Entrusted: Parashat Yitro

Parashat Yitro 2015 jan

Torah Sparks

Exodus 18:1 – 20:23

Our Torah reading takes its name from the name of Moses’ father-in-law, Yitro (- Jethro). He has come to reunite with Moses, bringing along Moses’ wife and two sons, who had stayed with him in safety all the time that the Israelites’ God had worked to free the people of Israel from Egyptian slavery.

Yitro sees that Moses spends all his days, from morning until night, teaching and ministering to the Israelites. He is appalled by this situation and warns Moses that he will bring himself and his people to ruin if he continues to try to lead them alone. He makes a revolutionary suggestion: Moses should empower other people to teach and judge the people. Moses should only be the “court of last resort.”

Many a management consultant has used this text to teach about the wisdom of delegating authority. But there is even more at stake here. Israel had been freed from the tyrant Pharaoh. But they were in danger of falling into another one-person dictatorship under Moses. Yitro’s alternative is the alternative of democracy. The fundamental values of democracy that can be gleaned from his plan do not encompass the ideal of “one-man one-vote.” But his plan shows a commitment to the idea that all the people – even those who will never become part of the elite, and even those who may be in the wrong – are entitled to free access to justice, access that will not place onerous burdens on them in terms of their time or physical comfort. This is a radical idea even by today’s standards of the modern democratic state!

Furthermore, the new leadership that is to take up posts in Moses’ stead is to be drawn from every segment of society. As long as these people show that they are capable and honest, they are eligible to be local magistrates. And what are they empowered to do? They will determine the law for all of the people, except for the most difficult cases (which are to come before Moses). This speaks of a faith in the capabilities of people to an extraordinary degree. Moses will not try to second guess their judgments. He will not demand to certify all their decisions. He has enough faith in the people to raise up capable leaders who will be honest and competent.

In our time we are witnesses that the democratic ideal is under tremendous stress. Critics attack it and reject it in the name of religion, or by expressing a lack of faith in the abilities of good people to lead without being corrupted by the power invested in them. Some Jews claim that democracy is an alien idea, not to be allowed to pollute the purity of Judaism, which, they assert, derives from a higher authority. But our Torah portion teaches us the opposite. What started as an alien idea became a central part of our Torah. Yitro – an “alien” teacher – offered Judaism a practical plan for living democracy, and the Jewish response was to embrace it!

Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi David Greenstein

 


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image:  “Hands IV” © Laura Lewis altered and used with permission via Creative Commons License

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