The Ten Commandments Revisited (by Mel Brooks) as We Celebrate Shavuot

The holiday of Shavuot starts tonight and continues tomorrow and Shabbat. In Israel it's only observed for one day. On Shavuot we commemorate the receiving of the Ten Commandments.

One of Mel Brooks' funniest bits is a scene from his 1981 film A History of the World: Part 1, in which Brooks, in the role of Moses, comes down from Mount Sinai carrying three tablets containing 15 commandments, only to drop one of the tablets, losing the last five commandments as the tablet shatters into bits.

The scene is short, and the third tablet containing the five lost commandments is visible for only a few seconds. We always assumed that the writing on the tablet was some random Hebrew letters, because we never got a good look at them.

But when we watched a PBS tribute to Brooks on which they played this clip, we were able to see it on a 55 inch screen in high definition. All we had to do to read the words on the tablets was to push the pause button. And there they were -- the long lost shattered five commandments.

Here's a translation of the five: You can interpret them any way you want -- that's what we've been doing to the surviving Ten Commandments for thousands of years. But our favorites are Lo Tatzkhik or Lo Titzkhak - obviously an inside joke by the Brooks crew, Lo Tikneh - perhaps the basis for not buying retail, and Lo Teshaber - irony of ironies - as the tablet fell to the ground and broke into tiny pieces.

11. Lo Ta'avor - You shall not pass.
12. Lo Tatzkhik - You shall not make people laugh or Lo Titzkhak - You shall not laugh.
13. Lo Tikneh - You shall not buy.
14. Lo Talunu - You shall not stay. (But the third letter may be a resh, which makes translation difficult.)
15. Lo Teshaber - You shall not break. 

We had posted this originally in 2013 and invited our readers to give their interpretations. You can read them here.

Here's the full clip. Enjoy!

We'll be observing Shavuot tomorrow and Shabbat. We'll be back Sunday with our usual mix. Chag Sameach and Shabbat shalom!

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