Dvar Torah Parashat Yitro

Dedicated Leilui Nishmat Rabbi Raymond Harari A"H By Cookie & Jacob Cohen

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Parashat Yitro

Act On It!

This week’s parasha is named after Moshe Rabbenu’s father-in-law, Yitro, the high priest of Midian. Why would the Torah give such an honor to Yitro, an idolatrous Midianite, especially in the parasha that carries the holy words of the Ten Commandments?

Maybe the answer to this question lies in the first two words of the parasha, “Vayishma Yitro — and Yitro heard.” The passuk goes on to say that Yitro heard what Hashem had done for Moshe and B’nei Yisrael. According to Rashi, Yitro heard of the parting of the Red Sea and the war with Amalek. These two events were known to everyone, but the Torah singles out Yitro for a very important reason. Yitro not only heard, but also decided to act on what he had heard by converting to Judaism.

R' Menachem Feifer brings a powerful story. Around forty years ago Ethiopia was amidst a terrible civil war. The state of Israel launched “Project Solomon” to rescue 17,000 Ethiopian Jews from their country. Israel ran into a few political roadblocks before the prime minister of Ethiopia and Israel agreed on a deal. Israel would give the Ethiopian government a large sum of money, and they will convince the President George H.W. Bush to recognize the communist government of this Ethiopian prime minister.

Getting America to recognize Ethiopia would be no easy task, but Israel took the challenge and sent over statesmen to talk with the president. Realizing the gravity the situation, the integrity of America versus thousands of lives at stake he held a cabinet meeting. The votes were tied, and they were down to the last vote. The last man that was the deciding vote, Secretary Colin Powell stood up and told everyone a story.

In the 1940s a fire broke out in an apartment building. Everyone evacuated, except three children who were stuck in their apartment on the fourth floor. The fire department did not see a way to save them. All of the sudden a dark-skinned man took a wet blanket, wrapped himself and ran into the fire saving the three children.

The parents hugged and kissed this stranger for saving their children. They asked what they could do to repay him, but the man replied, “I am a Jew from Ethiopia. What I just did was a mitzvah—good deed, and Jews do not sell mitzvot.”

Secretary Powell looked around the room and said, “I was one of those children. Today is my turn to do a mitzvah for the Ethiopian Jews.” Because of his deciding vote, the President wrote the letter to the prime minister of Ethiopia and thousands of Jews were saved.

This gentile recognized the goodness he received and searched for a way to return that kindness. So too, Yitro, a prominent priest in his religion acted on his awe of the Jews. It is one thing for a person to realize intellectually that he should change, but it’s another thing to act on it. It is difficult for someone who has held certain beliefs his entire life to alter his way of thinking in his later years. A transformation of that kind involves the realization that everything you believed has been wrong. That was Yitro’s greatness. What we learn from him is that if Yitro — a non-Jewish priest — could make such an amazing change, then so can we!

The Ten Commandments

This parasha includes the Aseret Hadibrot—Ten Commandments. We learn that each row of the five commandments on the right tablet corresponds to each row from the five commandments on the left. The first commandment, “I am Hashem,” is adjacent to the fifth commandment, or the first in the left row, “You shall not murder.” This teaches us that Hashem gives us life and we are forbidden to take that life.

The second commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me,” is adjacent to “You shall not commit adultery.” In other words, don’t be unfaithful to Hashem, and don’t be unfaithful to your spouse.

The third is the commandment to not take G-d’s name in vain, which is next to “You shall not steal.” This tells us that a thief will use Hashem’s name in vain to try and prove he’s innocent.

There is a great yesod— fundamental concept which is most profoundly exemplified in the fourth and ninth commandments. In the fourth commandment, it says, “Remember the Shabbat day to sanctify it,” and next to it, the ninth, “You shall not bear false witness against your fellow.” A Jew who keeps the Shabbat testifies that the world was created by Hashem’s utterance. One who gives false testimony corrupts his speech. This leaves him unable to testify that Hashem created the world, which is the main point of Shabbat!

Lastly, the fifth commandment, “Honor your parents,” faces the injunction against “coveting.” There is a profound lesson to be had here. Honoring our parents is part of honoring Hashem for His favors. Hashem, like our parents, showers us with gifts. And if we appreciate everything that Hashem has given us and understand that we have been given all that we need, there will be no reason to be jealous of what others have.

Shabbat

The fourth of the Ten Commandments is the mitzvah of Shabbat. Rabbi Shmuel Choueka wrote about Shabbat in his book, The Rabbi’s Message. We all look forward to the peacefulness and serenity of Shabbat when we can take a break from the hectic pace of the rest of the week. A touching story is told about Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, the Rabbi of Jerusalem in the early 1900’s.

One Friday night, his wife fell ill, so he went to the home of Dr. Schwartz to ask him to treat her. When the Rabbi knocked on the door, the doctor answered with a lantern in his hand. The Rabbi was disappointed that Shabbat was being desecrated but he didn't say anything about it. The two of them went back to the Rabbi's house where the doctor examined the rebbetzin and gave her some medication which quickly improved her condition. The Rabbi thanked the doctor, and they began walking together back to the doctor's house.

On the way, the Rabbi asked the doctor, “What percentage of a person's body does the head comprise?”



The doctor was puzzled by the random question, but he answered, “The head takes up about a seventh of a person's body.”

“That's all?” said the Rabbi. “So imagine if all the limbs and organs united against the head and complained, ‘It’s not fair! We do all the work, but when it’s time to eat, you open your mouth and devour all the food! And when you want to express an opinion, your mouth becomes the spokesman for all of us! We protest!’ But the head responds, ‘It’s perfectly fair because I direct and orchestrate all actions of the body. If it weren’t for me, you’d all be worthless hunks of flesh.’”

The doctor, amused by the Rabbi's allegory, agreed with the argument of the head.

Then the Rabbi said, “The ratio of the head to the body is exactly the same as the days of the week - six days of physical pursuits and one day of rest. From the one day of rest, a person draws his inspiration and blessing for the other six days, and through that, his days are filled with meaning and perspective. If not for Shabbat, man would become a slave to his desires and monetary aspirations. We should therefore be careful to preserve the sanctity of Shabbat, just as it preserves us in body and spirit!”

The doctor was inspired by the Rabbi's words and accepted upon himself to keep the Shabbat from that day on. As we say in the Lecha Dodi prayer on Friday night, “Ki hi mekor haberachah—for [Shabbat) is the source of our blessing.” The more we elevate the level of our observance of Shabbat, the more blessings we will see in the rest of our week.

Life is a Package Deal

Rabbi Frand asks a question regarding the tenth commandment. Why does the Torah provide a list of specific things that we may not covet, such as our neighbor’s house, wife, servants, ox, donkey, and then end with a generalization, i.e. “Or anything that belongs to your neighbor?” Rabbi Frand answers, that if you want your friend’s house or his wife, then you have to take the entire package, including your friend’s troubles. The Torah teaches us that everyone has challenges along with the good things, and we may not always see them when we are blinded by envy.

There is a well-known mashal—parable that my father taught me growing up. If we were to put all our troubles into a suitcase, place the suitcase in a pile with everyone else’s suitcases filled with difficulties, and try to trade, we would always take our own package back, because we don’t know what someone else’s might contain!

A Father In-Law’s Reminder

The Torah teaches, “Yitro, the father-in-law of Moshe, took Tziporah, the wife of Moshe, after she’d been sent away. And her two sons, the name of one was Gershom, for he had said, ‘I was a sojourner in a strange land,’ and the name of the other was Eliezer for ‘the G-d of my father came to my aid, and He saved me from the sword of Pharaoh (Shemot 18:2-3).’” Rabbi Frand brings down an interesting question. It’s appropriate to provide these descriptions when a child is born. But since these children were born much earlier, the Torah should simply record their names, not the reasons why they had them. By this point, the reasons are ancient history!

Rav Schlessinger suggests that Yitro was sending a pointed message to his son-in-law, Moshe Rabbenu. Moshe’s leadership task was about to begin. When Moshe was faced with a situation where he had an entire nation to worry about, it would have been very easy for his children to slip through the cracks.

Yitro wanted to bring home to Moshe the idea that he should never forget the importance of the individuals that make up the bigger group. Yitro is gently saying, “Moshe, if the Almighty had not paid close attention to you, where would you be? One person CAN make all the difference in the world. Your children too — if they are properly tended to — could grow up to become great leaders.”

History is not made up of the deeds of nations. It is made up of the deeds of individuals. Yitro reminded Moshe that although he had the overwhelming responsibility of leading Klal Yisrael, he had responsibility for his two young sons as well.

May we all have the strength to act on the Torah that we hear, so that we may change things for the better for ourselves, our families, and our communities. May we grow in Torah values and respect the Ten Commandments. May we remember to foster the need of our young children as individuals, so they may achieve greatness! Amen!

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Amram Sananes, written by Jack Rahmey

Discussion Point:

What kind of changes should we be making in our lives, but aren’t acting on yet? Why not?

This book is a compilation of Divre Torah from the weekly parasha classes from Rabbi Sananes’ teachings over the last 10 years along with my own experiences in those classes which has stimulated my Torah growth. I’ve included many pertinent stories and life lessons to grow from at your Shabbat table. There’s also questions and discussion points at the end of each Parasha to stimulate a Torah conversation at your Shabbat table for the whole family to participate in. Also, included is a holidays section at the end of the book to use for all of our special holidays and Yomiim Toviim.



Now available in all Jewish bookstores and Amazon!

I and Rabbi Sananes look forward to hearing your feedback.

Sincerely, Jack E. Rahmey and Rabbi Amram Sananes jrahmey@rahmeyfinancial.com (917-226-6276) and AmramSanases@me.com

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