There’s a hilarious scene depicting Moses on Mt. Sinai in Mel Brooks’ 1981 comedy film “History of the World, Part I.”

As Moses, played by Brooks, descends from the mountain, he’s holding three large tablets.

Moses bellows: “Hear me! Oh, hear me! All pay heed! The Lord, the Lord Jehovah, has given unto you these fifteen…”

He then stumbles and drops one of the tablets. It shatters when it hits the ground.

“Oy!,” he says to the Hebrews below, using a well-known Yiddish interjection. “Ten!,” he tells his people. “Ten commandments for all to obey!”

How the world might be different today if Moses had given us all 15!

Joking aside, many Gentiles will be surprised to learn that the “Ten Commandments” are just the opening decalogue of the five books of Moses (the Jews’ Torah). They are followed by 603 more commandments (mitzvot in Hebrew; the singular is mitzvah; a bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah is the son or daughter of the commandments, hence the rite of passage for 13-year-old Jewish kids).

Last year, Governor Abbott signed SB 10, detailing the mandatory display of the “Ten Commandments” in Texas public schools (uncanny that the bill was number 10!). Not only are teachers now compelled to display them (although legal challenges are still pending), but they are also required to use the officially Texas-sanctioned “Ten Commandments.” And yes, they must use Texas-sanctioned “Ten Commandments” posters that are provided by the state.

I was surprised — floored, actually — to discover that the agreed text of the “Ten Commandments” adopted by my state actually includes 12, yes, 12 commandments. And the strangest part of the arrangement is that those 12 commandments are introduced by the title “The 10 Commandments”…

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