Parshat Yitro

This week’s Torah portion is a big one. It is the portion where we read the Ten Commandments, and many people make an extra effort to go to services to hear them read aloud. Yet, if we think about this most important Torah portion, it is strange to think about it being named for Moses’ father-in-law, Yitro.

Moses doesn’t have a Torah portion named after him, neither does Aharon, Miriam, Yosef, or any of our illustrious ancestors. How does Yitro get this honor?

Yitro’s name in Hebrew means “addition” and Yitro, through his advice to Moses adds an important element to Jewish practice.

If we look at the story of the Ten Commandments relayed in the Torah, the first two commandments were given to the Jewish people directly from G-d. It was a difficult physical process, this immense Divine revelation, and after two commandments, the people said, “Enough, Moses you go up the mountain and receive the rest.”

When Moses returned, he felt that if the people couldn’t get the Torah from G-d directly, they would get the next best case, and receive the Torah directly from Moses. Moses would instruct all the people from morning to night on how to implement the law.

Yitro comes along and lets Moses know that while his intentions are good, the practicality of being the only teacher for millions of people was not going well for either Moses or the people. For the Torah to be absorbed by the nation, there would have to be more teachers.

This idea of leaders making leaders. The idea of disseminating the Torah in a way that it becomes an eternal activity for all Jews is the gift that Yitro gave the Jewish people, and it is why a Torah portion is named after him.

May we be blessed in our own lives, to make room for and support the leadership of others.

Shabbat Shalom,

R. Eli Sneiderman