Parashat Yitro
Shevat 18, 5772 ~ February 11, 2012
by Joanne Jagoda
A Discussion of Parasha Yitro
This week’s parasha is one of my favorites and is certainly loaded with possible topics to consider including the monumental event of the giving of the Ten Commandments. I have chosen to limit myself to the first section of the parasha which deals with Yitro, the Midianite priest, who was the father in law of Moshe. The first question one should consider is why this parasha was named for Yitro. Let’s take a look at what he did for B’nai Yisroel to merit the honor of having the parasha named after him, one of only a handful named after people.
A little background…Yitro was a Midianite priest, one of pharaoh’s advisers and a man of status and wealth. Moshe had fled to Midian after having killed the Egyptian hitting one of the Hebrew slaves. He had helped Yitro’s daughters get water at a well and was invited to meet him. He stayed with him working as a shepherd and married Zippora one of Yitro’s daughters. While tending the sheep, he saw the burning bush and heard G-d’s voice telling him to return to Egypt and help his people. When Moshe returns to Egypt, Yitro chooses not to go with him. Though Midian had an alliance with Amalek, Yitro did not become an enemy of B’nei Yisrael. Zippora and the two sons of Moshe had remained with Yitro and at the beginning of the parasha he is bringing them back to reunite with his son-in-law.
The parasha opens with the words, “Yitro, the priest of Midian, father-in-law of Moshe heard everything that G-d had done for Moshe and to Israel, his people that Hashem had taken Israel out of Egypt." There are several striking points in this sentence. He is identified first as a priest of Midian then as the father-in- law of Moshe. Yitro "heard" how the Red Sea was split, how Amalek was defeated and about the miracle of the Exodus. He also "heard" what G-d had done for his "people" Israel. It is worth noting that Yitro is mentioned as the father-in-law of Moshe, חותן משה, seven times in the parasha which reiterates his relationship to him on a personal level, as family. The text uses various forms of the term חותן, father-in-law, another six times within the chapter.
Moshe’s respect for Yitro was evident because he “went out to greet him,” Va yetze Moshe likrat hotno. When Yitro hears about all that G-d had done his reply is profound. He says, Baruch Hashem, praised be G-d who rescued you from the hand of Egypt and from the hand of Pharaoh. This established a precedent of using the phrase, Baruch Hashem. When Yitro listened, he was able to comprehend the greatness of G-d. While the whole world heard, Yitro heard and was humbled and became a convert. The Midrash states that Yitro had studied all the religions of the world and rejected them as false. When he said, ‘Now I know that Hashem is greater than all other powers” it was a powerful message about his understanding that Hashem is the true G-d.
One of the many on-line discussions I read (Ohr Sameach) offered that when Yitro heard of the Exodus and the miracles that were performed for the Jewish People his happiness was so great that he felt physically elated, like someone who weeps or faints through being overwhelmed with the emotion of unexpected joy. Literally, his flesh started to prickle. He had gooseflesh, (18:9) a visceral reaction. Yitro really listened and grasped the meaning of the momentous events.
There is also a very interesting debate among our great sages as to whether Yitro came to Moshe before or after matan Torah: Rashi feels that Yitro joined B’nai Yisroel after the giving of the Torah while others feel that Yitro arrived after the war with Amalek but before the giving of the Torah. Regardless of whether the giving of the Torah occurred before or after he came, the Torah places the section of Yitro before. The implication was that Hashem wanted to give Torah to a disciplined society with an orderly legislative process in place.
Yitro observed that his son-in-law Moshe was judging the people from morning until evening. He gives him sage advice about not getting burned out, What you are doing is not good. You are going to wear yourself out, along with this nation that is with you.” Yitro’s concern was that Moshe could not possibly hear all the cases and the people would get weary waiting for their cases to be heard. He tells him to delegate and appoint leaders to act as trusted judges who will seek the leader's counsel only in the most difficult cases.
Yitro gives four important virtues all judges should possess to insure they would be impartial and have the proper qualities and spiritual strength necessary to judge the nation. Yitro also suggested the different divisions of the legislative system, leaders of thousands, hundreds fifties and leaders of tens. Our sages question why the Torah makes such a point of relating Yitro’s advice. Abarbanel and other scholars even suggest that what he said was nothing new and Moshe was merely giving Yitro respect as his father in law.
When Yitro gave his advice it was especially valuable because he was a stranger who would not be suspected of having any ulterior motives. One could think of him as an outside “consultant.” Yitro advised with great wisdom that Moshe must, look among all the people, rather than choose from among the people. He was admonishing Moshe to look into the character of the people personally in making his selections. Moshe was a wise son in law, “Va Yishma Moshe Lekol hotno, and “Moshe heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did everything he said.”
In considering the placement of the story of Yitro at the beginning of the parasha it is significant because the people had to learn a lesson of what it meant to listen. Yitro heard and understood and acknowledged Hashem. In one of the d’var Torahs I read, there was an interesting point that suggests the placement of the Yitro story has a direct relationship to the giving of the Torah which will follow. It could have gone almost anywhere in the story of the march through the desert. It would make even more sense in a couple of weeks, after the detailed laws beginning in Exodus 21 in Parashat Mishpatim that form the basis for Moshe's work as judge. It's only after Moshe gives up some of his work and steps back from the minutia that he is available for God to summon to the mountain and receive the Torah and be in a position to experience God's revelation. It's only when the people don't have to stand in line all day to talk to Moshe that they are freed up to listen to the Ten Commandments.
The relevance of studying Yitro is not only for the advice he gave in establishing the judiciary but because of his understanding of the greatness of Hashem. He also taught the people the importance of listening. How often do we really listen with understanding to the prayers we hear that we too often recite by rote. We need to stop sometimes to look around us and listen and contemplate the miracles of Hashem so that we can utter with sincerity the same praise, Baruch Hashem as Yitro did.
