Yitro
Jethro advises Moses to delegate chiefs to judge legal cases. The Israelites encamp by Mount Sinai and the 10 commandments are proclaimed. God commands them to build an altar of earth and to bring sacrifices.
Yitro – David Golinkin
David Golinkin is a Rabbi and Professor and President of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.
Parashat Yitro begins with the story of Yitro (Exodus 19) which appears right after the story of Amalek and before the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. In this story, Moses’ father-in-law Yitro joins the people of Israel in the wilderness and rejoices at their deliverance from the Egyptians. He then witnesses Moses judging the people from morning till night and suggests that Moses delegate authority; major disputes should be judged by him and minor disputes by his deputies.
There is an ancient controversy among the commentators as to when the Yitro episode took place. R. Joshua says it took place before the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai while R. Elazar Hamodai says it took place after the giving of the Torah (Mechilta Yitro p. 188 (Midrash – traditional rabbinic narrative)).
It seems clear from internal evidence in the Torah that the Yitro episode actually took place after the giving of the Torah. But if this is true, why does it appear in chapter 18 immediately after the war with Amalek? Abraham Ibn Ezra (12th century commentator) replies, in his commentary to Exodus 18:1: “since the Torah tells above about the evil which Amalek did to Israel, it tells below about the good which Yitro did to Israel…”
Prof. Nahum Sarna (d. 2005), came to a similar conclusion in his book Exploring Exodus (pp. 128-129): “The story of the visit of Moshe’s father-in-law [Yitro] affords a striking contrast between the relationship and behavior toward Israel of the two neighbors – Amalek and the Kenites – Yitro’s clan. The one was viciously hostile and treacherous, the other friendly and helpful. The contrast is heightened by the literary juxtaposition”.
Prof. M. D. Cassuto of Hebrew University (d. ca. 1953) took this contrast one step further by comparing the language of the Amalek story with the language of the Yitro story – and discovered that the second story is a mirror image of the first! (Commentary to Exodus, Hebrew version, p. 145).
A Comparison of the Amalek and Yitro stories in Exodus
Chapters 17-18
Amalek | Yitro |
17:8 Amalek came and fought with Israel | 18:5 And Yitro…came |
17:9 Choose some men for us and go out and do battle with Amalek | 18:25 Moshe chose capable men out of all Israel |
17:9 Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill | 18:14 While all the people stand about you from morning until evening |
17:9 Tomorrow I will stand | 18:13 On the morrow Moshe sat |
17:12 But Moshe’s hands grew heavy | 18:18 For the task is too heavy for you |
17:12 so they took a stone and he sat on it | 18:13 Moshe sat to judge the people |
17:12 thus his hands remained steady until the sun set | 18:13, 14 from morning until evening |
17:16 The Lord will be at war with Amalek throughout the generations | 18:23 and his entire people will go home in peace |
The nouns and the verbs of the two stories are almost identical, but in the Amalek story everything was done for the sake of war, while in the Yitro story, everything was done for the sake of peace!
Amalek – eternal hatredI Samuel 15: the Prophet Samuel kills Agag, King of Amalek | Yitro – eternal loveIbid., v. 6 before the battle, King Saul tells the Kenites – Yitro’s clan – to leave since they did kindness with the Israelites when they left Egypt. |
So too in the rabbinic period:Amalek – eternal hatredThe Sages instructed us to blot out the name of Amalek and to read Parashat Zakhor every year before Purim. | Yitro – eternal love“And Moses went out towards his father-in-law” (18:7). Moses went out along with Aaron, Nadav, Avihu, the 70 elders…And some say the Shechina (God’s presence went with them [to get Yitro]” (Mechilta Yitro p. 193). |
We now jump forward 2,000 years to the present. For most of its existence, the State of Israel and the Arabs were like Israel and Amalek – in a state of eternal hatred. For the past twelve years we have been moving very slowly towards a Yitro-like relationship. Amalekite relationships have no benefits – hatred begets hatred. Yitro-like relationships have all the benefits – love begets love. Indeed, this is understood by most of Israel’s political parties. Most of Israel’s political parties agree that we must achieve peace with the Palestinians; they only disagree as to the proper tactics to be used to achieve that goal. This is not the time or the place to discuss those tactics. But the goal must be clear – we must aspire to a Yitro-like relationship with all our Arab neighbors. If we do so, we will fulfill the prophecy of Yitro “our teacher” (18:23): “And this entire people will go home in peace”. Amen.
Another Voice
Yitro, arguably the first management consultant (!), observes Moshe's daily schedule as administrator, judge, and teacher, realises that Moshe is slowly being totally burnt out, and advises his son-in-law to delegate some responsibilities to a hierarchy of worthy individuals. Moshe heeds Yitro’s advice and the legal system that ensued, whereby cases were filtered up to Moshe through a hierarchy of judges, is the basis of the majority of the world's judicial systems today.
In effect, by accepting the devolution of justice from the centre (i.e. one individual - Moshe), to multiple separate interpretations of law by their peer group (i.e. appointed judges), Bnei Yisrael opened up the possibility of multiple "justices" and multiple interpretations/understanding of the law. Is this a bad thing? Possibly yes as it results in ambiguity and perhaps like cases being treated differently. However, of overriding importance in this decision to delegate parts of the judicial system to the judges was that it gave the population, through the judges, the ability to engage in the search for truth, right or wrong. For possibly the first time, it was not only the highest echelons of leadership who had the ability to search for the truth. Indeed, in the words of Albert Einstein: "The search for truth is more precious than its possession".
Elliott Goldstein