We might ask ourselves why this Torah portion starts with the story of Yitro,
Moses' father-in-law, rather than with the main issue of the parasha, the
foundational laws addressed to this freed people--the Ten Commandments.
Lets go back to the beginning of the Torah portion. Yitro comes to visit
Moses, who is struggling with the difficult task of establishing a government
for his people. Moses works alone. Because of the circumstances, this one-man
justice system is accepted by the people without question. The trust of the
people rests on the assumption that Moses is the only one that has direct
contact with God, and as a result of that ability, Moses is the only one who
can reach the truth.
Yitro gives Moses one of the most important pieces of advice that humanity
has ever received: to build a justice system based on judges who have never
had direct contact with God.
The model suggested by Yitro is (with some changes, of course) found in the
justice system that we know today. The model is built on a hierarchy according
to the severity of the issues. Minor issues are dealt with by the lower court,
and more serious issues are dealt with by Moses himself. Only at that point,
after Moses has established a justice system, the people are given the Ten
Commandments and accept it.
Why now? Why is the Torah given to Israel at this point, and why is it suddenly
necessary?
The answers to these questions are connected directly to Yitro's advice.
The people of Israel decide to accept the human justice system. From the lack
of any criticism or comment, we can understand that the system is expected
to work effectively, without requiring God's intervention .
The moment of acceptance of the principle that a society should be based
on fair and equitable human justice system--this is the moment for which God,
as it were, has waited. From God's point of view, the people are ready now
to receive the Torah--they had to first reach the stage in which they would
be worthy of it. God may now assume that the people are ready to follow the
whole corpus of principles, basic values and laws set down by the justice
system which Moses will present to them in stages.
These stages, by necessity, are to be implemented without divine assistance,
in order for the people to properly learn to adjust to this new form of human
society, which they had never experienced when they were enslaved in Egypt.
Their response, "na'aseh v'nishmah", ("we will do and we will hear
") which appears in Parshat Mishpatim, now appears differently: na'aseh--we
will do all the things to prepare, and we will define some basic values to
be worthy of receiving God's principles; nishma-- we will hear
God's outpouring of moral content into the system that we establish, and it
will provide principles, human values and laws which we will accept and obey.
This justice system is a human one. It is predicated on basic ideas that
enable us to function as a moral society. Its entirely human administration
makes the system much more powerful, much more part of us, and even much more
part of each person.
These are the standards that we should adopt for ourselves attempting to
build a moral society. Humanity, in general, has experienced tremendous shocks
this year--shocks that have raised basic questions about the way humanity
should react. Have moral values collapsed, too, with the evil, animalistic
behavior of some human beings, upheld of their own countries in the name of
justice?
The order of our Torah portion gives us an answer in first establishing and
accepting the idea of a society based on a justice system, and then filling
it with details. We must not forget that our own social order is based on
that first part of this Torah portion, before the Ten Commandments in their
specificity are given. In not accepting the basic rule of law and the fundamental
principle of human responsibility, we run the great risk of possibly destroying
our entire society.
Even in our most difficult moments, we must be aware that supporting the
justice system allows us to live a moral life. We must maintain it to be worthy
of our relationship with God, and to be able to be inspired by God. That is
the real meaning of the midrash (rabbinic interpretation) which says that
all of Israel was at Mount Sinai when the Torah was given.
