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Drash
for Shabbat Yitro In this week’s Torah portion, Moses meets with Jethro, his father-in-law, who has brought Moses’ wife, Zipporah, and his two sons to him in the desert. When they meet Moses recounts to Jethro all that had occurred in Egypt and how God delivered the Jews from Pharaoh. As a result, Jethro states "the LORD is greater than all gods…". On the following day, Jethro observes Moses mediating disputes from morning to night. Jethro’s suggestion is to recruit upstanding people to hear the disputes. Those disputes that cannot be resolved the recruited people will be heard by Moses for resolution. The current system of courts, in most countries, from a local level court through a supreme court, may be traced back to Jethro’s suggestion and Moses’ implementation. Not an insignificant suggestion. Being able to trace a court system back to a particular Torah portion would make this portion important in and of itself. But this Torah portion concludes with a list of Ten Commandments that the Israelites committed to obey. These commandments are: (JPS translation)
Each Israelite and his/her descendants are responsible for obeying these commandments. Though each individual contains qualities of God, we are still imperfect beings. Individuals that must strive and work diligently to understand, not just obey the meaning of these commandments. Frankly, we each need to understand the meaning of all of the 613 commandments and practice them through our knowledgeable understanding. From this knowledge-based practice of obeying the commandments, we, who are the descendants of the Israelites, can help make the world a better place. Shabbat Shalom.
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