Monday, January 25, 2016

Yitro

Exodus 18:1–20:23

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Words of God


The week's parashah, Yitro, takes its name from the opening line which states "And Yitro (Jethro) father-in-law of Moses heard all that God had done to Moses and to Israel his people, that God had taken Israel out of Egypt." The parashah then continues on with Yitro's advice to Moses not to take on the duty of judging the people's grievances alone, but to appoint judges to help him. Finally, the parashah reaches a climax with the central event of our religious mythology, the giving of the law/Torah at Sinai. It is at Sinai that the ragtag bunch of former slaves finally covenants themselves to God as a people. At Sinai the nation/people of Israel is born.

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