Yitro
Exodus 18:1 - 20:23
"And Israel encamped there, facing
the mount" (Ex. 19:2)
-- the Hebrew verb VAYICHAN ("encamped") is in the
singular. They encamped "as one man with one heart" (Rashi
ad loc.) -- united. Observing today's rainbow variety
of
jostling "belief systems"-- ever-critical, argumentative,
obstinate and apparently incapable of agreeing about anything -- it
is hard to imagine how all the Children of Israel actually did unite
at Sinai to receive the Torah.
In an often-quoted passage
from Rambam about the uniqueness of Moses' prophecy, he states that
"the prophets who deny the truth of
Moses' prophecy are like
witnesses who tell a person who saw something with his own eyes that
it was not as he saw it."
The prophets to whom he is
referring include those who founded the two major world religions
which are rooted in and yet deviate from the Torah: Christianity and
Islam. Both drew the bulk of their teachings from the Torah. Yet both
implicitly and explicitly deny the finality of Moses' prophecy,
seeking to "undo" the laws of the Torah (such as
circumcision, the dietary laws, complete Sabbath observance and many
others).
The relaxation of the stringencies of Torah law by
these man-made religions made them more acceptable to the
non-Israelite nations. As Rambam states at the very end of his Code
of Law (Hilchos Melachim 11:4 uncensored version): "Man does not
have the power to grasp the thoughts of the Creator of the Universe.
For our ways are not His ways, nor are our thoughts His. All that
happened in the wake of Yeshu of Nazereth and that Ishmaelite who
arose after him came only to straighten the way for Melech HaMashiach
and to rectify the entire world to serve HaShem together. Thus it is
written: 'And then I will turn to all the nations a pure language so
that all of them will call upon the name of HaShem and serve Him with
one accord' (Zephaniah 3:9). The whole world has thus become filled
with the knowledge of the Torah and the commandments. This knowledge
has spread to the farthest islands And when the true MELECH
HAMASHIACH arises and succeeds, they will all immediately know that
'their fathers inherited falsehood' and that their prophets and their
fathers deceived them."
Despite the attraction of the two
new religions for non-Israelites, neither one of them ever made
serious inroads among the Jews. Indeed it was precisely because the
founders could not attract the Jews that they turned to the non-Jews
for recruits.
In Rambam's IGERET TEIMAN (letter to the Jews of
Yemen written in 1172 C.E. encouraging them to reject the forced
conversion to Islam to which they were being subjected), he explains
why the two new religions held no attractions for those who
understood the intricate depths of the Torah:
"Their only
wish was to compare their lies to the Law of HaShem. But the work of
G-d bears no comparison to the work of man except in the eyes of a
little child who has no understanding of either. The difference
between our religion and the other religions that seek to compare
themselves to it is like the difference between a living, conscious
man and a statue. The statue is carved out of a piece of wood
overlaid with gold or silver or chiseled out of a piece of marble and
made to look like a man. An ignorant fool does not know the
difference between G-dly wisdom and this artifact made in the form of
a man. The statue looks like a man in its structure and outward
appearance. But it only seems like a man because the ignorant
onlooker doesn't know what is inside either a man or a statue.
However, the wise man knows the difference between what is inside the
two. The wise man knows that inside the statue is nothing, while the
inside of the living man, ADAM, is filled with truly amazing wonders
and works that testify to the wisdom of the Creator -- the nerves,
the flesh, the bones, the bodily limbs and their all their
interconnections"
Notes:
18:1-5
Chronology:
Yitro incident
after Torah at Sinai:
First we see that Yitro came to Moshe as
Israel was encamped at the foot of Sinai. (vs.5).
They had been camped there for 10 days short of one year in total . . . From Sivan 1 found in Exodus 19:1-2 (1st day of the 3rd month) and leaving in Numbers 10:11-12 (20th day of the second month in the second year)
19:16 Moshe made known to and taught the laws of God to the people
19:27 Then Yitro departed (before the written record of hearing or receiving Torah).
Deuteronomy 1:6-15 teaches that immediately upon the appointment of the elders that Israel departed the land . .
Jethro the Convert - WHY WAS THIS PORTION NAMED
after a Gentile? Can you think of any other. (Named after
men? Noach, Korach, Pinhas and Balak. Named after a
gentile (Balak).
18:1-11
1. Given on the
Mount flowing down to the people
The Torah is WATER and water
only flows from a High Place to a LOW PLACE. Doubts make the
space, one has to have the concept of being in doubt, of being low,
of being humble in order to become a receptacle a vessel. He
came to the realization that the gods . . . the doctrines
. . . the ways of life he had served were fruitless and that the God
of Moshe was indeed THE God. He had witnessed the greatness of
GODs deliverance.
He had begun to doubt . . . and became
humble . . . . and became a receptacle, a vessel. "Now I
KNOW that HaShem is great above all the gods" (Ex. 18:11)
Also,
using or teaching Torah form a low place is fruitful . .
Torah used from a high place causes division.
It is fitting that the parshah which tells of the Giving
of the Torah at Mount Sinai is named after Yisro (Jethro), Moses'
father-in-law -- a convert. Indeed, all those who witnessed the
Giving of the Torah were "converts". Before G-d, we
are all converts -- GERIM, "dwellers" in a land and on an
earth that is not ours but G-d's. We are all here only by the grace
of G-d, utterly dependent upon His kindness and compassion.
Thus
no one can claim that the Torah belongs to him by right through
ancestral or other merit. There is no room for pride, arrogance or
the exploitation of the Torah for worldly advantage.
The Torah is not the property of an exclusive caste. It "belongs" only to one who keeps it.
The Torah was given in the Wilderness, no man's land, on the lowest of all mountains -- Sinai, the eternal symbol of humility. For only through humility can we "receive" and accept the Torah, which belongs to G-d alone
Receiving the Torah means having the humility to accept it as it is, the way it has come down to us, without trying to "modify" it according to our own ideas and wishes.
Ha orafh = pharaoh backward - neck
Pharoah= stiffnecked
Chaite = sin = closed heart
His stubbornness to chage (tshuvah) destroyed his country, his family, and finally himself
When we are willing to accept and follow the Torah as it actually is -- fulfilling NA'ASEH VE-NISHMAH, "we will (first) DO it and (then) HEAR (and understand) it" (Ex. 24:7) -- then we can come to understand how the Torah lifts us out of our slavery to this-worldliness, with its many false gods.
Slavery to the idols of the mundane world is ignominious. Yet the
Torah accords the greatest honor to those who have the courage to
leave this servitude behind and "go out into the wilderness"
in search of G-d -- like Jethro.
According to tradition,
Jethro had investigated every conceivable way of interpreting and
living in this world, every world-view and "lifestyle".
Only when Jethro came to HaShem and His Torah did he know he had
found the truth.. The Zohar comments: "When Jethro came and
said, 'Now I know that HaShem is great' then the Supreme Name was
glorified and exalted" (Zohar, Yisro 69). In other words, the
revelation of G-d's light and power is greatest precisely when it
comes out of darkness and concealment. Only when we have seen evil
and know its power can we understand the greatness of G-d's saving
hand. Only one who was a slave truly understands what it means to
have been freed. This is "the superiority of the light that
comes out of darkness" (Ecclesiastes 2:13).
2.
Why
was Torah not given in the LAND? Why in the Wilderness.
Isn't it more logical that Torah would have been given at Mt. Moriah .
.
. the place of the akeida, the place of the building of
the Temple?
Again we see the lowliness and humility
connected with Torah. It was:
Given in a Foreign land making it non-elitist or non
Given in the wilderness implying that one most often receives Torah in the wilderness of his life, not in the glory of the high places.
Mt. Sinai was in no mans land. The lowliest of all the mountains. Again, a picture of humility.
Perhaps another important reason . . . found in the Hebrew meaning of Sinai seen nah . . . hatred. Enmity. Not just division . . but enmity hatred. To be a witness of this Torah in all nations = from Rashis meaning of Deut. 6:5 You shall love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might - . Here, Rashi uses the term HaMakom for GOD = meaning that Your hearts should not be divided against the Place. The Lesson? (1) That wherever we are, we serve YHVH and His Torah Mon-Friday & that the Torah is not exclusive to the land of Israel nor the people of Israel. (2) This creates division enmity and tests your character to stand while convicting others to righteousness
3. 19:2
"AND ISRAEL
ENCAMPED"
And Israel encamped there, facing the mount.
He Hebrew verb vayichan (encamped) is in the singular. They are
encamped as one man with one heart united.
What Rashi
was teaching was that TORAH is not the property of an exclusive group
of people. It is the property and belongs to thse who keep it.
What is unity?
All things as one - a group who can think alike, live alike, and are on the same path
Those who loved each oother not divided by petty divisions, gossip, slander, lashon hara
Those who serve the same GOD and are on a trek to understanding his mitzvot and are allowing change in their lives
Those who have mutual respect for each other yielding to personal feelings, and seeing the greater picture of GOD leading us all at varying speeds and insights.
4. 19:5 To obey and
Keep
Verse 6 Kingdom of priests only if
you obey and keep. What is the covenant? Torah given at
Sinai. The torah of Moses. If you obey and keep that you
will be blessed.
5.
19:8. Were willing until they heard the
commandments . . . then they could not hear All he has
said we will do 20:19 . . but I cant hear him