Parashat Yitro
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Synopsis
Parashat Yitro is named after Moses’ father in law who at the beginning of the parasha comes to find Moses after he hears of the Israelites liberation from Egypt. Yitro notices that Moses is giving the Israelites council single handed and suggests that he find trustworthy men and make them chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens and let them judge the people system at all times. Moses does what Yitro tells him to do and not long after the Israelites find themselves at the foot of mount Sinai. After 3 days of preparation the Israelites are ready to receive the torah and Moses goes up mount Sinai.
Themes
1) Connection with God
2) Power: the distribution of
3) The Ten commandments
Connection with God
Why is it that in this parasha only Moses is allowed close to God. For one this heavily burdens Moses as the reason that he was sole council to the Israelites was because they were searching for answers to all questions directly from God and Moses was acting as a go between. It was also the case that only Moses was allowed to go up to the mountain, everyone else had to wait at the foot. Whether you believe in God or not it does beg the question why do some people have more of a propensity for spirituality than others? Why do some us have our heads in the skies and others have our feet firmly planted on the ground? Of course I don’t have anything coming close to an answer to such questions nor is there a right or a wrong way but I do believe we should be understanding of those who have a completely different way of looking at the world.
Power: The Distribution Of
Before Yitro’s suggestion the only source of judgement amongst the Israelites was Moses. The burden of one person dealing with the problems of 100,000’s of people leads to inefficiency worse than the home office. So why is it so important to distribute power? There are so many reasons why distribution of power is important but the one I want to focus on is the personal touch. How many of you know who your mp is and from those how many of you have had a conversation with him/her. Do you feel represented? I know I don’t. Moses put in a system of power distribution which saw groups as small as less than 100 people being represented by 1 person. At that level a representative can have a relationship with everyone he/she represents. If only life was like that today.
The Ten Commandments
This week I want to do something a little bit different I want answers to some questions for a change.
When was the last time you looked at the 10 commandments?
Can you name them?
What do they mean to you?
How important are they?
Answer the questions and then go to the next slide.
(Next Slide)
1) I the Lord am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: you shall have no other Gods besides me.
2) You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters of the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I the Lord you God am an impassioned God, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject me, but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
3) You shall not swear falsely by the name of the Lord your God; for the Lord will not clear one who swears falsely by his name.
4) Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God: you shall not do any work - you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or you cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements. For in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth and sea. And all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed day the sabbath day and hallowed it.
5) H onour your father and mother, that you may long endure on the land that the Lord your God is assigning you.
6) You shall not murder.
7) You shall not commit adultery.
8) Y ou shall not steal.
9) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour
10) You shall not covet your neighbour’s house: you shall not covet your neighbours wife, or his male or female slave, or his ox or his ass, or anything that is your neighbour’s.
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