Yitro יתרו

If this week's Parsha, Yitro, were an episode in a TV series, I'm pretty sure it would be the double length season finale, complete with a special guest appearance by God God's Self.

We would have been seeing commercials for weeks now hyping the finale, for really everything has been building to this. God's destruction of Egypt and redemption of Israel is almost complete - we are finally ready to receive the law - be prepared!

As I read through the parsha this week, the aspect that struck me most was the juxtaposition of the supernatural awesomeness of God giving the 10 Commandments with the appearance of Jethro in the same parsha.

Here we have quite possibly the most dramatic episode in the entire Five Books of Moses, complete with "seen sounds," "trembling mountains," and divine revelations, interspersed with a seemingly routine matter of local jurisprudence. Going back to the TV series analogy, I am not sure the Jethro's scenes would have even made the final cut.

So why did our sages choose to include Jethro in this week's reading? True, this way the Parsha starts at the beginning of a chapter, but there are plenty or parshiot that begin in the middle of a chapter. Perhaps last week's parsha was so full they didn't want to overburden us, but I think there is a deeper answer.

As Jews, we are always struggling with dichotomies. Particularism vs Universalism, The Spiritual Life vs Day to Day life, Torah learning vs. Worldly Wisdom, Jewish Religion vs Jewish Peoplehood, Israel and the Diaspora, the desire for peace and the need to protect ourselves, Milk and Meat, etc.

We are people with way more questions than answers, which I think we can all agree is a good thing. By not being provided with simple maxims to repeat, we need to constantly quest for new knowledge and figure out what role these lofty ideas play in our own lives. The Jewish contributions to the fields of science, literature, etc., can at least be partially explained by our constant questioning.

It's hard to develop a "yiddishe kopf" if we simply repeat what our parents tell us!

That being said, constantly engaging with heavy issues can really tax the mind. We become so involved with the pursuit of an ideal, we can lose track of what it is gong on around us, especially with those we love the most.

This is exactly what is happening with Moses. He is literally engaged in real time application of Halachah.

Exodus, Chapter 18, Verse 15:

וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה לְחֹתְנוֹ , כִּי יָבֹא אֵלַי הָעָם לִדְרֹשׁ אֱ־לֹהִים:

Moses said to his father in law, "For the people come to me to seek God."

Verse 16:

כִּי יִהְיֶה לָהֶם דָּבָר בָּא אֵלַי וְשָׁפַטְתִּי בֵּין אִישׁ וּבֵין רֵעֵהוּ וְהוֹדַעְתִּי אֶת חֻקֵּי הָאֱ־לֹהִים וְאֶת תּוֹרֹתָיו:

If any of them has a case, he comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the statutes of God and His teachings."  

Moses is doing this all day, from the morning unto the evening. Jethro sees Moses's burden and wants to help.

The Torah uses a beautiful literary parallel here. Jethro says to Moses, describing his judgement of the people כָבֵד מִמְּךָ הַדָּבָר "this thing is too heavy for you." He suggests הֵם וְהָקֵל , that the people can help Moses lighten the burden.

We remember from Egypt what happens when a heart gets hardened, or heavy (כבד).

Taking the world play one step further, כבוד in Hebrew means respect, which is made up of the same letters are כבד, , heavy.

This makes some sense - someone who constantly deals with serious and heavy matters deserves our respect, say a doctor or a lawyer. We think of these professions are more מכובד, respected.

However, as I said before, dealing with heavy matters is not easy on the mind or the soul. Sometimes we all need to take some good advice from a friend and lighten our burden.

In the case of Moses, his acceptance of Jethro's advice shows the unparalleled greatness of his management style. How easy would it have been for him to say, "Listen - I petitioned Pharaoh. I led the people out of the land. I am in constant communication with the almighty - who are you exactly? You want to allow these grouchy and never satisfied people to dispense the word of god? You are out of you depth man!"

This is especially true when we consider Jethro's religious views. In Chapter 18, Verse 11, he says

עַתָּה יָדַעְתִּי כִּי גָדוֹל יְ־הֹוָ־ה מִכָּל הָאֱ־לֹהִים כִּי בַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר זָדוּ עֲלֵיהֶם:

Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the deities, for with the thing that they plotted, [He came] upon them."

Rashi interprets this to mean that Jethro was knowledgeable about every type of idolatry in the world - there was no pagan deity that he did not worship. Not exactly a great role model for the leader of the first monotheist people!

Nevertheless, Moses is willing to accept his council - because it is good advice.

Moses teaches us here two examples of great leadership - first, the willingness to listen to advice, even when we are very busy and think we know what we are doing. Second, that good advice is good advice, and that it can come from anyone, even our worst enemy. This is not an easy teaching - our ego likes to get in the way. I certainly have my own work to do in this respect.

This teaching has wide-reaching applications, including in politics and religion.

An example: What can the Conservative Movement learn from the Chabad and Aish HaTorah? Why are they so effective in attracting young people?

Most importantly, we can apply this teaching to our daily life.

I talked before about professions generally considered מכובד, respected. One of my favorite things about Israel is the depth, knowledge and humanity of people I meet who are Davka not in these professions. Shop keepers and taxi drivers have given me some of the best advice I have ever received, and usually right at the time that I needed it.

Especially in this Jerusalem, we can daily run into amazing but random people, whether they are fellow Conservative Jews, Haredim from Mea Shearim, Arabs from East Jerusalem, or tourists.

I wish that everyone here has the opportunity this week to learn from a unexpected place, and, like Moses, have the humbleness to accept the teaching.