Shabbos Parashas Yisro - 5778
Shabbos Parashas Yisro - 5778 Rabbi Hal Miller It was on the next day that 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 to the people, and he said, "What is this thing that you do to the people?" [Shemos 18:13-14] Something bothers me greatly in this parsha. Yisro criticized Moshe for taking
too much upon himself, and he laid out for Moshe a whole hierarchical system
of administering justice. I have always wondered, why did Moshe require this?
Didn't he know all of the Torah, seeing as how God taught it to him directly, and
Moshe himself wrote the entire thing down? Separately, was this problem not
foreseeable, and wouldn't Moshe's own logical capabilities lead him to the same
conclusion as did Yisro's suggestion? Why did Moshe need Yisro here? Sifre
asks, "Was Moshe himself, unaware of the system Yisro described?"
We start by asking, when did Yisro arrive at the Israelite encampment? Was it
before or after the Giving of the Torah? Commentators line up on both sides,
including some who say that Yisro came before, left, then returned afterward.
Rashi says, "It was on the next day" means 'the second year' in the desert, thus
this event occurred after the Revelation. The Gemora in Zevachim explains the
disagreement through the phrase "heard all that God did". R'Yehoshua takes
the position that Yisro heard about the war with Amalek, since the pasuk, "And
Yehoshua weakened Amalek and its people with the sword's blade" (from last
week) is juxtaposed with our pasuk. R'Elazar of Modai says that Yisro heard about
Matan Torah, explaining from a reading of Psalm 29, "For when the Torah was given
to Israel, the sound of God's voice resounded from one end of the world to the other."
What, then, did Yisro hear? And, even moreso, why didn't the rest of the non-Jewish
world hear it too and react as did Yisro? Was it not "loud" enough? Was it only meant
for certain people?
In verses 8-9, we read that Moshe told Yisro everything that God had done for the Jews,
and that Yisro rejoiced over it. We see commentary about the manna, the parting of the
sea, Amalek, etc., but nothing about Matan Torah. The Gemora writes, "R'Eliezer says,
The splitting of the Sea of Reeds he heard and came, as it is stated, 'And it was when all
the Emorite kings heard.' And also Rachav the harlot said to the emissaries of Yehoshua,
'For we have heard how God dried up the water of the Sea of Reeds.'" Obviously the other
nations heard a lot about these events. The Gemora continues, "They all converged upon
the wicked Bilaam and said to him, What is the tumultuous sound that we have heard?",
to which Bilaam explains that it was the Revelation itself. The nations heard that too,
whenever it occurred. Why isn't it noted here with Yisro? Ibn Ezra shows that Yisro's
offerings were on an Israelite altar, which could not have occurred after the Giving of the
Torah, thus must have been before. One must conclude from this that the events
described here occurred before, not after, Matan Torah. Yet, it isn't conclusive.
What are the issues in our question if we assume that Yisro came before the Revelation?
What about if we assume he came afterward? What is the practical impact? If Yisro came beforehand, we note that a non-Jew, Yisro, was present at the Revelation.
Our Sages tell us that every soul in Israel, whether born yet or to be born in the future, was
there. That includes all righteous converts throughout time. This may be a source for that
understanding. But, why was Moshe was unable to figure out for himself the need for a
hierarchical judicial system? Nachshoni writes, "Could God possibly have needed Yisro's
advice to establish court protocol?" Rashi answers, "Seemingly, Moshe did not require the
advice of Yisro to be able to devise a plan to best judge Bnei Yisrael. Why then did he wait
for this advice before putting such a system in place? Moshe never took action without
being commanded to do so by God." One could interpret this to mean that even though
Moshe knew something like this was coming, he was unwilling to implement it until
commanded to do so. The argument seems somewhat strained.
If we assume that Yisro arrived afterward, why is it that Moshe, who now had in hand the
entire Torah, didn't already know about the judicial system? Why did he have to wait for
Yisro to tell him? Did Yisro who, we have just seen, accepted God as the Creator, feel a
need to 'correct' the Torah, or challenge either God or Moshe? Was there, in his mind,
"room for improvement"? Did Moshe not know, at this point, precisely what Yisro would
say, as well as how in the end God wanted it implemented? None of this seems likely.
In our verse we read, "What is this thing that you do to the people?" Ordinarily we interpret
this as Yisro telling Moshe that he, Moshe, is doing himself ill, wearing himself out, saying
that Moshe will be incapable of handling the load. That makes sense if we read "la'am" as
"for the people", but it can also be translated as "to the people". Yisro was saying, "Moshe,
you're causing harm here." What harm was being done? My good friend Yaki Moskowitz
explains that Moshe was actually delaying the resolution of disputes by having all cases
come directly before him. We know that Moshe would never intentionally cause the delay of
justice, thus it must have become clear to him, listening to Yisro, that he needed to change
his approach now, rather than wait for God to command something later. This explanation
could be applied to either the 'before' or 'after' Matan Torah positions. Moskowitz continues
with two other thoughts, both of which seem better suited to the 'after' side than to the 'before.
He says that Moshe already knew of the judicial system that God directed, but knew that the
Children of Israel were not yet ready to take their part in it. The generation of Egypt was too
deeply stuck in the slave mentality to understand the concepts of Torah yet, so there was no
way for Moshe to imbue a Sanhedrin sufficiently with God's law for them to be able to carry
out the program. Another point is that this instance is like that of the daughters of Tzelofechad.
Moshe needed prompting in both cases to go to God for a reminder or for additional instruction.
Rashi and Ramban both allude to this as well, noting that Yisro conditioned his advice upon
Moshe going back to God for confirmation.
While I am still bothered, I think the most plausible explanation is that the people were not
yet ready to take ownership of their own governance, so Moshe had been handling it alone.
Yisro, as an 'outside observer', saw that they had progressed, and that it was time for Moshe to
begin integrating the people, teaching them their future role "on the job". Although Yisro did not
get the implementation completely correct (numerous commentators note the differences
between what Yisro expounded and what Moshe implemented in Devarim), he was close
enough for Moshe to realize that the time had indeed arrived to act. This answer applies
whether Yisro arrived before or after Matan Torah.