of order?")

Let's appreciate this a little deeper.

For one time in your life, put yourself in a Christian's shoes.

You believe that the Torah has become the "Old Testament" and that the New Testament reigns supreme.

You don't practice circumcision (although you're a bit fuzzy on the why...).

You "affirm the moral authority of the 10 Commandments" but believe that only 9 are presently binding. Why only 9? Again, a bit fuzzy...

(The one that they believe is no longer binding or at least not on Gentiles is the mitzvah of stoping your normal routine on the Seventh Day and to sanctify it.)

Question for your table – Is it a net positive for the Jews and/or the world that the Evangelicals like to post the Top 10 in public spaces? (Never mind that we can't seem to agree on what they are.)

Ironically, Jews agree that the Torah (including the 10) does not pertain to Gentiles and yet we have no quarrel with someone who wants to follow them ... with one exception - the Sabbath.   

So it's a double-irony.

Here's one more question that most Jews and Gentiles equally cannot answer - What does the Torah call the 10 Commandments? After all, aren't there 613 commandments?

The answer: The 10 Declarations.

Question: What's the significance of that nuance? 


Shabbat Shalom

PS - The pic above links to a great book for helping children develop their numeracy.

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