Summary Yitro 5762
This portion is named after Moses’ father-in-law Yitro (Jethro), who came to Moses just before the giving of the Torah (according to many authorities). We recall that Moses had married Zipporah, the daughter of the Midianite priest, Yitro, during the period of his absence from Egypt. (2:21) When Moses returned to Egypt to demand the Israelites’ freedom, he left Zipporah and their sons with Yitro in Midian. The Torah informs us that Yitro, having heard that Hashem had taken the Israelites out of Egypt, decided that the time was ripe to reunite Moses with his family. (18: 1-6)

Moses related all that had happened to his father-in-law, who it seems was the first person in history to use the term ‘Baruch Hashem’ (Blessed is G-d) on hearing a piece of good news. (18:10)

The following day, Yitro saw that Moses spent the entire day dealing with disputes and matters of law, brought to him by the people. Yitro warned his son-in-law that he had taken on an excessive burden, which was not good for him or the people. He advised Moses to set up a legal system, whereby there would be a hierarchy of judges. The more difficult cases would go to the more senior judges, leaving Moses to deal only with the most difficult. Yitro’s suggestion was adopted. The Torah then states that Yitro went back to his homeland (18:27). Yet a year later, we find that he is still with the camp! (Bamidbar 10: 2932)

Various solutions to this problem are offered by the commentators; among them, that he went home briefly to convert his family, then returned to the camp. Another suggestion is that he only left the camp once the Israelites set off on their travels to the Land of Israel.

The second part of the portion sees the commencement of the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, with the Ten Commandments. We are charged with the mission of being a ‘Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation’. (19:6)

Points to Ponder
4 questions:

1. What is the connecting theme of Yitro to the Giving of the Torah?

Answers: a) The legal system that Yitro helped to establish reminds us that a proper system of justice is fundamental to any civilised society, and is a prerequisite for proper Torah observance.

b) Yitro, a non-Jew, embraced the Torah and was welcomed. We thus learn that Judaism welcomes sincere converts.

2. Why does the first commandment start with the words: “I am the L-rd your G-d, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt,” etc. Why not “I am the L-rd your G-d, Who created Heaven and Earth”? Surely the latter is even more impressive?

Answer: This generation had actually witnessed the Exodus, with all its miracles. It was therefore most appropriate that the covenant with the Israelite Nation should be launched by stating a miracle that they had actually seen for themselves. This was, of course, unlike the Creation, which no human had witnessed.

3. There is only one ritual in the Ten Commandments, Shabbat. Why Shabbat, and not for example Yom Kippur, which many of us would view as more holy?

Answer: Notwithstanding the answer to question two, our belief in G-d as Creator is fundamental to Jewish belief. By observing Shabbat and abstaining from Shabbat-type work, we testify to G-d as Creator.

4. “A son is born” (From the Haftarah: Isaiah 9:5) – To whom does this verse refer?

Answer: It refers to King Hezekiah. Isaiah prophesies the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians, led by Sennacherib, and the subsequent siege of Jerusalem. But the King of Judea will be the righteous Hezekiah (= G-d is strong), in whose merit Jerusalem would be spared. Others have mistranslated this phrase to be in the future tense, whereas the Hebrew is in the past tense. They have therefore misconstrued this verse to refer to a future messiah, whereas it refers to a person in the time of Isaiah himself, some 700 years before the Common Era!

Shabbat Shalom