[Avodah] Counting the `Asereth Haddibbroth -- ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 5:18

[Jay F. Shachter]

In Avodah v44n11 someone wrote:

> 
> My question: Are there any authoritative Jewish sources which
> clearly identify these ten? Do Chazal ever say "This is the first,
> and this is the second"?
> 
> I have always understood that different religions count the ten
> differently. I will not give examples, because then we'll get bogged
> down in the specifics of that example. Suffice it to say that, as
> far as I can recall, every Paroches and Torah Mantel that I've ever
> seen (counting the ones that give words, not numerals) breaks them
> up the same way: "Anochi Hashem" is first, "Lo yihyeh" is second,
> etc.
> 
> But do we have any *writings* which tell us the proper breakdown?
> Something more authoritative than the consensus of the Embroiderers
> Union?
> 
> ..............................................................................
> 
>>
>> Taam Elyon has one sof pasuq per diberah.
>>
> 
> If so, then I count only nine dibros.
> 
> I can't find a sof pasuq anywhere from "Anochi Hashem" until
> "Ulshomrei mitzvosai". The word which I *thought* ended the first
> diberah, namely "avadim," has a revi'i in Taam Elyon. (Even if it
> were an esnachta I'd question it, but a revi'i? I'd really like to
> see someone who wrote, "Even though there's no sof pasuk here, this
> is where the first dibrah ends and the second begins.")
> 

(Unlike the ethnaxta, the rvi`iy doesn't even normally put a word
into pausal form, although there are rare exceptions, e.g., compare
the vocalization of "aniy" in Leviticus 25:38, to the vocalization of
"aniy" in Genesis 31:52.)

For the benefit of readers who have not read ibn Ezra's commentary on
Deuteronomy 5:18, or who have read it but don't remember what he
wrote, here it is again:

    All the scholars of antiquity believed that the First
    Commandment is "I am..."  (even though it raises the
    question, why would one utter two commandments directly, and
    then stop?).  I have already offered an explanation of the
    Ten Commandments that conforms to their belief.  In my
    opinion, though, "I am..." is not one of the Ten
    Commandments.  Rather, it introduces the Commander, and
    provides a basis for all the other Commandments, as I have
    already explained.  "You shall not be jealous of your
    fellow-man's house" is the Ninth Commandment, and "you shall
    not be jealous of your fellow-man's wife" is the Tenth
    Commandment.



               Jay F. ("Yaakov") Shachter
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