Parshat Yisro

This is probably one of the most amazing prashiot in all of Torah. It is jam-packed. It describes Moshe Rabbeinu with Am Yisrael meeting up with none-other than Moshe’s father-in-law; a most incredible person and personality. One has to ask the obvious question. What was it that made Yitro zoyche to a son-in-law like Moshe Rabbeinu. After all, let us face facts, he was what he is called in the Torah, the Priest of Midian. He was the High Priest, the Kohen Gadol, of Midian, not the Kohen Gadol of Israel. He was a gentile. Rashi says that he was experienced in every form of avodah zarah that existed in the world. Eventually when he saw the incredible things that Hashem had done for Israel, he said, “Now I can see that your G-d is the most awesome of all the gods;” which in itself opens up a whole cascade of questions. Did he think that there is competition between Hashem and other gods? What is the deeper understanding of this?

To explore that point: ein lo demut haguf. Hashem has no body, substance, or form. One of the things is that we cannot always believe what we can’t see, and Yitro had seen the ways of Hashem in a way that sometimes we Jews ourselves do not see from the inside. Very often when we are showered with miracles in the epicenter of world history, we think, ‘well…that’s normal that the guys should come out of Gaza,’ the war that was meant to be Azazel—the end of wars so to speak. Hamas planned for there to be thousands if not tens of thousands of people perishing in Gaza. Almost every soldier that was there was overwhelmed by the magnitude and the number of miracles that they had all experienced. One of the stories that came out of Gaza was that 150 soldiers went into a building one night and they all rested up in that building. When they woke up in the morning they saw that there was a very thin line across the entrance of the building. Had anybody touched that invisible wire at the height of their feet, the building would have blown up and buried them. 150 soldiers slept in that building that night and they all left the next morning unscathed. In other words, if you can imagine it, it was a field that was totally booby-trapped, where every foot of the way there was a bomb. Now imagine 150 soldiers marching through the field without knowing that it was a mine-field. It happened to my wife a few years ago when she was in the army in one of the early Lebanon wars. She was helping to encourage soldiers in the love of the land. On one of their expeditions, she went into a field and the soldiers started screaming to her and she could not understand why they were waving. Then she stopped in her tracks because she found out that she was in a seriously mined mine-field. She managed to get out of there alive, Baruch Hashem.

How often is it in world history that the whole world braces and they hold their breath expecting the final punctuation mark on the smallest of nations? They didn’t learn from the Egyptians. Just imagine it. What was going on there? Am Yisrael experience ten of the most awesome miracles through the ten plagues. In every one of the plagues they saw absolute perfection from Hashem through Moshe Rabbeinu. Each one of the plagues was coming to address another injustice. The plague of blood, for example, was not only Hashem showing his greatness by turning water into blood. That is not so impressive, because, as the Torah describes, the Egyptian necromancers—the idolaters—could also do that. But really the question begs to be asked, if they were so good, why did they not turn the blood into water? If they were so impressive, couldn’t they turn the frogs back to nothing or send them back into the Nile instead of being dependant on Moshe Rabbeinu for that? It turns out that when the Nile was filled with frogs that were covering the land, it says in the Torah that the Egyptian idolaters were impressing the Pharaoh by showing him that they could also make frogs. If that is not the most idiotic, stupidest thing in the history of the world! But we see that it is not the most stupid, idiotic thing in the history of the world, when we look through all the world wars, and we look at all the greatest nations. Mark Twain said that the Ancient Babylonians, the ancient Greeks, and the ancient Egyptians all came and filled center-stage for a fleeting moment in time. They covered the heavens with their star-spangled glitter, and then they disappeared into the history books. All else seems to be finite except that nation that goes through world history with its hands tied behind its back—bearing the brunt of world history, being picked on and bullied by all the most powerful nations in the history of the world—seems to march forward showing no signs of infirmary. Mark Twain’s words: “all else is finite except the Jew. What is the secret of its eternity?” Well we all know that secret. It is not a secret to us: Avodat Hashem b’simchah, serving Hashem with joy.

Yitro the father-in-law of Moshe came to Moshe with his sons and wife in the wilderness where he was encamped by the mountain of Hashem. He said to Moshe, “I, your father-in-law have come to you with your wife and your two sons.” He went out to meet his father-in-law with great respect. He prostrated himself and kissed him. Each inquired about the other’s well-being. They then went to the tent. Imagine the respect that Moshe Rabbeinu showed for his father-in-law regardless of where his father-in-law came from. He understood that he too was a stranger from a strange land. The hospitality that Yitro showed him when he had helped the daughters of Yitro was something that is uniquely, indelibly stamped in each Jewish soul. The Meforshim state that if a person shows that he does not have a love of kindness, one has to question his Jewish origin. It is a natural instinct for us to have hospitality, warmth, and love of Yisrael.

His father-in-law had been told about everything that Hashem had done to the Pharaoh in Egypt for Israel’s sake, all the travails that had befallen them on the way, and that Hashem had rescued them. Yitro rejoiced over all the good that Hashem had done for Israel. Hashem had rescued them from Egypt. Yitro said, “Baruch Hashem.” Sometimes when you hear the gentiles say, “Baruch Hashem,” you say, “What is it?” We have to hear from a gentile how blessed we are. As we mentioned previously, George Bush came to the Knesset about six months ago. He said that the smallest of nations should never have survived the war of independence. There we saw seven nations armed to the teeth, a military blockade blocking Israel from any possibility of acquiring its own weapons, and the full thrust of seven nations on the first day of Israel’s independence. It was meant to be its last day in world history. And what happens? This little nation somehow miraculously survived the impossible; not just one war, as we’ve mentioned before, many many wars. It is unbelievable that the smallest nation that hardly has an economy seems to be blossoming under impossible conditions. George Bush testified in the Knesset that not only wasn’t Israel meant to survive its first day of existence, it has gone on for sixty years and the “God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob has blessed this nation now, more than any other nation on the surface of the Earth.” That was before Lehman brothers, before Madolf, before the three trillion dollar deficit bailout for the banks of America, and a million and one other problems that are undermining the economies of the world. We see something about this nation and Hashem’s blessing that is above nature. It cannot be explained by the economic pundits. It cannot be explained by the west point military experts. It cannot even be explained by us in words other than the common statement that has been heard lately, “It’s a miracle!” There is something supernatural going on.

Then Yitro says, “Now I know that Hashem is the greatest of all the gods. For in the very matter in which the Egyptians had conspired against them…Yitro the father-in-law of Moshe made an elevation offering for Hashem. Aharon and all the elders of Israel came to eat bread with the father-in-law of Moshe before Hashem.” What stands out is the incredible respect, the dignity, and the celebration together of a Kidush Hashem. This is what it was all about, and this is what it has to be about. When we as a nation can celebrate with the other nations the goodness of Hashem, then we are arriving.

Moshe Rabbeinu’s father in law was not quiet. When he saw problems he told Moshe Rabbeinu, “What you are doing is not good.” As it says, “The next day, Moshe sat to judge the people and the people stood by Moshe from the morning until the evening. The father-in-law of Moshe saw everything that he was doing and he said, ‘What is this thing that you do to the people? Why do you sit alone with all the people standing by you from the morning to the evening?’ Moshe replied, ‘Because the people come to me to seek Hashem.’” In other words, this was a judgment. And he was addressing all the questions and answers. “When they have a matter, they come to me. I judge between a man and his fellow. I make known the decree of Hashem and His teachings.” Moshe Rabbeinu’s father-in-law informed him, “The thing that you do is not good. You will surely become worn out; you as well as this people. For this matter is too great for you. You will not be able to do it alone. Heed my voice. I shall advise you and may Hashem be with you. Be a representative to Hashem and convey the matters to Hashem. You shall caution them regarding the decrees and the teachings. You shall make known to them the path in which they should go and the deeds that they should do. You shall discern from them among the entire people, men of accomplishment, G-d-fearing people, men of truth, men who despise money. You shall appoint them leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties and leaders of tens. They shall judge the people at all times and they shall bring every major matter to you. The minor matters they shall judge themselves. It shall be eased for you, and they shall bear with you. If you do this thing Hashem commands you, then you will be able to endure, and this entire people as well shall arrive at its destination in peace.”

That is an incredible peep into the management of a nation. There is kiruv, outreach, on the level of every ten families, kiruv on the level of a hundred families, a thousand, ten thousand; infrastructure. That is what we are really talking about. When we see the experience that Hitler had in managing his own people, what could or could not be understood is that everything about Am Yisrael is supernatural. We see today with our elected officials that everything is just incredible. We have gotten to a point that drives the world dilly. We do not have any leaders who have any consensus. The tiniest parties seem to be ruling the leaders by consent or without consent. It seems that all the leaders are held hostage to democracy. When they cannot create a coalition, they self-destruct. This shows us the reality. Until we get to the point that we as a nation want to return to all of Hashem’s ways, that we want Hashem to send Mashiach ben Dovid to lead this nation in a way that it has never been led before, with unity, love, and peace, we will experience the kind of turmoil that we are experiencing today within the borders and outside the borders. At that time that we get to the point that we choose Hashem as king, on that day Hashem is one and His name is one.

At this point what I would like to explore is the power of ten. As we go on, we see in this week’s parshah an incredible insight and debate about the Ten Commandments. Really the Ten Commandments are the genetic nucleus of the 613 commandments. It is not that they are more important or less important. Many gentiles, who put the Ten Commandments on their courthouses, are under the misconception that the Ten Commandments apply to them. There could be nothing further from the truth. It is forbidden for a gentile to keep Shabbat. The gentile nations were not taken out from Egypt. This means it is not a testament for them. They are not testifying. If a false witness comes to testify before a court, the penalties are severe. For the other nations of the world Hashem gave the seven universal laws of Noach. If they just keep that they are guaranteed their eternal ticket to heaven. For our nation Am Yisrael Hashem gave us the genetic blue print, the Ten Commandments that are attached to the 613 commandments, indivisibly undividable.

I want to explore at this stage a fascinating insight into the Ten Commandments. In the Zohar it states that the ten acts of creation, or the ten statements of creation, are parallel to the ten plagues that Am Yisrael witnessed in Egypt. This is also parallel to the Ten Commandments. If we explore the first commandment, we find a fascinating and amazing insight here. It says, “I am Hashem your G-d who has taken you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.” We see, incredibly, that the Ten Commandments are once again reaffirmed through the Torah as the ten commandments of Am Yisrael. No other nation can pledge allegiance to the Ten Commandments. For them it is not applicable and it will not be rewarded.

Parallel to this we see the ten statements of creation. The first sentence of creation was, “Let there be light.” This is quite an amazing thing; because we see from this that the light that was created on the first day was not the same as the light that was created on the fourth day. On the fourth day we see that it says, “There shall be light in the heavenly sky to divide between the day and the night. They shall serve as signs and define festivals, days, and years. They shall be lights in the heavenly skies to shine on the Earth.” That was on the fourth day. That being the case, what was created on the first day? If you can comprehend it, on the first day the whole universe spontaneously burst into light. It was not a big bang or a flash in a second. It was something infinitely different, infinitely controlled. The universe was the epicenter of light created by Hashem. If we contemplate it for a second, the most intense burn we ever had could probably be from an electric wire or a little candle. Do you remember how it felt when you got burnt from the stove or by a flame? It is not a question that from there on you stayed clear of that flame. Can we contemplate not just that flame but every flame that is burning on the surface of the Earth today, and not just the flames, but all the fuel that is being consumed today, and not only that but all the weapons and all the atom-bombs that have been built since the beginning, and all the fires that have been used. All the energy of all the fuel that has been consumed on this planet from the beginning of creation until today does not even equal one second of the energy that is dissipated from the sun. The sun is one of the tiniest of all the trillions of stars in the heavenly spheres. All this is from the Creator who has the sensitivity to keep us exactly the distance we are from the sun, because if we were a thousand kilometers closer we would be incinerated and if we were a thousand kilometers further away it would be colder than the North Pole. The perfection of a million-mile away sun is so perfect for our planet that the subtle changes between autumn and spring have an effect not only on the plants but on Hashem’s human beings. So we see the incredible sensitivity from a force in the universe from who can spring forth, “And there was light,” causing the whole universe to burst forth into something like the epicenter of the sun.

What I would like to suggest at this stage is that it is not just the physical light. “Let there be light” also represents the light of Torah. The Torah starts off with the hint of spiritual light. The light is so all-encompassing that the person who doesn’t have Torah is in the plague of darkness in every way. He has no tools to work out what he is doing on this planet. He stumbles from darkness to darkness in total confusion trying to work out what he is doing on this planet, tragically, like in a deep dark nightmare. For the person who has discovered Torah and has discovered the sweetness and blessings of Torah, there can be nothing sweeter.

So we see that the statement “let there be light” that divides between day and the darkness which Hashem called night parallels the ninth plague, the plague of darkness. Spiritually that plague may have been one of the most catastrophic. Even though the Egyptians were paralyzed, it turned out back then, as Rashi mentions in last week’s parshah, two out of ten or one fifth of the Jewish nation survived the plague of darkness. What was that plague of darkness and how do we understand it today? The sages tell us that those who had lived such a life that they slipped into the fiftieth level of defilement could not be rescued from Egypt. That 80% had slipped into a spiritual darkness from which they could not be resuscitated. They could not be recovered from Egypt. What kind of spiritual darkness is irreversible? That spiritual darkness, according to some commentaries is assimilation, marrying out. Once a person is married out, the plague of darkness, spiritual excision from his nation afflicts him. One of the first mitzvot that a Jew keeps is brit milah. One of the last mitzvot that a Jew lets go of in the tragic descent into darkness is brit milah, when he destroys it by marrying out.

When we see, back then in Egypt, that four fifths could not be saved and that one fifth had somehow kept themselves with the light of Torah, we have to be in awe of the situation, because back then there was not the infrastructure to pull those Jews out of those deep dark pits. There are commentaries that say that in our generation it is possible to save a Jew from the fiftieth level of descent. That would be through kiruv. In world history there was never before the infrastructure. Thirty years ago a Rabbi received a blessing from Rav Shach. He was told that if Amalek in the form of Nazi Germany could remove six million Jewish souls from the world, certainly Hashem will send a Jewish soul to bring back six million Jewish souls from the plague of darkness. Rabbi Noach Weinberg ztzl was told that the work is urgent and it must be instituted immediately. This was at the brit of his son Yehudah, thirty one years ago. Since then, according to statistics, about six million Jews have been brought back. So we see that with one man’s mission completed, another generation inherits the rest of the work. It says in Pirkei Avot that the work is hard and the laborers are lazy but do not think that you are exempt from the job. You may not be able to finish it, but you are commanded not to be neglectful of it. If there is any work to do in the world right now, the most urgent work that we are faced with is exactly what is happening at all the institutions that are rekindling the souls of the Jewish nation one by one.

There is a fantastic idea that Yosef conveyed to his brothers. He said to them that if ten candles can not put out one candle, how much more so that one candle can not put out ten candles. I would like to address the other side of that equation. How easy it is for one candle to light up another candle and for those two candles to light up four candles, and for those four to eight, eight to sixteen, sixteen to thirty two, and before we know it, it is like Chanukah being celebrated throughout the world. Through one tiny family, the Hashmonean family, just not bowing down to a pig two thousand years ago and slaughtering those Greeks who tried to sell Israel a false life and a false god, all of a sudden the faith was rekindled. Somewhere between three quarters of a billion to a billion candles are lit every year celebrating a mitzvah that was done two thousand years ago. How much more so would we all be inspired to keep every mitzvah if we knew that every mitzvah that we do today would result in billions and billions of mitzvot in the future? It is all the more so our business to save our brothers who are afflicted to whatever degree by the plague of darkness.

The second commandment is, “Do not have any other gods.” The second plague in Egypt was the plague of frogs. They emerged from the Nile, which represented the god of prosperity to the Egyptian people. What a disgusting thing it was to be coming out of the Nile. Those frogs were making a terrible noise. They were also getting into their homes and into their hair, into their bread and into their bellies. When they had a bellyful of it, the Pharaoh made an appeal to Moshe Rabbeinu to stop this thing. Moshe asked the Pharaoh, “When would you like it stopped?” You tell me.” The Pharaoh, thinking he was smart said, “This time tomorrow. Exactly that time tomorrow a terrible stink went up in Egypt with all the corpses of all the frogs rotting on the land. That was a sign that not only had Hashem killed the god of Egypt, the Nile, but even that which had come from the Nile. This was their prosperity.

The second statement in creation was, “There shall be a sky in the middle of the water and it shall divide between water and water.” That god of Egypt that had already been slaughtered, so to speak, by the G-d of Israel, when it had recovered the Pharaoh thought he was all well and good and that somehow their god had been reincarnated. But Hashem showed them that from within the river would come curses.

The third commandment is, “Do not take Hashem’s name in vain.” Do not desecrate Hashem’s name. The third statement of creation is, “The waters under the heaven shall gather to one place. The dry land shall be seen, and that dry land shall be called Earth.” Sometimes when a person is on dry land he feels quite confident on solid ground. I was travelling back from Australia one year and I was in a plane. While I was having a nice kosher meal I was thinking to myself, “if for whatever reason Australia caught fire, or for that matter the whole world caught fire, or if there were hurricanes, or tornados, or there was a world war right now, I would be unaffected for the next few hours.” Being on a jumbo-jet way beyond the clouds up in the heavens a person has a surrealistic sense of disconnection, so to speak, from this world. All of a sudden, as I was eating the meal and thinking about this independence, the plane hit turbulence that I have never experienced in my life before. The food went flying. People were thrown out of their seats. The screams were not to be imagined. It was terrifying. I can still feel it today. It was too late to even switch on the lights for the safety belts to be locked. Whoever were not locked in their seats were thrown out of their seats. People got injured. I felt the plane’s wings were going to peel off and we were going to spiral down ten thousand meters, crashing into a fiery ball in the ocean. Then we cried out to Hashem and just as fast as the turbulence came, it went. There we were all looking at each other in abject horror, amazement, and gratitude, thanking Hashem that we survived that tremendous catastrophe. I thought to myself, “That’s it, no more smart thoughts.” I kept the secret on that flight. I didn’t say another word. I didn’t have another thought on the subject. But when we come back to earth, sometimes we feel that we are quite secure on earth.

The third plague was lice. Moshe Rabbeinu was commanded by Hashem to touch the earth and all the soil turned to lice. Now if we can imagine it, it is something not to be comprehended. If anybody has ever been bitten by lice before, they will know that it is a most unpleasant experience. If you can compare this plague to something, imagine walking on a bed of lice. Imagine walking on a mound of lice. Can we comprehend that the sand was lice? As far as the eye could see through the deserts of Egypt, all the soil was lice. It was biting the flesh. If any of you have ever walked on really hot sea sand, if any of you have ever experienced that heat, when you stand on the sand it is like walking on fire. You cannot run fast enough. You cannot run anywhere, because the sand continues for kilometers. That was the emotion and that was the experience in Egypt—except for one neighborhood, Goshen. Where Am Yisrael was living, the land did not turn to lice. So we see that even when we are standing on solid ground, there is no guarantee.

When I was in the States in San Francisco, some people were walking around with a tea-shirt that said, “San-Andreas no fault of mine”—the San-Andreas fault. The reality is, quite ironically, maybe it was their fault. When people are involved in outrageous behavior it brings outrageous judgments from heaven. Nothing is b’mikrei, by chance; rak meyHashem, only from Hashem.

When we go further we see an incredible insight of all the ten plagues that actually developed through this theme. If you look carefully at each one you will see that each one is parallel to a form of creation. If you look at all ten statements of creation, you will see that all ten statements are on the first six days of the week. So what was for the seventh day? Shabbat. Hashem stopped from his creative powers and, so to speak, he took a step back to reflect on all of His creations, including man and woman. “He said it was very good.” The potential was excellent. It was like the Garden of Eden. If man would just keep Hashem’s will, the user manual, the perfect divine genetic blueprint for life in this world and life in the next, then everything would be the Garden of Eden.

So we see the amazing insight that Hashem finished all His work, and blessed the seventh day, and declared it to be a holy day. It was on this day that Hashem ceased from all His creative work that He had been doing. I remember when I was in kollel in South Africa that we would have a test every Friday on all the Talmud that we had learned through the week. We had to cram. I never knew what it meant that Hashem rested on Shabbat. Does He have limited powers? Shabbat Vayinafash. What is this “vayinafash?” To be refreshed. It is the most curious thing. Hashem needs to be refreshed? I can’t imagine it, but it seems, somehow, that with all said and done, Hashem says that He rests on the Shabbat, so we should rest on the Shabbat. We see an incredible thing here. Even though Hashem rests on the Shabbat, there are creative forces. Little animals give birth, human beings give birth, flowers blossom, fires burn, and all kinds of things continue. But there is something infinitely greater than that. When I was preparing for a test one week, I said to my study partner, “I’m not ready yet. I have to quickly get through the material again.” He said, “Why?” I said, “Because I have to be refreshed.” I have to refresh my memory. All of a sudden it all clicked.  When Hashem ‘rests up’ on the Shabbat, it is not that Hashem rests up; He reviews His world for that week. Is it a better world that it was the week before? Are there more mitzvot going on in the world? Was it a week of kindness? Was it a week of love for one’s fellow? Was it a week where Am Yisrael reached out to their brothers and sisters and inspired them through the taste of Shabbat or the taste of Torah, or any other act of kindess? It says about the earlier generations, that they came to the world and they were evil. Came along Avraham and received the reward of all the previous generations. For ten generations the world was in a precarious situation, and then along came Avraham Avinu who opened his tent from the four sides to welcome guests. He would slaughter an animal just to feed his guests.

So we see the incredible nature of creation, that Hashem is refreshed through Am Yisrael and the world doing acts of kindness and keeping their respective commandments. So we see, beyond the ten acts of creation are acts beyond this world. The seventh day is beyond this world. Then we see an incredible thing. After the plagues in Egypt, the Pharaoh rose up and the nation rose up and they drove Israel out with all their wealth. This was an act of Hashem.

We see at the very beginning that remembering Shabbos was commanded as a remembrance for the act of creation. We see later on that Hashem commands Am Yisrael to keep the Shabbos in remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt. ‘Remember’ corresponds to the positive commandments and ‘keep’ corresponds to the negative commandments. It is also to go forward and celebrate Hashem’s goodness in creation and remember from where we came. All of these things combine to an infinitely great thing when we get to the Ten Commandments. When we left Egypt we became one nation, indivisibly. Symbolically the bride was coming to her canopy. Where was the canopy? Mount Sinai. The Ten Commandments was the marital contract. Moshe Rabbeinu came down with the Ten Commandments and the Torah. This was our marital contract. When a bride receives a marital contract from her husband this means that he is holy to him and him to her. He cannot discard her needlessly. Our sages say that three things are first: Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael, and Torat Yisrael. These three things are the covenant of Hashem. Hashem made the pledge to Am Yisrael that if we are holy to Him, He will be holy to us. This was the marriage vow under the canopy. That being the canopy, where was the faithful home? The Beit Hamikdash. As long as Am Yisrael will return to Hashem, just return to Him a tiny bit, and then Hashem will open the doors to the Garden of Eden.

May we experience the coming together of the ten acts of creation, the esser brachot instead of the esser makkot, and the esser dibrot of the Ten Commandments, when we can hold the shnei luchot and the the sefer torah as a hagbah, as a light unto the nations. May we all experience soon the geulah shleimah, Mashiach Tzidkeinu, the Beit Hamikdash, resurrection of the dead with Moshe Rabbeinu, Aharon Hakohen, and all the great leaders of all the generations. May we soon experience a taste of the world to come in this world.