Parashat Yitro

This week’s portion – Yitro, named after Moshe’s father in law – is the great portion of Matan Torah, the constituting event of providing the Torah to Israel by God.  This is perhaps the most important, most defining moment in the young life of the People of Israel, this assembly of former slaves who are about to become the Chosen People. In fact, this moment is so potent and so dramatic that its effects are well felt among us today, more than 3,000 years after it occurred. 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 adequately discuss the multitude of issues surrounding the Ten Commandments.  For example, “I am the Lord Your God” – the first commandment, constitutes for many (including Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz) not only the most important commandment but also a summary of the entire Torah in one sentence; for others, however (including one of Leibovitz’s preeminent students, Prof. Assa Kasher), “You shall have no other God but me” is the most pertinent Commandment to Judaism. Still others question the number ten with regards to the Commandments, while others ponder the exact identity of the Second Commandment – is it “You shall not have other God” (which may also be read as part of the First Commandment) or is it “You shall not make any sculpture or image”? Finally, debate abound as to the actual meaning of the commandment forbidding the act of “coveting”: Does “Do not covet” relates to the actual taking of other person’s wife and other property or the mere thinking of doing those? And if the latter is correct, how may such a restriction be enforced?

Despite the fact I cannot discuss those issues here, I do urge you to examine the text of the portion yourself and make an informed decision as to each. This is a fun process, and by following it you may understand better why this classic and sacred text has not lost its appeal over the thousands of years since it was first introduced.  

Today I would like to make two short comments on issues preceding the actual receiving of the Torah: The first is known as Yitro’s Advice, and the second relates to the preparation for the “Big Event.” 

I. Yitro’s Advice

Moshe’s father-in-law, Yitro, comes to visit him, accompanied by Moshe’s wife Zipora – famous for not being Jewish – and their two kids.  (Obviously, Moshe has not been in touch with his family for quite some time; this is but 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 to judge the people, and the people have stood upon Moshe from the morning until the evening.”  (Exodus 18:13)

Yitro cannot hide his surprise: “What is this thing that you do to your people, why are you sitting 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). But Yitro is neither satisfied with the explanation nor does he mince words: “That is not right; wither away you shall – both you personally and the people that upon you, as the task you have undertaken is too heavy for you – you cannot perform all this by yourself.”   

At this point, most readers would tend to agree with Yitro: Why should Moshe perform this entire task on his own? Surely it would be better to have some help from others, wouldn’t it? Why, then, he did not think about it by himself? Most commentators try to ascribe Moshe’s behavior to the fact that at this point he is an extremely inexperienced leader who perhaps was very hesitant to delegate any of the divine authorities he was given by God. This makes much sense, in particular in light of the fact that in this fragile point of the People’s history no courts, no enforcement agencies, and very little legislative power are available to him. Thus, it fell upon Moshe and him alone to concomitantly announce the law (legislate), judge concrete cases (judge), and, should need be, enforce the decision (execute). This explanation serves as the conventional wisdom explaining Moshe’s preference of judging on his own 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, detailing their every-day 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 his mind than simply judging the people’s “small claims.” Indeed, 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 in an equal manner throughout the ranks of this newly formed community.  This is why he did not want – or used – 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 ambitions goals by explaining to Moshe that he would spill the proverbial baby with the baby bath: “wither away you shall – both you personally and the people that upon you.” Hence arrives Yitro’s sound advice, which in essence recommended nominating 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 worldwide operate in accordance with 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 consider the second and seminal half of this portion, the one dealing with the Ten Commandments, as important yet completely separated from the story of Yitro. To me, this is not merely a coincidence. In my mind, once Moshe had to abandon his “single model” of law – “the law is what I announce it to be every day” – 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 precisely what let to the idea of announcing the Ten Commandments (as well as the special manner in which they were announced) in advance of future violation, as opposed to announce the law post-factu, after each case was decided.

I would be remise if I finish this comment without reciting the list of traits that Yitro recommended to be found in each of the judges that Moshe nominated. To this day, more than 3,000 years later, many a scholar are hard pressed to find a more succinct, elegant, and thoughtful set of requirements for a presiding judge: “You shall seek of the entire nation exceptional people, who fear God, people of truth, who despise greed.” (Ex. 18:21). It is for that reason that many judges around the world have these lines ascribed in their chambers.

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. The description of that event includes some of the most vivid, dramatic, and detailed accounts 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 of their young life as a nation. Among others, they were ordered to wash their clothes (for the first time since they left Egypt); to keep away from the big mountain; to abstain from sexual relationship; and more generally to thoroughly prepare themselves – for the duration of 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 important purpose, one that well serves the notion I discussed earlier. Now that Moshe is no longer available to every person as a judge on a daily basis, he wanted to guarantee that his (and God’s) law would still rule throughout; he was also adamant that this law should apply uniformly and equally to every member of the community. But in order to achieve such a feat something special was required; indeed, a simple declaration of the new divine law would probably not be very effective with a group of people who just witnessed God parting a sea for them to walk in, and then drowning the entire cavalry mission of the leading regional superpower. Hence, Moshe’s announcement of the new law required drama, panache, suspense, and anticipation (mixed with fear).  This was probably Moshe’s thought process, and the impressive result is beautifully presented to us today via the text of this week’s portion.

Did it work? As some of you well know, we will be reading in short order (four weeks or so) about the story of the Golden Calf.  So the short answer, unfortunately, is “no.”  But is there a silver lining here as well?  I think there is. What do you think?

Shabbat Shalom,

Doron