This week’s portion – named after Moshe’s father in law, Yitro – is the portion of Matan Torah, the great event of giving the Torah to Israel by God. This is perhaps the most important, most defining moment in the young life of this multitude of slaves who are about to become the Children of Israel. In fact, this moment was so potent and so dramatic, that its effects are well felt among us even today, more than 3,000 years later. Indeed, from both a religious and historical perspective, the event of receiving the Jewish constitution straight from the hands of God could not be overemphasized in its importance.
This short post, obviously, is not the proper venue to discuss the multitude of issues surrounding the Ten Commandments given to the Children of Israel. For example, “I am the Lord Your God” – the first of them is, for many (including Leibowitz), not only the most important of them all but in fact encapsulates the entire Torah in one sentence. For others (including one of Leibovitz’s preeminent students, Prof. Assa Kasher) “You shall have no lord other than me” is the most pertinent Commandment to Judaism. Still others question the number ten with regards to the Commandments. Similarly, arguments abound as to the exact content and nature the Second Commandment. Finally, many discussions try to understand the last Commandment, which in essence forbids people to think in a certain way. How may such a law be enforced?
As I have noted earlier, this post is not the proper forum to discuss these wonderful issues. I do urge you, however, to examine the text of the portion itself carefully, and see for yourself why this classic text hasn’t lost its appeal several thousands of years after it was first introduced.
Today I would like to make two short comments on issues the precedes the actual receiving of the Torah: The first is known as Yitro (or Jethro)’s Advice, and the second relates to the preparation for the “Big Event.”
I. Yitro’s Advice and the Biblical Separation of Powers
Moshe’s father-in-law, Yitro, comes to visit him, accompanied by Moshe’s wife Zipora – famous for not being Jewish – and his two kids. (Obviously, Moshe has not been in touch with his family for quite some time; this is one of the earliest documented examples of a leader who gave everything to his People, including sacrificing his own personal life). As the morning arrives, to the great astonishment of Yitro, Moshe is hard at work: “And on the next day and Moshe sat [and began] to judge the people, and the people stand upon Moshe [all day] from the morning until the evening.” (Exodus 18:13). Yitro is shocked: “Why are you sitting all on your own while the entire people gathers upon you from morning until evening?” And Moshe answers: “Because the people come to me to seek God; should they have a dispute they would come to me, and I will judge between a man and his fellow, and I would announce to them the laws of God and his Torah.” (Ex. 18:14-16). Now at this point, most commentators ascribe Moshe’s exclusive behavior to the fact that he is an inexperienced leader, and perhaps could not think of delegating any of the divine authorities he was given. This makes much sense, in particular in light of the fact that in this fragile point of the People of Israel’s history, no courts, no enforcement agencies, and very little legislative power are used. Thus, it fell upon Moshe, and Moshe alone, to both announce the law (legislator), judge concrete cases (judge), and, should need be, enforce the ruling (executive). This is the conventional wisdom of Moshe’s model of judging in the desert.
But I suspect something else may be at play here. Recall that Moshe was raised among royalty. Surely he hasn’t seen King Pharaoh sitting all day judging “small claims” between the people of Egypt. Surely he hasn’t seen the people of Egypt standing “upon their king” from morning until night and detailing their disputes. Accordingly, he knew full well that the role of a leader is not to intervene in the most minute of controversies between people. In my mind, however, Moshe had a much larger agenda in mind than simply judging the people’s “small claims”; Moshe wanted to establish a unified system of theological law – the law of the Jewish God, of course – that he would both announce and apply equally throughout all members of this new community. This is why he did not want – or use – any other person for the arduous task judging, for the fear they would deviate from his message – despite the heavy toll it exacted on him.
But Yitro overcomes these somewhat grandiose ambitions by simple reasoning: “What you are doing is not right; you shall wither away, both yourself and the people that is with you, as this is too heavy a burden for you – you are not able to do it all by yourself.” (Ex. 18:17) Hence Yitro’s advice, in essence to nominate judges of small claims (“for every ten”), judges of general disputes (“for every fifty”), judges of appeals (“for every hundred”), and quasi- Supreme Court judges (“for thousands”). Moshe would remain as the ultimate arbiter, in case a hard issue of law is not resolves below him. (Until today, many legal systems in Europe work according to this model precisely).
What’s fascinating to me is the link – which I have not found anywhere in the commentaries – between this advice and the Ten Commandments. Indeed, most commentators considers the second – and seminal – half of this portion, the one dealing with the Ten Commandments as important yet completely separate from the story of Yitro. This is not the case in my mind. Indeed, it is quite clear to me that once Moshe had to abandon his “single model” of law – “the law is me” – he had to come up with a bold new concept; and that concept – not less bold than its predecessor – was the public announcement the entire code to all members of the community at the same time, so they would all – including the Judges – know what the law is, precisely. This is in my mind what prompted the entire idea of announcing the Ten Commandments (as well as the special manner in which they were announced; on this see more below).
I cannot finish this comment without reciting the beautiful list of traits that was sought in a judge more than 3,000 years ago. With all the incredible advancement of legal research since that time, I could not think of a more succinct, elegant, and ideal set of requests from a judge even today, as it was stated then by Yitro: “You shall seek of the entire nation exceptional people, who fear God; people of truth, who despise greed.” (Ex. 18:21). How many judges today do you know that fulfill those ancient requirements?
II. The Preparation for Receiving the Torah
The second comment I would like to make today relates to the wonderful scene that preceded the actual Receiving of the Torah by the Children of Israel. The description of these visions includes some of the most vivid, visual, dramatic, and detailed account in the entire cannon. You could almost think of yourself as a fly on the wall (or on a tent-post) in the Israeli camp, looking at these former slaves who are now ordered to prepare to the biggest event yet in their lives, including to wash their clothes for the first time since they left Egypt; to keep away from the big mountain; to abstain from sex (with women); and more generally to thoroughly prepare – for three days – for the big moment. And then the constituent moment itself finally arrives: “On the third day, as morning dawned, there were loud voices, and lightning, and a dark cloud descended on the mountain, and the voice of the Shofar came very loud – and all the people in the camp were very fearful.” (Ex. 19:16; the beautiful description continues in the text itself).
This preparation (and the exacting language in which it is described) is indeed special, and was probably meant to detract the people of Israel from their every-day hardships in the desert. But in my mind it was meant to serve another purpose, on which I pointed earlier: Now that Moshe would not be available to every person as a judge on a daily basis, he wanted to guarantee that his (or God’s) law would still rule throughout; he was also adamant that this law should apply uniformly to every member of the community. But in order to achieve such a feat something special was required – a simple declaration of the new divine law would probably not work on the same group of people who just recently witnessed the same God parting a sea for them to walk, and then drowning the entire cavalry mission of the leading regional superpower of the period. Thus, Moshe’s announcement required drama, panache, suspense, and anticipation (mixed with fear). This was Moshe’s thought process, and the impressive result is presented to us today via the text of this week’s portion.
Did it work? We’ll have to wait four weeks before we read about the Golden Calf. So the short answer, unfortunately, is “no.” But is there a silver lining as well? Let me know what you think.
Shabbat Shalom,
Doron
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