Torah Portion - January 24, 2008

 

Our sages devised many fascinating customs for interpreting Torah, enabling us to find newer, deeper lessons each time we return to a text. One of my favorite ways of reading Torah is by looking at how a portion is structured; which stories are placed next to which others, for example, and where they fall in the calendar year. Parshat Yitro is very rich in Torah lessons, especially during an election year like this one.

 

In this week’s parashah, God informs the Israelites that they will become mamlechet kohanim v'goy kadosh, a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:6) Much of the text details specific ways in which the new nation can make itself holy. We can still learn from such lessons today.

 

At the core of this path to holiness we find the Ten Commandments. What I find fascinating is how this prominent text, influential to all of Western Civilization, is juxtaposed with a less famous narrative on how one creates and sustains a holy community.

 

Yitro, known as Jethro in English, is Moses’ father in law—father of Zipporah, Moses’ wife.  Yitro is always referred to not only as father in law of Moses, but also as the priest of Midian. Clearly, the text need not focus on Yitro’s role as the holy man of a different religion, right as the Israelites are creating a new religion of their own. And yet, while

Yitro is not nor never becomes one of the Hebrews, Yitro and Moses had great respect for each other’s roles as spiritual and political leaders. Yitro, in fact, even becomes an advisor to Moses. He teaches his son in law the three most important words that any leader can ever learn: delegate! Delegate! Delegate! Yitro warns Moses:

 

 

 

So Moses heeded his father-in-law and did just as he had said. (After Exodus, chapter 18)

 

Moses was a powerful, able leader, but at this moment he was still a bit green around the edges. Yitro, being the older and more experienced chief, understand that there is no gain in attempting to be a lone leader, even if one’s ego is insisting that one can and should be the sole person in charge. As the poet Adrienne Rich added in her commentary on Rabbi Hillel’s dictum: If I am only for myself, who am I? Asks Hillel. He goes on to say, But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?

 

Rich adds to this compelling message: If not with others, how?

 

The problem with working with others, of course, is that we must give up our control. That is the brilliance of Yitro: delegating responsibility and creating community trumps the concept of a “perfect” product, and is always more vital than having a single leader—no matter how talented and effective he or she might be. And yet, working with others is the only way to create holy community. That is why the juxtaposition of the Ten Commandments---the essence of living in holy community---with the story of Yitro---learning from the “Other”—is so essential.

 

As Moses learns from Yitro, at time it takes someone very different from ourselves to shine light on our own path. It is easy for us to get caught in ruts. Unfortunately, “if you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got!”

 

By looking at the old in new ways, we “make the old new, and the new holy.” This always us to hear the old stories in new ways; it reminds us of what we already know but often forgotten. Let us remember to heed the Yitros in our own lives; to treat them with the same fondness and admiration that Moses bestowed upon Yitro.  If someone as gifted as Moses improved his lot by turning for advice on the one hand, and delegating tasks on the other---imagine what such actions might do for us regular human beings.