Parashat Yitro- Easy Does It

…lo tov hadavar asher atah oseh. Navol tibol gam atah gam ha’am hazeh asher imach ki-chaveid mimcha hadavar lo-tuchal asu l’vadecha.

V’hizhartah et’hem et-hakhukim v’et-hatorah v’hodata lahem et-haderech yeilchu va v’et-hama’aseh asher ya’asun. V’atah tekhezeh mikol ha’am anshei-khayil yir’ei Ehlohim anshei emet son’ei vatza….

…it is not good this thing you do. You will surely wear away, both you and this people with you, for it is too heavy a thing for you; you are not able to do it alone. (Shemot 18:17-18)

And you will teach them the statutes and the law, and you will show them the way wherein they will walk and the work they will do. And you will provide from all the people men of reputation who fear God, men of truth who hate corruption… (Shemot 18:20-21)

I have often wondered if parashat Yitro’s being the shortest parasha in the Torah is connected to its content. Within it we set up our legal system, one that will become a basis for many modern systems. At the start of the parasha, Yitro observes Moshe’s leadership. From morning to evening Moshe listens to the people, and pronounces judgment. Yitro is quick to point out that keeping this role will not only wear down Moshe, but will eventually wear away at the people as well. Keeping his advice short and to the point, Yitro counsels Moshe to share the knowledge and the responsibility. No one person can guide the community. First Moshe must teach. He must teach the entire community the statutes and the laws. He must show them the path they should follow and the work they will need to do. They people must be guided by an openness and availability of knowledge, by a shared faith and path. However, once taught, Moshe must also trust that the community will find its own way. Yitro does not counsel Moshe to choose people who think like him. There are no politics to be played. Instead, Moshe should simply choose those who have a good reputation. He should choose people of faith, honest people who not only cannot be corrupted, but who hate corruption. With a cross-section of the community leadership sharing this communal knowledge with the entire people, the community can be sure to follow its correct path, to grow in faith and in deed, to do and to learn the mitzvot that are soon to follow. The leadership will teach and inform the community, and the community will teach and inform the leadership. Rather than wearing at each other, they will be a bolster and a support.

Like the parasha, like the simplicity of the mitzvot about to follow, the system is one of swiftness, of good judgment, and of give and take. With an openness of the plan for the people and a sharing of the path they will take, the people are offered the opportunity to move forward as a community rather than as individuals focused on their own, sometimes petty, concerns. It is a system that continues to inform and to work in our communities and in our society today.