Stories of people struggling to follow the Ten Commandments from the book of Exodus.
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Prologue
Host Ira Glass reads from the Ten Commandments. Not the original Ten Commandments, but some of the newer, lesser-known ones. There's the Ten Commandments of Paris Dining, the Miner's Ten Commandments of 1853, the Ten Commandments of Umpiring, and the Ten Commandments for Math Teachers — just to name a few. (4 minutes)
Honor God
As a boy in religious school, Shalom Auslander is informed that his name, Shalom, is one of the names of God, and so he must be very careful not to take his own name in vain. Shalom Auslander is the author of "Beware of God: Stories" and "Foreskin's Lament." (9 minutes)
Keep The Sabbath Holy
Six houses of worship in six different cities, each with its own way of honoring the Sabbath. (3 minutes)
Honor Your Father And Your Mother
When Jack Hitt was 11, he did the worst thing his father could have imagined. Neither Jack nor his four siblings will ever forget the punishment. (6 minutes)
You Shall Not Murder
Alex Blumberg talks to Lt. Col. Lyn Brown, an Army reserve chaplain who served two tours in Iraq. Brown talks about what "thou shall not kill" means to soldiers on the battlefield. (6 minutes)
You Shall Not Commit Adultery
In the book of Matthew, Jesus says that looking lustfully at a woman is like committing adultery in your heart. Contributor David Dickerson was raised as an evangelical Christian, and for many years tried not to have a single lustful thought. (9 minutes)
You Shall Not Steal
Ira talks to a waiter named Hassan at Liebman's Deli in the Bronx about some audacious thefts he's witnessed in his years in the restaurant business. (3 minutes)
You Shall Not Bear False Witness
Chaya Lipschutz wanted to donate one of her kidneys to a stranger. But to save a stranger's life, she had to break the commandment against lying. And the person she had to lie to was her mother. Chaya talked to Sarah Koenig. (8 minutes)
You Shall Not Covet
Ira talks to seventh-graders about the things they covet most. (4 minutes)