Have no other gods, originally uploaded by pattykoplitz.

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage."

“You shall have no other gods before Me"

The first word, Anokhi, means, "I am." G-d is speaking of Himself, and communicating with us.

The Midrash is intriguing. It says this first word Anokhi is Egyptian, because G-d wanted to speak with us in the language we had learnt while we were in Egypt. This tells us something about the nature of Torah and of being a Jew. G-d does not want to relate to us only on the sacred, spiritual level of our lives, represented by Hebrew, the holy language. He wants to reach the earthly "Egyptian" dimension as well.

We should not try to pretend that we do not have this lower aspect. Rather, we should try to control it, then elevate it and ultimately transform it into something holy.

Note that the word anokhi (“I”) is used instead of the more common word ani, suggesting the uniqueness of God. The word eloheykha (“your God”) is in the second person singular, rather than in the plural. Each person (individually) must recognize that the God who created him or her is entirely unique, without rival, and entirely sovereign.

There are no mediators in this encounter -- the soul stands before God alone. We know from Exodus 20:18-21 that the Jews were unable to withstand hearing these commandments and asked Moses to be their mediator. Moses, by God’s grace, was given the ability to receive the full content of the Torah at Sinai on behalf of Israel, and later Yeshua Himself became the Mediator of the better covenant than that ratified by the elders of Israel at Sinai.

When God is above all things and distractions in our life, there is no room for superstition or fear. To believe in Him gives us an identity of strength and value which will not allow deceit or manipulation to govern us, even when it comes from our own selves; through redemption we find the way, the truth and the life, an abundant life.
Pat Garcia

The first commandment begins with the letter aleph.

marathon of life: Aleph , a key word

Psalm 145 begins with the letter aleph

marathon of life: Psalm 145:1

marathon of life: Wisdom in Hebrew Alphabet

Superstition. Although various practices are called superstitions, strictly speaking superstition is unseemly or unbecoming worship of God.

This unbecoming worship may be the result of false devotion or of a tendency to magic. As false devotion, superstition has one feature in common. A person is concerned that unless certain external practices are performed, like multiplication of prayers, God will be displeased. When superstition tends toward magic, it associates God’s blessings with the veneration of unapproved objects or belief in unverified revelations or the performance of unauthorized ritual.

When a person never feels free or secure or has irrational fears of evil surrounding their lives, it could mean they are not trusting the magnificent power of our God, it could mean they don´t really believe Him or have placed other things as priority in their lives.

In God there is no darkness, He is light, He illuminates, He irradiates, His splendor fills our lives completely.

Pat Garcia