This week’s Torah portion, Yitro, shares a very insightful lesson for all of us to learn from. Moshe, the only person who ever directly spoke to Hashem, was asked many questions from the people. They would go to Moshe for every question imaginable, from simple questions to major disputes that need to be settled. Yitro, Moshe’s father-in-law, felt sorry for Moshe. The leader of the Hebrews was being bombarded with questions at all hours of the day, and Yitro felt that Moshe needed some sort of rest. Yitro came up with the brilliant idea of making a complete court system, so he approached his son-in-law with his concept. He explained how people could start off by going to a court in their community, and the more complex the problems were, the higher courts they would go to- much like the American court system today. This allowed Moshe to deal with only the most complex cases.
From this, we learn the importance of helping one another. Yitro had empathy for Moshe, and realized how time consuming it was for Moshe to deal with all of the cases presented to him. Through his feelings of sympathy, Yitro created a court system which ultimately benefited Moshe tremendously. Yitro easily could have paid no attention to Moshe and focus on himself, but he did not. His selfless act became an advantage to everyone. Yitro’s idea originated for the purpose the well being of his son-in-law, but was convenient for the people as well, with more judges speeding up the justice system. Many times we only look to help ourselves. However, Yitro exemplified the concept by helping out just one person. By Yitro being considerate for Moshe, one person, it resulted in helping everyone, since they were finally able to get their answers quickly. We learn from this Parsha the importance of how one kind act can end up helping many.
Shabbat Shalom!
By: Samantha Ebner (9th Grade)