Yitro

Hayyah Clairman, 25th January, 2003, 22 Shevat, 5763

My Torah portion is Yitro. This portion has two main topics. The first topic is about how Yitro suggested a better way for Moses to decide about the disputes for his people. The second is about Moses receiving the ten commandments. I would like to focus on the first topic.

In this part Yitro (Moses' father-in-law) brings Zipporah (Moses' wife) and Moses' two sons, Gershom and Eliezer from Midian to see Moses in the wilderness at the Mountain of Hashem. Moses told Yitro everything that Hashem had done for the Israelites in Egypt and the desert including the ten plagues. Yitro then blessed Hashem for his kindness. Then Yitro said: "Atah yadati ki gadol hashem meekol ha'elokim". "Now I know that Hashem is better than all the other g-ds and idols". Yitro brought sacrifices to Hashem, and Aaron gathered the elders of the people to share the meal before Hashem.

The next day Moses sat judging the people from morning until evening. Yitro saw this and asked Moses why he does everything alone and makes the people wait so long. Moses said that he was teaching the people Hashem's ways and when the people have a dispute, they bring it to Moses. Yitro said to Moses that it is not right, because he is making himself and his people tired. Yitro said he cannot do it alone. He told Moses to take from the people capable men who fear Hashem. "Unshey chayil yiroo Hashem". They will judge all the minor disputes and every major dispute will come to Moses. It will be easier to share the job than have Moses do all the work. Moses did just as Yitro said. Then Moses said farewell and went on his own to his own land.

The commentators on this passage focus on two major questions. The first question is "Why did Yitro feel that it was so important to set up a new system of Justice?" The second question is what is an "Eesh chayil".

As for the first question, I found three commentator's opinions that I'd like to share with you. First, Rabbi Joshua says that Yitro's advice was very practical. He said that Moses just had too much to do and was too tired to perform this task properly. Rabbi Eleazer agreed with Rabbi Joshua that exhaustion was a problem, but he focused not on Moses' exhaustion but on that of the people. He said that Moses was exhausting the people and creating more problems. "The people were forced to stand in long lines for many hours in the hot desert sun." This made them irritable.

I agree with Rabbi Joshua and feel that there is more danger of exhaustion by Moses. If he judges too many people, he'll get too tired and start judging people in the wrong way. Nachmanides agrees with Rabbi Eliezer that the focus should be on the people. But for him, the problem is not just exhaustion. He explained that if people don't have quick and efficient court systems, they'll take the law into their own hands and there will be violence. For example, if someone thought that his neighbour robbed him, he would rely on the courts to resolve the case. However, if the courts are not efficient, he might go into his neighbour's house to get what was stolen back. This might lead to violence.

As for the second question, what is an Eesh chayil-capable person, there are three opinions I'd like to state. Nachmanides described an Eesh chayil as one who is wise and fair in judging. Rashi explains that if the "capable men" are wealthy people they won't show the Israelites favor. They would be less likely to accept gifts in exchange for a particular decision. Ibn Ezra says that "capable people" are people who can handle those who don't like their decisions. If someone got mad at them because he or she didn't agree with their decision, they wouldn't be upset.

While I studied this parsha, I wondered why Hashem didn't recommend a different system of justice to Moses himself. In reading "The Midrash Says" by Rabbi Moshe Weissman, I learned that Moses had received a command from Hashem to appoint Judges. This book states that the command was concealed from Moses in order that Yitro would have the merit of having this parsha named after him. I also wondered why Yitro, who wasn't even Jewish and was a priest of another religion, cared enough to make the recommendations to Moses. I think that Yitro's advice was very good but I wonder why Yitro didn't offer to help Moses carry out the advice he gave him.

In my reading, I learned that Yitro's name was originally "Yeter" in Exodus 4:18. The letter Vav was added to his name to make it "Yitro". A Rabbinic interpretation is that this was done both as a sign that Yitro had become a Jew and to denote that this parsha was added to the Torah in his name. There are many times in the Torah that a letter is added to a person's name. This is a sign of having acquired greatness. For instance, the letter "Hey " was added to Avram's and Sarai's names when they acheived spiritual greatness. Their names became Avraham and Sara.

I learned from this parsha that if you have a very big task to do as Moses had, it would be more productive and efficient to ask other people to help you than to do it by yourself. For example, fundraising for Terry Fox and Magen David Adom in which I participated. Through the efforts of many people at the school I attend, Associated Hebrew Schools, we managed to raise enough money for an ambulance for Israel through the Magen David Adom. One person could not have been as successful. Now that I have become Bat Mitzvah, I also realize that I have to follow the mitzvot which are in the second part of my parsha.

Thank you for listening to my D'var Torah and Shabbat Shalom!!!!!