YITRO

Exodus XVIII – XX

The last verses of previous readings of the Torah relate some of the details of the warfare between the Hebrews and the Amalekites. Yehoshua is chosen to direct the combat. Moshe, his brother Aharon, and his nephew Chur climb a mound from which they witness the battle. The text says, “When Moshe raised his arm, Israel was victorious; and when he lowered it, Amalek was the victor. ” The Talmud questions: Can the arms of Moshe decide a victory? According to the Talmud, the teaching is that when the people have their sight upward, towards the celestial and the transcendental, which means when the people are aware of their responsibility to tradition and mitzvot, then they are victorious.

But when we worry about the mundane and immediate and forgets the Brit, which is the pact we made with the Creator, our enemies are the victors. From that moment on, Amalek becomes the prototype of the Jewish people’s gratuitous enemy. Centuries later, Haman, the villain of the Book of Esther, will be identified as a descendant of Amalek. The history of humankind will testify that Amalek was present in every generation. We emerged victorious from some of the encounters. We won some battles. But even with the establishment of Medinat Israel, the war continues. Amalek does not rest, and therefore we must remain alert at all times.

Yitro, Moshé’s father-in-law, who lends his name to our weekly reading, hears the echo of his exploits and heads out into the desert to meet the Hebrew people. He is accompanied by his daughter Tsiporah, Moshe’s wife, with her two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. These two sons quickly disappear from the biblical text. They play no role in the history of the people. Perhaps we learn that leadership is not hereditary. You have to obtain it on your own merit. The story’s key characters tend to neglect their children because all their actions and concerns are directed and focused on the transcendental goals outlined.

Vayichad Yitro, Yitro is happy to hear the account of the exploits of his son-in-law Moshe and of God’s kindness to the Jewish people in bringing him out of slavery. Although the apparent meaning of our text is that Yitro rejoiced at the news of the exodus of our ancestors from Egypt, our Chachamim suggest that his joy was not complete. It was overshadowed by the death of the Egyptians in the waters of the Red Sea. And apparently he also identified with them.

In a way, our tradition also echoes this fact by pointing out that God did not allow the full Hallel to be sung on the last 6 days of Passover when “those who were also created by His ‘hands’,” a reference to the Egyptians, were drowning in the sea at that time. Why do our Chachamim consider that Yitro’s joy was not complete, when the biblical text does not refer to this? Perhaps, in the opinion of our Chachaim, it is very difficult to rejoice fully with the success of others.

In our daily life we can verify that total identification with the happiness and good fortune of another person is limited to a mother, father, wife, or an unusual friend. The best student in the class is not necessarily the most popular. Envy usually appears when we are in the presence of the good fortune of another.

Yitro recognizes that his son-in-law Moshe dedicates enormous energy to teaching, answering people’s questions and administering justice. Yitro recommends that Moshe select a group of people who possess certain ethical attributes to assist him in this task. What were these qualities?

The chosen people had to be Anshei chayil, “strong warriors”, which according to the commentator Rashi, means they had to be economically independent people so that their failures were not compromised by any material pressure. The second quality required is Yirei Elohim, “God fearing “, because in the Jewish tradition, although the notion of “not stealing” makes social sense, it represents at the same time a religious imperative. The next requirement is that they be Anshei emet, “people who tell the truth.” Rashi comments that by being responsible and consistent with their word, there would be confidence in their verdicts. The last quality mentioned in the biblical text is Sonei batsa, “who detest bribery.” The aforementioned qualities will serve, in the future, as the basis for selecting the members of the Sanhedrin, the court of the 71 that will serve as the highest religious authority.

Chapters XIX and XX of Exodus contain the account of the preparations at the foot of Mount Sinai and the revelation of the Divine Will contained in the Ten Commandments. The Western world has recognized that these commandments serve as the moral foundation for society. Likewise, in the Jewish tradition there are expositors of the biblical text who find in these commandments the genesis of all the other mitsvot of the Torah. Apparently, at the time of the Beit HaMikdash, which is the Temple of Jerusalem, the reading of these Ten Commandments was part of the Shema Israel liturgy, the affirmation of the existence of the One and only God.

Those who questioned the legitimacy of the remaining text of the Torah argued that only the Ten Commandments had been incorporated into the ritual. The Chachamim then decided to eliminate the daily recitation of the Ten Commandments to avoid doubt, by inference, about the veracity of the rest of the Torah text. However, to this day, there are those who individually recite the Ten Commandments at the conclusion of the morning religious service.

The first of the Ten Commandments is actually an affirmation, because it reads like this, “I am God, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” According to Rambam this statement is, at the same time, a commandment, because it assumes faith in the existence of God. This command identifies God as the One who brought us out of Egypt.

The biblical text could have chosen to identify God differently, for example, as the one who created the universe. But in this eventuality, it could have been concluded that God created the universe so that it behaved in accordance with certain established laws and then abandon it to its own destiny. Rather, by pointing out that it was God who rescued our ancestors from the house of slavery, gives testimony that God intervenes in history.

God continues to be actively interested in the process of development of humanity and responds to certain events. When our forefathers implored God to relieve them from the excessive yoke of slavery, He listened and acted. Otherwise, what would be the point of praying, if God refrains from intervening in the development of earthly events?

The Ten Commandments were engraved on Two stone Tablets. The first 5 refer to the relationship between man and God. The last 5 are aimed at the relationship among human beings. The fifth commandment, the one that instructs us to honor father and mother, serves as a bridge between the 2 groups, because our parents are our “creators”. It is worth asking then, which ones are more important? Does the relationship between man and God have a higher hierarchy than those that regulate responsibilities between men?

In the Jewish conception, when one refrains from murdering another human being, he is also complying with a Divine instruction. Thus, the mitsva of “you shall not kill”, which has to do with the relationship with another human being, is linked at the same time with duty towards God, because it was that God who ordered it. Therefore, it is erroneous to think that tefillin and tallit, kashrut and Shabbat are the sum total of Judaism. Of course, it is impossible to overemphasize the importance of these elements in the framework of the Jewish tradition. But we must always bear in mind that Bein adam lachavero, the relationships between man and his neighbor, are religious norms that are equally essential and fundamental for the well-being of society.

The fourth commandment that promulgates the right to a day of rest is revolutionary. The Romans held that men were born for certain roles. The patricians to rule, and the commoners to work. The notion of mandatory rest was incompatible with the prevailing slave structure. The Torah bases this law on God’s rest in the act of creation. God created the world in 6 days and on the seventh, Shabbat, He rested, and then sanctified that day. Therefore, we humans must also do likewise.

In this way, the Bible teaches that the weekly Sabbath’s notion is an integral part of the creation of the world. Shabbat was not enacted for a particular group. Shabbat goes beyond humanity’s limits because including animals must also enjoy that day of rest. The social conscience manifested by the prophets of those millennia, which have an echo in our contemporary endeavors, is a direct result of these chapters’ spirit.

MITSVAH: ORDINANCE OF THE TORAH IN THIS PARASHA

CONTAINS 3 POSITIVE MITSVOT AND 14 PROHIBITIONS

25 Exodus 20: 2 Belief in the existence of God

26 Exodus 20: 3 Do not believe in any other god other than God

27 Exodus 20: 4 Do not make neither sculptures nor images (of gods)

28 Exodus 20: 5 Do not bow down or serve these images

29 Exodus 20: 5 Do not worship an idol according to the way it is usually done

30 Exodus 20: 7 Do not swear in vain (pronouncing the Name of the Eternal)

31 Exodus 20: 8 Verbally sanctify Shabbat

32 Exodus 20:10 Do not to do any work on Shabbat

33 Exodus 20:12 Honor father and mother

34 Exodus 20:13 Do not murder an innocent person

35 Exodus 20:14 Do not commit adultery

36 Exodus 20:15 Do not kidnap a Jew

37 Exodus 20:16 Do not bear false witness

38 Exodus 20:17 Do not covet what belongs to another

39 Exodus 20:23 Do not make human shaped sculptures, even as an ornament

40 Exodus 20:25 Do not build an altar with carved stones

41 Exodus 20:26 Do not go up to the altar by steps (but by a ramp)