Shari J. Berman
January 29, 2005
Yitro…Jethro…I have been
contemplating this parsha for several weeks now. It’s rich with activity and
subtext. I’m struck by many aspects of this portion, but my focus has changed
over the past week as we are a community in mourning. What can we call upon in
Yitro that can give us strength? I believe that some valuable insight can come
by looking at the man for whom this portion is named.
The question that always
comes up first is why is there a Torah portion named after Jethro? Yitro, choten
moshe, by most accounts means Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses. Choten
moshe, however, can also be translated to mean that Jethro was the
brother-in-law of Moses. I will use father-in-law in my discussion, but in
either scenario, Yitro is an in-law of Moshe, but not a Hebrew. He is a
Medianite priest, or sheik. Moses is a major player in this portion and all of
Exodus, yet there is no parsha named after Moshe. So, why Yitro? Yitro was a
priest of idolatry. The Torah says of him that he knew all the idols of the
world. So here Yitro stands as leader of that which is the farthest away from
our core belief. But Yitro is extremely proactive and exerts great influence on
us. Yitro is a person of action. And
this portion, parshat Yitro has a thread that runs through it that calls our
attention to influences from the far margins, from the periphery, from that
which is not necessarily Jewish.
To begin with, let me go
back through the English rendition of some of the Torah narration you just
heard: "Moses then recounted to his father-in-law everything that the Lord
had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardships
that had befallen them on the way, and how the Lord delivered them. And Jethro
rejoiced over all the kindness that the Lord had shown Israel when God delivered
them from the Egyptians. 'Blessed be the Lord,' Jethro said, 'who delivered the
people from under the hand of the Egyptians . . .' (Exodus 18:8-10). Vayomer Yitro
baruch Adonay And
Yitro said blessed be the Lord… Blessed
be the Lord…Doesn’t that sound familiar?
Professor Ze'ev Falk, points
out in his commentary that Yitro is responsible for setting "the form of a
blessing for praise and thanksgiving." Falk further remarks, "It is
interesting that the form of the blessing was invented by a non-Jew and that it
was accepted in the Jewish worship of Gd."
In the very next line, Yitro,
upon seeing what Gd has done for Moses says “Now I know that Adonai is greater
than all the gods.” Yitro has a
long background of idol worship, yet he proclaims Adonai’s greatness. It is
fair to say that by this time people all over the region have heard of Gd’s
deeds and how he delivered the people of Israel from the Egyptians. So what
makes Yitro special? Yitro, as I said earlier is a
person of action. He speaks out about it, he openly praises Gd and Yitro
eventually comes to be a believer in Gd so he goes from a ger
v'toshav a friendly sojourner among the Jewish people to a ger
tzedek (a
righteous convert). In
the commentary on Yitro found on the Shema Yisrael Torah Network online, the
author, whose name is not given, compares Yitro, this person of action to the
average person of inaction. The author cites Proverbs 26:14
As the door turns on its hinges, so does the lazy person on his bed. Like
a door that just moves back and forth, many of us barely move and don’t really
get anywhere.
Judy and Jerry Rothstein, of
blessed memory, were people of action. The newspaper write-ups have repeatedly
used the term activist, but I prefer to remember Jerry as a modern-day Yitro, a
man of action. Jerry was on the first board for the group that eventually became
Kona Beth Shalom. Their son was the first Bar Mitzvah of record on the Big
Island. Jerry and Judy were contributing to the community as part of our
tu’beshvat celebration last Sunday. The terrible accident that claimed their
lives occurred on the heels of sharing in the performing of numerous mitzvoth
with our community members that day.
After hearing this tragic
news, I could only think about how it is imperative that we live our lives like
Judy and Jerry. We need to not be the door hinge, but the Yitro, the one who
speaks out, the one who participates. We need to be people of action.
We go on to Reading Two,
where Yitro counsels Moshe, who we learn is working himself to the bone as a
judge. Yitro points out to Moshe that if he keeps up his current pace of judging
and teaching Gd’s ways from morning until night that he will burn out. He
tells Moshe that it is necessary for a leader of his importance to delegate
responsibility. He suggests that Moshe appoint a number of judges rather than
bear the burden alone. Moshe takes Yitro’s advice. Once again, Parshat Yitro
teaches about the importance of outside advice.
In the linear version,
Parshat Yitro goes on to include Matan Torah. Many find it curious that we have
this whole discussion about judgment between Moshe and Yitro before the giving
of the law. Some of our sages believe that Yitro actually came to see Moses
after the giving of the law at Sinai and this brings up the interesting idea
that there is no early or late in Torah, before
or after doesn’t matter, Torah
transcends time and the Torah is not bound by time.
While we could discuss the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments as we often call this, at great length, I want to go back to our thread about things on the periphery, marginal things. One analysis I read pointed out the language in the beginning of the first commandment. Anochi Adonai Elohecha. I am Gd your lord… Once again we have Anochi, which although similar to the Hebrew word for “I” is actually the Egyptian word for “I. Of the 40 languages of the day, Egyptian was the language considered to be the furthest from the holy language Hebrew. We are back to this theme of Parshat Yitro emphasizing what we can learn from the outside and the fringes.
Perhaps the strongest symbolism we see in the Ten Commandments is that it is a major framework for our lives—some basic rules that teach us to maintain good relationships with our families and others. It is in our darker hours that we long to go back to these basics. In addition to the tragic loss of the Rothsteins, another man in our community, Neil Westreich died this past Monday at his farm in Ocean View. Although Neil was only able to join us occasionally, he is described by his friend Lois-ellin Datta as a thoughtful man, a good man—a spiritual and observant man, who was proud of being Jewish. Neil cared lovingly for his wife and four daughters He was always the first to help others, the last to take any bows. Lois-ellin goes on to say that he will be remembered with grief at his too-early passing, with love for his goodness and spirit.
Although we don’t read the later readings aloud in Hebrew in our
congregation, as I mentioned Parshat Yitro is the traditional time to read about
the giving of these laws and to say
the Ten Commandments out loud. Judi Steinman sent me a lovely Yitro commentary
by e-mail from Rabbi Rafael Goldstein. Rabbi Goldstein works in a hospital and
as his commentary for Yitro this year, he shared a newspaper obituary of the
young daughter of a nurse with whom he works. Sarah Beth Thursby passed away
last summer of a rare, aggressive cancer. Her mother composed a list entitled:
“Things we learned from Sarah.” I
would like to read this list and hope that these words of wisdom can soothe our
own heavy hearts:
Rabbi
Goldstein goes on to say:
I am sharing this list now,
because this week’s Torah portion culminates with what we know as the Ten
Commandments, the original list of ways we are supposed to live our lives, by
establishing and maintaining a good relationship with God, our parents, and with
other people. The rabbis didn’t want the Ten Commandments to be holier or more
significant than all of our other mitzvot,
to be the only rules people might observe. All of the Torah is holy, and all the
rest of the mitzvot are important.
I wore this dress today,
because the woman who makes them reminded me that this line was one of Judy
Rothstein’s favorites. Let us remember our dear departed friends for all of
their various mitzvoth. In the past week, I resolved to start my own mini
exercise program, which involves several trips up and down my driveway. I have
taken to stopping on one of my trips and appreciating my substantial patch of
aloe plants. Jerry Rothstein brought those to a friend’s birthday party and
insisted that we take them home and plant them. Let us continue to be inspired
by these strong people of action that we lost this week.
Mahalo for allowing me to speak here today and Shaloha.