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Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Yitro Exodus 18:1-20:23
By Shlomo Riskin
Efrat, Israel - Although Traditional Judaism teaches that the Bible is the
word of G-d -and as such every Biblical word is sacred - this week’s
portion of Yitro certainly contains one of the most inspiring and
influential passages of all of our Scriptures. After all, it contains the
revelation of G-d at Mount Sinai, the universally known Ten Commandments,
which are the cornerstone of our faith as well as our morality and serve as
the basis for all of our 613 commandments. Is it then not rather strange
that such a Key portion is named after a Gentile, and a Midianite Priest
Gentile at that, rather than after a descendant of Abraham and a leader of
the Israelites?!
Now you might well argue that since it was Yitro who suggested to Moses the
Judicial system of organization which would make the Ten Commandments and
their multiple extensions enforceable within Israelite daily life and
conduct, it is supremely logical that the portion of the Ten Commandments be
named after him. However, careful reading of the Biblical text demonstrates
that Yitro’s suggestion for judicial reform could not have been made
earlier than four months after the Revelation, in the period of the
aftermath of the construction of the Tabernacle, which should have been
recorded in the latter portions of the Book of Exodus rather than in its
present placement after the Splitting of the Reed Sea and directly before
the Revelation at Sinai.
Yes, it is true that Yitro makes his appearance on the Israelite scene when
he comes to Moses with his daughter (Moses’ wife Zipporah) and their two
children - who had apparently been left behind by the prophet of G-d and
liberator of his people after the splitting of the Reed Sea. Yitro’s
purpose is to unify the family and announce his praise for the G-d who had
wrought such miracles during the era of the exodus (Exodus 18:1-12).
However, Yitro’s key contribution of judicial reform comes “on the
morrow”, when he points out that unless there is an organized judicial
system, Moses together with his laws will collapse under the heavy weight of
the many cases which simply had to be adjudicated on time if they were to be
taken seriously (18:13-27). Now when does this “morrow” or following
day, fall out?
Rashi, citing the midrash (ad loc 18:13), insists that it was the morrow of
the Day of Forgiveness (Yom HaKippurim), the tenth day of Tishrei, after
Moses received the second tablets four months after the initial Revelation
on the sixth day of Sivan. There was absolutely no time for adjudication
until then, since immediately after the Revelation, Moses entered the
supernal realms atop Mount Sinai for forty days when he received the Sacred
Tablets; he then came down from the mountain to the golden calf idolatry
when he smashed the tablets (17th of Tammuz), after which he prayed for
forty days for Divine forgiveness, and then received the Second Tablets as a
sign of that forgiveness forty days following that (on the 10th of Tishrei).
Hence, it could not possibly have been until the eleventh of Tishrei that
the Israelites lined up for Moses’ adjudication - because until that time
the master of all prophets had been unavailable to the people because of his
total preoccupation with revelations from and prayers to G-d. Only after
those four months had passed, “from the morrow (of Yom Kippurim), when
Moses sat to judge the nation, and the nation stood upon Moses from morning
to evening”(18:13), would Yitro have cause to explain, “You will surely
become worn out, yes, worn out, you and also this nation of Yours, because
this matter is too weighty for you, you will not be able to do it by
yourself... You must seek throughout the nation people of strong
reputations, those who fear G-d and are people of truth who despise
ill-gotten gain, and appoint them as district judges (to adjudicate) for
thousands, for hundreds, for fifties, and for tens...” (18:13,14,18,21).
But if so, why precede the Revelation with this advice four months before
its time, thereby causing the name of the Biblical portion of the Decalogue
to be after a Gentile Midianite Priest?
Apparently it was important for the Bible to stress - as a prologue to the
Decalogue - that the Divine Revelation was meant not for the Israelites
alone but for the Gentile world as well! Our mission, our very raison d’etre,
is “to perfect the world in the Kingship of G-d, ”to inspire not only
the Jews but also the Gentile leadership to declare, “Blessed is the Lord
who has saved you from the hand of Egypt. Now I Know that the Lord is
greater than all other Powers, because the very object which they used
sinfully (the Nile River, which they made repository for drowned Hebrew male
babies) was turned against them (when it became transformed into blood - Ex
13:10,11)”. The world must recognize a G-d who detests - and ultimately
vanquishes - injustice and enslavement.
The Biblical message is even more striking, because our sacred text
juxtaposes two types of Gentiles: at the conclusion of last week’s portion
we meet Amalek, the Gentile terrorist enemy who strikes out at the weak, the
aged and the infirm, and we must remember to extirpate that enemy of Israel
and humane civilization from the world (Exodus 17:8-16, cf. Deut. 25:17-19);
and at the beginning of this week’s portion of the Decalogue we meet
another type of Gentile, one whom we must inspire and from whom we have much
to learn. It is this latter prototype of Gentiledom for whom our Holy Temple
eventually beckons, when in the Messianic Age, he and his compatriots will
flock to Jerusalem to hear the word of G-d and beat their swords into
ploughshares (Isaiah 2, Micah 4).
And finally there is one last lesson to be derived from Yitro: We do not
insist that the Gentiles convert to Judaism; it is quite sufficient that
they adopt the seven Noahide laws of ethical conduct, the morality of the
Decalogue. Hence the prophet Micah declares that in the Holy Temple at the
end of the days, “everyone will call upon his G-d, and we shall call upon
the Lord our G-d forever” (ibid). Indeed, it would seem from the literal
reading of the text that Yitro never actually converts to Judaism. When the
Israelites are initially poised in the desert to enter the Promised Land,
Moses importunes his father-in-law to remain with them, to be one of their
leaders (“for us as our eyes” - our visionary, our guide, Numbers
10:31); Yitro, however, seems to refuse, denying the possibility of his
becoming a second Abraham, with the words, “I shall not go (with you), but
to my land and my birthplace shall I go” (Numbers 10:30; Genesis 12:1).
Perhaps, however, Yitro’s deletion of his returning also to his father’s
house implies that although he will not convert to Judaism, neither will he
revert to the idolatry of his forbears. Nevertheless, (and perhaps only
coincidentally) when Yitro leaves the Jewish encampment, the Israelites
degenerate into squabbling, rebelling factions which lends to the demise of
that entire generation in the desert.
The message of Yitro is codified eternally in the teachings of Maimonides,
who rules that while “the Almighty bequeathed to Moses to impart the 613
commandments only to Israel..., He similarly bequeathed to Moses (the
obligation) to even force the Gentile world to accept the seven commandments
of morality”(laws of Kings, 8,10). In a global village, when Islamic
Fundamentalism threatens to engulf the world with their fanatical message of
Jihad, to anyone who is not a Moslem, no message is more crucial than this
Biblical teaching of religious pluralism, morality and world peace.
Shabbat Shalom
Shlomo Riskin
Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone
Chief Rabbi - Efrat Israel
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