[Avodah] Standing for Aseret Hadibrot

[Richard Wolberg]

What distinguishes the Ten Commandments from all the other 613 laws in  
the Torah, which were also accepted at Sinai, is that the Ten  
Commandments act as the "categories" under which all the other  
commandments are included (Rashi, Shemos 24:12).

Several rabbinic works group the mitzvos according to their  
association with the Ten Commandments highlighting them as the  
ideological basis for the 613 mitzvos in the Torah. This is  
beautifully alluded in how the text of the Ten Commandments contains  
620 letters (Bamidbar Rabbah 13:16) that correspond to the 613 mitzvos  
plus the 7 rabbinic precepts (or the 7 Noachide laws). Of parenthetic  
note, is how the number 613 itself reduces to (6+1+3=) 10. {Mine: "and  
1+0=1, the ONE God}.

The Ten Commandments powerfully evokes the significance of the number  
"10".

Perhaps the two, most prominent other usages of the number "10" are  
the Asarah Maamaros, Ten Utterances through which G-d created the  
universe and the Ten Plagues of the Exodus declaring Him the  
Supervisor of His creation.

Symbolically, 10 is the number where individual units are united in a  
collective whole. The human hands and feet were created with a total  
of 10 digits. 10 is also where individual personalities enter the  
categorization of a community, or a congregation into which the  
Shechinah, Divine Presence rests and the symbol of holiness. It is the  
presence of 10 that makes a Minyan. The symbol of kedusha, "sanctity"  
is repeatedly associated with the number 10: the recitation of Kaddish  
in prayer and that of Kedusha, in repetition of the Amidah warrants a  
minimum of 10 people. And the dimensions of the Holy of Holies, where  
the Ten Commandments were held, were 10 cubits long, 10 cubits wide  
and 10 cubits deep (Rashi, Shemos 26:31)

So "10" represents the completed "holy" vision of existence and the  
Ten Commandments go to the heart and soul of the 613 mitzvos.

Excerpted from Rabbi Osher Chaim Levene

Also, it should be pointed out that the Aseret Hadibrot is not part of  
daily davening so that it shouldn't be looked upon any more important  
than the rest of the mitzvot. However, in light of the above article,  
we can see why most have the minhag of standing.
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