Q&A: Standing for the Ten Commandments
Standing for the Ten Commandments
Question
Hello, honorable Rabbi.
In many communities, the custom was to stand during the reading of the Ten Commandments.
Relatively recently, manuscripts attributed to Maimonides were discovered in the Cairo Geniza.
Those who prohibited the custom in the last generation rely on this, saying that if the halakhic decisors of that time had seen Maimonides' responsum in which he forbids it, they certainly would have forbidden it as well ("because of the resentment of the heretics").
What is the Rabbi's opinion on this matter?
Answer
My opinion is that the discussion is not relevant. There is no halakhic prohibition here, and you cannot invent prohibitions. If you want to do it, then do it, and if not—then not. It makes no difference what Maimonides wrote or did not write, nor what the halakhic decisors wrote or did not write.
Discussion on Answer
Simply speaking, there is no such prohibition in Jewish law. That is only a reason why they abolished reciting the Commandments in the Shema.
Maimonides understood the concern about the resentment of the heretics as something sweeping, applying to anything that appears, or might appear, to give preference to the Ten Commandments over the rest of the Torah. Does the Rabbi disagree with his interpretation?