Despite featuring one of the most momentous events in Jewish history, Matan Torah—God’s revelation at Mount Sinai and the giving of the Ten Commandments—this week’s parasha opens not with thunder and fire, but with a seemingly mundane family encounter: a lengthy dialogue between Moses and his father-in-law, Yitro. More striking still, the parasha is named not for the events at Sinai, but for Yitro himself. Why does Yitro merit such prominence in the Torah and in our tradition?
To answer this question, we must look closely at what the Torah tells us about him. Upon hearing of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, Yitro journeys to the wilderness, bringing with him Zipporah, Moses’ wife, and their two sons, who had remained in Midian. Moses warmly greets them and recounts, in detail, the suffering of the Israelites under Egyptian oppression and their miraculous deliverance. Yitro responds with joy and gratitude, proclaiming that the God of Israel is greater than all other gods. He then joins Aaron and the elders of Israel in a celebratory meal before God.
The Torah then turns to a second, far more consequential episode. The following day, Yitro observes Moses single-handedly adjudicating the people’s disputes from morning until evening. Disturbed by what he sees, Yitro confronts Moses directly:
What is this thing that you are doing to the people? Why do you act alone, while all the people stand about you from morning until evening? … What you are doing is not right. You will surely wear yourself out, and these people as well. The task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone (Exodus 18:14-18).
Yitro then proposes a radically different system. Moses should continue to serve as the ultimate authority, consulting God and resolving unprecedented cases. But the vast majority of disputes should be delegated to capable individuals of integrity and moral stature, appointed within a clear judicial hierarchy. In this way, justice would become accessible, sustainable, and humane—and Moses himself would be spared exhaustion.
Remarkably, Moses accepts the advice without hesitation. “Moses heeded his father-in-law, just as he had said” (Exodus 18:24) and he then sends Yitro on his way.
Why is this story included at all—let alone placed immediately before the Revelation at Sinai? Many explanations have been offered, but I would like to suggest one that speaks with particular urgency in our own time.
Moses was the greatest leader our people have ever known and the greatest Torah scholar who ever lived, having learned Torah directly from God. He is, after all, Moshe Rabbeinu—our teacher. It would have been entirely understandable for him to dismiss Yitro’s counsel with polite condescension: I know what I’m doing. I’ve got this. Yet Moses does nothing of the sort. Why?
The Torah tells us that, “Moses was a very humble man, more so than any other man on earth” (Numbers 12:3). True humility is not self-effacement, but openness—the ability to recognize wisdom wherever it may be found. It takes extraordinary humility for someone of Moses’ stature not only to listen to an outsider, but to act upon his advice.
This, perhaps, is precisely why the Torah places the story of Yitro immediately before Matan Torah and names the parasha after him. Before we can receive divine law, we must learn the human virtue that makes such reception possible: the willingness to listen.
No matter how intelligent we are, how experienced we may be, or how much Torah we have learned, we must remain open to the insights and perspectives of others. This lesson could not be more relevant today.
For leaders—religious or political—to succeed, they must emulate Moses: humble enough to listen, courageous enough to change course, and wise enough to recognize that truth is not the exclusive possession of the powerful or the learned.
May we be blessed with such leaders in our time.
Shabbat Shalom.
