Authors Out Loud presents The Ten Commandments: How Our Most Ancient Moral Text Can Renew Modern Life February 17, 2011

Esteemed author David Hazony will discuss the relevance of the ten commandments to the 21st century and our life in American with panelists Nadine Epstein (Moment Magazine), Bill Kristol (The Weekly Standard), Rabbi Gil Steinlauf (Adas Israel) and moderator William Daroff (Jewish Federations of North America).

The Ten Commandments are one of the most widely recognized religious texts in the world, yet few of us can name all ten, and fewer still know what they really are trying to teach us. When they first appeared in ancient Israel, they were a key element of the Old Testament. Today, they’re largely overlooked in discussions of how best to live one’s life.

Now, by taking a careful look at both the Commandments’ biblical context and the ancient Jewish traditions of interpreting them, we can learn how the Ten Commandments relate to our hectic, modern existence by unlocking their original meaning, showing how they provide ten major statements about human life, integrity, love, the family, wisdom, property, and community—values that place the individual human being at the center and emphasize the power of humanity to better the world. The result is a vision of a good society that is every bit as striking and relevant today as it was in millennia past, and that may go a long way to helping us overcome the sharp divides that continue to fracture our society.