Connecting to God's core values

A successful advertising agency has inscribed these words on the floor of a rotunda in its headquarters: Community, Integrity, Restlessness, Freedom and Responsibility, Curiosity and Winning. As employees pass by, they are reminded of the company’s core values.

It has become common for businesses to display their central beliefs in prominent places. But it’s not exactly a new idea.

At a critical time when God’s people moved from desert wandering into the Promised Land, the Lord charged them in the first paragraph of the Shema to take His core values and demonstrate them in a variety of ways: “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them . . . . You shall bind them as a sign on your hand . . . . Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Dt. 6:7-9).

How would it revolutionize your life, for example, if you viewed the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:1-17) as God’s core values? Have the character traits of loyalty to God (v.3), faithfulness in marriage (v.14), and honesty (vv.15-16) become the principles that guide your thinking and actions?

On Shavuot we re-experience revelation from atop Mount Sinai by reading how our ancestors received the 10 Commandments. As the 10 Commandments are read we stand and renew each year the covenant between God and us the Jewish people.

This year let us recommit ourselves to God’s core values by putting them in your heart, home, and workplace on public display