Parshas Yitro: A Pagan Priest Converted to Judaism Provides Hope for Redemption

The Jewish people receive the Ten Commandments in this week’s Torah portion, Yitro: Shemot (Exodus) 18:1-20:23. The mountain shakes and smokes, the angels hover, the shofar blasts, yet, the word of God is heard clearly by all present. The dramatic sights and sounds are meant to make an indelible impression on everyone's psyche and soul so that they remember and heed the law and remain forever in His favor.

The portion is named after Jethro(Yitro), a popular pagan high priest who leaves Egypt after disagreeing with Pharaoh’s enslavement of the Jews. He settles in Midian, where Moses meets him and marries his daughter, Zipporah, who gives Moses two sons.

The drama unfolds when the Jews arrive at Mt Sinai, seven weeks after leaving Egypt. Yitro travels there as well to learn firsthand of the Exodus. Convinced that the revealed miracles prove the existence of an all powerful Supreme Being, he denounces idol worship and dedicates himself to the One Holy God.

If Yitro can become a believer, anyone can! 

Yitro counsels Moses to relinquish his role as sole arbitrator of conflicts among the hundreds of thousands gathered at Mt. Sinai. Moses heeds the advice and appoints a hierarchy of judges to litigate matters according to definite moral and ethical principles modeled by Moses himself. Everyone in the camp agrees with these principles after Moses declares that God has chosen these people to be His kingdom of priests and a “holy nation.” First, Moses gathers the women and tells them how to fulfill the commandments through teaching their children Torah, then he gathers the men and does likewise. Everyone unanimously embraces this new way of life when they proclaim, “All that God has spoken, we shall do.”

Skeptical of their long term commitment, God demands a guarantor and the people eagerly appoint their children.

Questions and Answers on the Guarantors

Angels, smoke and sound effects appear again in the Haftarah portion this week, Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 6:1-13, when Isaiah sees a host of angels surrounding God on His throne and hears their song," "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory." Isaiah volunteers to carry the message heard at Sinai to a nation lost in self and suffering, though only a ten percent remnant will remain to restore Jerusalem to its former holiness.

Judaism survives on the ability to produce children and to teach them Torah morals and ethics. It cannot succeed nor can it continue without this foundation. Since the Sinai apex of spiritual understanding and willingness, much of human society, including much of Jewish culture, has demonstrated diminishing interest in maintaining these principles in human affairs. We now find ourselves in perilous times where human ideas rather than biblically based morals and ethics inform our attitudes, laws, national policies and lifestyles. Our pledge to carry our commitment forward through our children fails because we cannot guarantee our children's safe passage from conception through birth and then to teach them the laws of God.

This breakdown in generational integrity has created a leadership class in which many lack wisdom or scruples, and who perpetuate a death culture supported by injudicious judges, lawyers, activists and policy makers at every level of culture and government. This doesn't apply only to ill intentioned actors. Even well meaning directors can produce bad results when they are manipulated and confused, and lack a Torah principled moral center. Personally, I try to remember this when dismayed by outright evil such as the annual NCJW Repro Shabbat celebration of abortion homicide coming up next week, or the frustrating lack of support for unborn life among 'conservative' politicians who will not include babies in the womb in our 14th Amendment protections.

To one degree or another, like Yitro, every person has the capacity to initiate or renew an everlasting relationship with our Creator. What was begun at Sinai ripples out as a wave of spiritual realization that will ultimately transform the whole human family into a regenerating force dedicated to the sanctity and protection of all God’s creation.

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Cecily Routman

May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and good life upon us and upon all Israel. Amen.

Cecily Routman is the founder and president of the Jewish Pro-Life Foundation. She opposes abortion homicide in general and among Jews in particular and laments secular policy making in Israel that results in loss of Jewish life and delays the messianic redemption. She envisions a Torah based holy Land of Israel and a world that respects the life of every human being from conception.