Parashat Yitro, Exodus 18:1 - 21:23

This week’s portion is the portion of Matan Torah – the awesome 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. A moment so potent and so dramatic that its effect stays with us even today, more than 3,000 years later. Indeed, receiving the Jewish constitution straight from the hands of God is an event that could not be overemphasized in its importance.

This short post, obviously, is not the proper arena to discuss the multitude of issues surrounding the Commandments given to the Children of Israel. For example, “I am the Lord Your God” – the first of them is, for many (including Leibovitz), 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. Finally, arguments abound as to the exact content and nature the Second Commandments.

As I said, this forum is not the proper place to discuss these issues. I do urge you, however, every single week but this week in particular, to examine the text of the portion itself, and see for yourselves why this classic text hasn’t lost its appeal thousands of years after it was first introduced.

In my short time today, I’d like to make two comments on issues the preceded the actual giving of the Torah: Yitro (or Jethro)’s Advice, and the preparation for the event.

Yitro’s Advice

Moshe’s father-in-law, Yitro, comes to visit him, accompanied by Moshe’s wife – which he hasn’t seen in a while – and his two kids. (This is one of the earliest documented examples of a leader who gave everything to his People, including sacrificing his own family life). As the morning comes, Moshe is hard at work: “And on the next day Moshe sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moshe from the morning until the evening.” (Exodus 18:13). Yitro is shocked: “Why are you sitting on your own while the entire people standing about you from morning until evening?” And Moshe answers: “Because the people come to me to seek God; should they have a dispute they come to me, and I will judge between a man and his fellow man, and I have notified them of the laws of God and his Torah.” (Ex. 18:14-16). Now at this point, many of the 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. 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. He – in my mind – had a larger agenda than judging small claim: A unified law – the law of God, of course – that he would announce and that would apply equally to each member of this new community. This is why he did not want – or use – any other person.

But Yitro overcomes these grandiose aspirations by simple reasoning: “What you are doing is not right; you shall wear yourself out, and so too this people that is with you, as this is too heavy a burden for you – you cannot do it 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. Somehow, it is very clear to me that once Moshe had to let go of his “personal” approach to preaching the new law, he had to come up with a bold new concept – announcing the entire law to everyone at the same time, so they would all – including the Judges – know what the law precisely is. This is in my mind what prompted the entire idea of announcing the Ten Commandments (and the way they were announced – see below).

I cannot finish this comment without reciting the beautiful list of traits that was sought in a judge 3,000 years ago. With all the incredible advancement of legal research since that time, I could not think today of a more succinct, elegant, and ideal set of requests from a judge as stated by Yitro: “You shall seek of the entire nation exceptional people, who fear God, who are people of truth, and who despise greed.” (Ex. 18:21)

The Preparation for Giving of the Torah

The scenes preceding the Giving of the Torah are among the most visual, dramatic, and most detailed in the entire cannon. You could actually place yourself as a fly on the wall (or on a tent-post) in the Israeli camp, looking at those people who are now ordered to wash their clothes – for the first time in the three months since they left Egypt, to keep away from the big mountain, to abstain from sex, and generally to thoroughly prepare for the big moment for the duration of three days. And then the constituent moment itself: “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 description goes on and on – see there).

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, and apply equally to each member of the group. But in order to achieve such a feat something special is required. Moshe could not have done that merely by an announcement. He needed much more than that; he needed drama, he needed suspense, he needed something that everyone would be eagerly waiting for (and afraid of at the same time). This is what he had in mind, and the impressive result is before us.

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 was there is a silver lining there as well? Let me know what you think.

Shabbat Shalom,

Doron