Parashat Yitro
From Parashat Beshalach through Yitro to Mishpatim and beyond, the Exodus launches the Jewish People on a forty-year journey of wandering, camping, and growing in the wilderness. The Torah’s main messages about our lives as Jewish Americans emerge clearly in three aspects of this sacred travelogue.
First, the manna points to our need for gratitude for our daily breath and sustenance. Whether provision falls from heaven or comes through hard work, recognizing the blessings we have—and have worked with God to achieve—reveals their miraculous nature.
Second, receiving the Torah on Mt. Sinai underscores our need for revealed wisdom we can trust. The institution of Mosaic Law and the established folkways of Jewish culture all stem from a shared story that unites us—the Sinai experience. Would it be that we could feel like that as American citizens with a retelling of our story that could unite all of us, so that the promise of “We the People” would be lived out according to the Torah’s foundational morals and the greatest of our American values.
Third, listening is essential: Have we become שְׁמַע Jews? Are we listening for God’s call to fulfill our unique missions—as individuals and as part of the Jewish family? While the Ten Commandments are given in our Torah portion, they are metonymic for the entire menu of mitzvot a Jew could do. A Jew is asked to hear the Lord’s call: “Which mitzvah speaks to your soul? Which will you accomplish today and in your life?”
This verb שְׁמַע—ש.מ.ע—appears most frequently in Deuteronomy but also at our parsha’s beginning: “וַיִּשְׁמַע יִתְרוֹ—Yitro heard.” When we truly hear again and again the greatness of our history, feel the family connection, and discover which mitzvot speak to us, we can lead lives of righteous action. Then our Jewish selves—or our entire beings—fill with the light of Torah, the very center of the Jewish experience. This Shabbat, standing for the Ten Commandments, we receive Torah anew.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Bolton