Shabbat Shalom,
In this week’s Parashah, Parashat Yitro, we as a people receive our famous Ten Commandments, we set the precedent for our current judging system, and we all simultaneously get or Nevua (prophecy). But yet this Parashah is not called the revelation, or the Big Ten, its instead called Yitro! Yitro was a expert on Avodah Zara (Idol Worship), which is one thing a Jew must even sacrifice his life for before he does. How could this be? This Parashah in specific is named after a Master of Avodah Zara. So how could it come to be that this Parashah was named Yitro? Well in the Parashah Yitro says “Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods; yea, for that they dealt proudly against them” (18:11). What Yitro is saying after experiencing every religion and every type of Avodah Zara, he couldn’t help but realize that Hashem is the only real one. He realized that there is something more present than a bunch of Jews praying blindly to their God. He was in a situation where he could not deny the truth.
The first words of this Parashah are “Yitro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel His people, how that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.” What did he do? He heard, something very simple. We take it for granted every single day. We hear things in one ear and it comes out the other, as if we never heard it. What did he hear? He heard something that many people couldn’t; He heard the truth, that there is a God beyond clay, metal, and silver figures. Hearing is a powerful thing. What we hear can completely change what we think about someone, something, or about life in general.
A Pasuk in the Torah tells us that Yitro encamped in the wilderness. Yitro being them master of all religions that he was, was a wealthy man. Think of a Rabbi, who has income from being a head of school, a Lawyer, and a job teaching the next generation of Jews, Yitro was this man but ten levels up, he was like a Rabbi of all religions. Which means he had much money to spare, he lived a lavish lifestyle and enjoyed it plentifully. Think of this, living in a beautiful three-story house, with luxuries of an elevator, food, comfort, and peace of mind, and one day just leaving that behind to live on the streets. Would you do it for Hashem? It takes major sacrifice and dedication and will power to do something like this.
When Moshe was sitting judging the people, he sat on an elevated chair, almost like a throne, one by one, individually; every Jew came to be decreed. Yitro criticizes Moshe, he says why do you sit here up high while everyone else is lower than you? What Yitro is really saying is that why are you belittling the people? Yitro cared for the newly met Jews, as if it they were his own brothers. We today see homeless’ on the street, and we ignore them, or we see people who dedicated their lives to the truth, the Torah and chessed, and we don’t decode to help them in their time of need or don’t give them as much attention as they should be getting. Yitro reminds us that we must, we have an obligation to help a fellow Jew. Not only with money, but give them words of support, or words of inspiration.
In Judaism, we place a great deal of importance on names. We say that the name you are given will reflect how you will grow up to be, what characteristics you will inherit and so on. For example, being named after someone in the Tanach who is a Rasha is not a good thing. And naming your child something like Moshe would be an amazing thing. The great Rabbis say that Yitro had seven names. His most common one was Yeter. The root of Yeter in Hebrew means to add, like the word Yoter meaning more. Yeter turned into Yitro after he converted, like most converts in the Tanach he added the Vav to the end of his name indicating he was a convert. What does this have to do with anything? Yitro, the fact that it means more or in addition to, is why this Parashah is called Yitro, because it was literally added into the Torah, he caused a whole new Parashah to be born.
Yitro was a man with attributes we as Jews value immensely. He accepts the truth, he sacrificed all that he had for the truth, and he helped and advanced the Jewish people to higher heights. The perfect example of V’ahavta Lereicha Kamocha, the commandment love your fellow Jew as you love yourself. We must try to emulate the works of Moshe Rabbeinu, but if that’s not possible I think one step closer would be Yitro.
Shabbat Shalom,
Marking two years of being a religious Jew
Yosef Nemanpour