Reading the 10 Commandments every day – Ask the Rabbi
Q. Why don’t we say the Ten Commandments every day?
A. Once upon a time we did (Mishnah Tamid 5:1), but the practice was changed (B’rachot 12a) “because of the claims of the sectarians”.
This is a reference to the early Christians who said (Galatians 3:7) that only the Decalogue came directly from God but the other commandments were conveyed through angels as punishment for the Golden Calf.
Judaism did not want to give the impression of supporting these claims.
The Palestinian synagogue in old Cairo was reading the Ten Commandments in the liturgy as late as the 13th century.
When the dispute was no longer so acute, attempts were made to reintroduce the Ten Commandments. One compromise that was arrived at was to read hints of the Decalogue into Biblical passages such as Lev. 19.
Several siddurim add the Ten Commandments to a series of optional readings at the end of the morning service.
