This week’s parsha is named for one of the Torah’s most beloved figures. Though Yitro himself was not an Israelite (rabbinic opinions vary on this), he immediately and jubilantly praised Hashem, the G-d of Israel, above all other gods when he heard of the miracles surrounding the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt:
And Yitro rejoiced for all the good which G-d had done to Israel; that He had delivered them from the hand of the Egyptians. And Yitro said: ‘Blessed is G-d who has delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh; who has saved the nation from beneath the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that G-d is greater than all other gods, because of what had been dealt against them.’ [i]
Yitro followed these extolling verses with sacrifices to Hashem, described as olah and zevachim.[ii] These types of offerings are later commanded by the Torah to be given in the Tabernacle and the Temple, thus leading to a rabbinic dispute concerning the timing of this episode – whether it took place before or after receiving the Torah.[iii] No matter the actual chronology of Yitro’s visit, the Torah’s pshat (simple) indication of the timing serves an important literary function.
The passage describing Yitro’s visit to the Israelites’ desert encampment straddles a crucial area of the Exodus narrative and beautifully mirrors the role he played in the lives of those he most closely affected – especially his son-in-law, Moshe. His visit is the bridge between the overwhelming miraculous events that took place in Egypt and at Kri’at Yam Suf ( the splitting of the Red Sea), and their subsequent internalization by the people of Israel through mitzvot given to them at the Ma’amad Har Sinai revelation. Yitro’s personal reaction to Hashem’s miracles directly models the logic of the covenant set between Hashem and the Children of Israel immediately following his visit.
In splitting the waters of the Red Sea for the Israelites and subsequently drowning their pursuers, Hashem effectively set the terms for the covenant between Himself and Israel which is verbalized in the first commandment just after Yitro’s departure. In a statement rather than a command, Hashem opened: “I am the Lord your G-d, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”[iv] Through establishing this fact, Hashem laid down the reason to observe all the mitzvot that follow, beginning with the second commandment forbidding any form of worship of other gods: “There will be for you no other gods before Me…”[v]
Nachmanides (Girona and Israel, 1194-1270) states in his glosses on Maimonides’ Sefer Hamitzvot that the numerical value of the word Torah, 611, in addition to the number 2, referring to the first two commandments surrounding belief in G-d, adds up to equal the total numerical value of all the tarya”g mitzvot, 613. It is therefore only through the observance of the 613 mitzvot that one might fully actualize their belief in the Torah and their belief in G-d.[vi] It is interesting to note that Yitro’s natural reaction to hearing of Hashem’s miracles, without even experiencing them himself, led him by joyful choice to the same conclusion of faith in G-d. He never personally required any covenant or commandment to do so. In contrast, the Israelites at this time needed outlined for them the logic of how their salvation leads to an expectation of worship in their covenant with Hashem.
In another part of his visit, Yitro serves as a logical third party through which complex problems are boiled down to simple truths and concrete solutions. The Torah states that Moshe at this time would ‘sit in judgment’ of B’nei Yisrael. Of B’nei Yisrael it states that they ‘sought Hashem’ from dawn until dusk[vii], seeming to indicate a role of pedagogy on the part of Moshe in addition to that of exacting justice. If one were to presume the pshat timeline were accurate, it is understandable that this scenario would take place before the giving of the Torah; that the people of Israel were overwhelmed by what they witnessed in Egypt and at the Red Sea and wanted to further seek G-d but did not know how. They would therefore come as individuals to Moshe in order to do so. Moshe also frankly does not seem to know at this time how to transmit what he knows of G-d to the people in any practical fashion.
Along came Yitro and recognized that this was all too much for one man to do alone. He advised Moshe to set up a system of judges and to empower these layers of entrusted leadership to educate and adjudicate over groups of tens, groups of fifties, groups of hundreds and groups of thousands among the Israelites. Only unresolved cases would come to Moshe himself.[viii] Yitro is thus responsible for setting up a practicable system of pedagogy and justice that served and continues to serve as a model for generations beyond.
Yitro is a model of both how to process and how to respond practically to overwhelming circumstances. He joyfully internalized Hashem’s miracles as proof that He is God above all others – not quite monotheism, but on the way – thereby giving us a model of a personal choice approach to covenant. He also understood the realistic limits of a single leader and created a systematized approach based on trust, transmission and education.
May we all seek to emulate Yitro’s enthusiasm, positivity and practicality in our individualized approaches to faith in Hashem, the practice of Judaism and the way we live our lives beyond.
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