January 22, 2011
Yitro, Exodus 18:1–20:23
Be One with “The One”
Dan Levin
Take yourself back. Stand in that holy place. Be one of the myriad of Israelites assembled at the foot of Mount Sinai, preparing to encounter God, to meet God face-to-face, to see God’s Presence, to hear God’s Voice. Imagine what it would be to confront the Ultimate, to be a part of a union between heaven and earth, between eternity and now, between infinite God and finite humanity.
At the beginning of this week’s Torah portion, we find the Israelites at a rather dark hour. They had nearly revolted against their leader when water became scarce, losing faith in him and in the God who brought them out from Egypt. They cannot make decisions for themselves, cope with their freedom, or look to each other for advice and support. Each and every one saw himself/herself as alone against the world; Moses too sees himself alone—separated from his wife and children.
So Moses’s father-in-law Jethro (Hebrew, Yitro) brings Moses’s family together and gives his son-in-law some very good advice. Instead of Moses handling all the people’s disputes himself, Jethro tells Moses to appoint chiefs and establish a hierarchy of others who can help make the decisions—give power to the people—trust them. Show them that you are not the only conduit to God, but that they themselves can seek God too.
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