<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 16px; "><p>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).</p><p>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. {<span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">M</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">ine</span>: "and 1+0=1, the ONE God}.</p><p>The Ten Commandments powerfully evokes the significance of the number "10".</p><p>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.</p><p>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)</p><p>So "10" represents the completed "holy" vision of existence and the Ten Commandments go to the heart and soul of the 613 mitzvos.</p><p>Excerpted from Rabbi Osher Chaim Levene</p><p>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.</p></span></body></html>