Yitro – Yethro
Exodus 18:1-20:23
Parsha Yitro, named after Moses’ father-in-law, could be also called as the parsha of gifts. In this portion of the Torah, the Children of Israel are provided with the greatest gifts the nation can dream about: the foundation of its moral code formulated in the Ten Commandments, the light of the Shabbat, the Shabbat itself as a central point of the entire Jewish life, the unique mean of our most important appealings to the Creator, the shofar, all of it essentially important for our nation.
And the appearance of Yitro was also a gift, to Moses personally, as he had brought with him Moses’ wife Zippora and their two sons, Gersom and Eliezer. When Moses came to Egypt initially, he did bring his wife and sons with him, but Aaron who met them on their way to Egypt, did advice Moses to send them back to Zipporah’s father and the family, in order to prevent them from suffering that Jews were experienced in Egypt, and certainly, Moses’ family would be used by the Pharaoh court in the most mean way.
Now, when Yitro saw the amazing events that had occurred in Egypt and also in the beginning of Exodus, he knew that it was the right moment for Moses’ family to be united. That man, Moses’ father-in-law, was a really special one. Very knowledgeable, and what’s yet more important, very understanding of facts, phenomena and people with a high adequacy.
The meeting of Yitro, Zipporah and Moses’ sons with Moses was a special and visible event in the huge camp of the Children of Israel. Aaron and his sons and elders of Israel all went to meet them along with Moses. In many of the Torah commentaries, the meaning of this emphasised event , with all the meaningful courtesy and respect from the leadership of Israel towards Moses’s father-in-law, has been noted. It certainly was an extra-ordinary and important moment.
And not only Yitro was understanding and supportive to Moses. As it happened, he was instrumental in setting up the system of legality, with special figures of judges and a structured system of juridical process that is so natural in its application that humankind still uses it today. Just to think about it, our legal system was started by the vision and suggestions of Yitro to Moses over three thousand years ago. And also, his advice to Moses on the main criterion to choose judges has no statute of limitation: judges should be the people who despise money. Simple but rare quality, as it was, as it still is.
With Yitro, there is also one question present on which the Torah authorities do not have common opinion. We know that he did come to join Moses and bring his daughter and grandsons to rejoin the leader of Jews at the most important moment prior to receiving the Torah, understanding the importance and meaning of these events. But then, in the same parsha Yitro, the Torah narrative very briefly mentioned that Yitro has left the conglomeration of the Children of Israel and returned to his home.
And the questions aroused by this fact still bother the Torah authorities. How come that Yethro, who of many people, did understand the power of the Creator and the meaning of the Torah, decided to return home without being personally present at the moment? We have many theories for that, from suggesting that in a quite natural way, Yethro wanted to be at his home before the end of his life, which is very plausible, to the supposition that he went back to convert the members of his family and household to Judaism. I tend to think that Yitro who was a very special person in the matter of the depth of his knowledge and quality of his understanding of things that many people simply had no idea about, as I mentioned in previous essays on corresponding portions of the Torah, might well see the dramatic turn of events which will befall the Children of Israel soon from the event in which he participated as mentioned in parsha Yisro. He might know or sense the forthcoming Golden Calf affair which would postpone the entering of the Children of Israel to the Promised Land. He might predict that it would be a very long and very bumpy road, and that he simply had no time to get involved into the decades of wandering in the Wilderness. So he did his best, and decided to retreat without much alarm, which would go along with his character quite naturally.
But before the giant challenges would occur, the challenges which were self-inflicted by the selfish and impatient people, as it always the case, the Creator was still gifting his chosen people at the Sinai mountain’s premises, as it described in the parsha Yisro. To proclaim the Ten Commandments, our – and many others who wanted to adopt it later on – moral code of life, the attention of people has been grabbed and held by the enormous blast of shofar, the instrument of our communication with the Creator which we still use. This fact alone of the uninterrupted continuation of the use of a single musical instrument for three thousand and three hundred years, for the same purpose, significantly, demonstrates the structural impact of symbolic subject in keeping the tradition strong and assuring.
In his Jewish-themed art, Michael turns to shofar often, not surprisingly. Not only shofar’s history is appealing, but also its lines, elegant, laconic and aesthetic. But when all of it is infused with spirituality and remembrance, the song of love is born – as it is in this dynamic and very meaningful Inside the Storm drawing ( 2023-2024).
The Ten Commandments were proclaimed to the Children of Israel in that stormy, if not alarming, motion on a certain date, importantly. It was the 6th of Sivan, the seventh month after the Exodus started. Some rabbinic authorities stated that since the start of the Exodus, Jewish people counted days, thus that the tradition of counting days itself which eventually transformed to the Omer count, has started initially from that first Pesach. It is a notable trait to register.
In all that immense expression of the power of elements in which the Creator engaged to proclaim the Ten Commandments to the trembling Children of Israel, one detail in that overwhelming event is quite telling. In Midrash Rabbah commentary on the Torah, compiled between 5th and 12th centuries, one can find a phrase: “People perceived the voice of G-d ( during the revelation of the Ten Commandments) each according to their own strength”. This is both natural and particular. Natural because it does correspond to the abilities of a human nature, each of us has its own level, desire, skills and limits of perception, objectively so. Particular – because this factor, which is solely subjective , has become decisive in the settling of faith, in every individual person, and as a result of it , that level was never similar between the people inside the Jewish society, it was always a tapestry of the individual levels of belief . It simply is impossible otherwise, due to the psychology of human beings. And thus it produces an ever present challenge.
Among the Ten Commandments, there are rules of life, the rules which make us human, responsible and respectful. The rules that introduced the principles of decency. And among them, such gifts as Shabbat with its light. I do not know what can be more beautiful, more sustaining, and better than this our beautiful tradition, which is based on many things scientific, actually, as several other essential rules in Jewish life, such as kosher food, but it is not the point in the context. The point is the way of life which brings so much good to so many people during such a long time.
In Michael’s fine and beautiful Shabbat Light II drawing , which is part of a substantial private collection of Jewish art in New York, this beauty and this enduring light speaks about it , as we, observant Jewish women are speaking about it, quietly, to ourselves and to the Creator, every week, meeting the feast of our and families’ souls.
From many heart-warming things about the Shabbat, the belief that every Shabbat, an additional soul visits observant Jewish households, comforts me always. And I am always looking for the next Shabbat, and am very grateful for its arrival.
Interestingly, there are two important episodes in the Torah regarding the Shabbat, or it is rather one episode on the same matter, but with two different readings of it. In the parsha Yitro, Moses is saying to the people echoing the command of the Creator: ” You should remember ( to keep) the Shabbat”. In the Deuteronomy, my favourite part of the Torah, because it is added with human experience, thoughts and reflections, thus making the experience deeper and understanding better, Moses is saying to the Children of Israel in his behavioural testament to them for generations ahead: “Safeguard the Shabbat” in the meaningful repetition of the Ten Commandments there. And safeguarding we are, all those thousands of years on.
But the fact that back then Moses as the chosen interlocutor of the Creator saw the necessity to warn the people about this very important line of life for all generations on, is truly telling. The light of the Shabbat is to be safeguarded by the Jewish people for ever and ever, as it brings the warmth, meaning and hope to our lives.