Yitro

By David Young

This weeks Torah portion, like many others, is titled after a character in the parasha. However, the father-in-law figure of Yitro is not the only thing we can glean from reading this parasha. Yitro is full of things that connect to us on personal and communal levels. Yitro himself is a father-in-law, a teacher, and a friend to the title character of the Five Books of Moses. In this parasha Moses learns how to delegate authority, and even how to pray. Also in Yitro, Moses climbs a little mountain you may have heard of and receives a certain text you might be somewhat familiar with. Though Yitro is an exemplary man and revelation is an extraordinary event, I thought that instead of talking about the individual or the world of Judaism, I would wrestle here in Israel with the idea of community in Yitro.

Here we are in Jerusalem, a strange land to us, where we are, even after seven months, unfamiliar with the intricacies of the culture and language. We are learning to be rabbis, cantors, and educators in the land that was promised to us thousands of years ago. This week we read about another group of people in a strange land, the Israelites, led by Moshe, who is also learning how to be a rabbi—Moshe Rabbeinu. As we have just passed through a grueling semester of grad school/seminary, “Wait, stop! You’re both right!” we are now entering into the next set of challenges that await us. We have finished exams and projects, some of us just last night, and we are refreshed, somewhat, after a break from classes and each other. So too have the Israelites just completed a grueling trek through the desert after being torn away from the slavery in Egypt and fighting the Amalekites, they also prepare to receive their next challenge: The Torah.

So how do they deal with all of their challenges? Sometimes they deal with things as individuals, and sometimes as a group. Exodus 19:2 //(//on page 522 in Plaut//)// says, “Having journeyed from Rephidim, they entered the wilderness of Sinai and encamped in the wilderness. Israel encamped there in front of the mountain.” Vayachanu bamidbar vayichan sham Yisrael neged hahar. They encamped in the wilderness, and it-Israel, encamped up against Mt. Sinai.

In the wilderness, the people of Israel were doing their own thing, battle-weary after their encounter with the Amalekites, and travel-weary as they wander through Rephidim and Sinai. They are They, with not even a pronoun in sight to describe them, just the understanding of the third person plural of the verb used in the text. They are encamping, which could mean any number of different things when a group of people is doing it. Each person could be cooking, cleaning, making fires, collecting wood for the fires, pitching tents, collecting manna, etc. Each person is doing his or her own thing, and though each person’s role is crucial to the community, each person works independently without much need for the help of others. More importantly, each person’s intent is inward, thinking of themselves and doing their own part to make sure they get what they need. It’s not that they don’t care about each other, it’s just that when they are to be encamping as vayachanu, they are more concerned with their own needs while they are doing the activity of encamping. When I was in summer camp and Boy Scouts, whenever we tried to make camp anywhere, in addition to everybody doing their own jobs, we would criticize each other, argue about the right way to cut wood, build a fire, pitch a tent, cook food, and anything else we could think of to argue over. If somehow things got done that weren’t done our way, we would complain up a storm. But we weren’t only limited to arguments or complaints about how to encamp. We were close friends, so we argued and complained about everything. I can’t imagine that a group of people who had been living in close quarters for so long would not be arguing and fussing over each and every other person’s work as well. I’m sure most every night around dinner time you could hear the cry of, “Oh no, not manna again!”

At Mount Sinai, they are Yisrael. Yisrael encamps with the word vayichan. Now their activity is as one unit, described with the verb in singular form, and they are described using a name, Yisrael. They are encamped as one, or as Rashi says, “as one man, with one heart, but all other encampments were with complaints and arguing.” Maybe Rashi was a Boy Scout, too. When they move up to Mount Sinai, they are thought of as one, not only because of their location, sham, but because of their intent. They were encamped at Mount Sinai to receive the one thing which brings them and us all together as Jews. They were gathered, as we gather every week, as one people. They were of one will, of one intent, and of one spirit. When they gather and encamp with the intent to receive the holiest gift of G-d, they stop their whining, complaining, and arguing. They sit waiting for Moshe Rabeinu to come back down the mountain with the terms of their pact with G-d. No more arguing, no more complaining. They wait as one.

When Moshe comes back down the mountain, however, he tells them that G-d wants them to make a covenant. Moshe tells them this, and as it says in 19:8, [Hebrew of 19:8] “all of the people answer together, ‘All that Adonai has said, we will do!’” Vaya`anu: They answer. They answer in plural, but this time, they get another modifier, yachdav. They answer together. Still as one, but this time the plural is important because each and every person has to answer, “Yes, I will follow this pact!” Everyone’s answer is separately important when they answer vayanu, and communally important when they answer yachdav. So together and as individuals, the people of Israel answer: Yes. Everything we are asked to do, we will do. They are each saying individually that each and every one of them promises to keep this covenant sacred, and at the same time, they promise as a community to uphold all of G-d’s commandments. Together, as one.

So here we are, together in Jerusalem, learning together. We each have our own goals, different things that we need to learn, different strengths and weaknesses that we need to focus on. We argue and complain about our various situations and even about each other.

We have different strengths as individuals, and therefore we have different needs. Some of us are very familiar with Halacha, others are very good with Hebrew. Some of us are good with people, and have a lot to learn about the textual aspects of what we are doing. So as we go through our learning process, we each have different responsibilities to the school and to ourselves. Some of us are needed to make sure things get organized properly. Some of us are needed to make sure the rest of us are thinking about what they say. Adam Allenberg is needed to do hagbah every week. We all know how to do things in a certain way, whether we learned on our own or we were taught at camp or at a congregation we have never left for twenty or even fifty years. Since we all know what should be done, it doesn’t always match with what each person knows should be done. We complain that services are not long enough or too long. We whine that classes are too hard or that they need to be more challenging. We wonder if we’re too old or too inexperienced to be here.

We also each have the same purpose. We all want to become the best we can be for our Jewish Communities. We all want to grow and experience things here in Jerusalem and at HUC that we wouldn’t get anywhere else. Together, we can stand, yachdav, and complete our goals. Our class is a new generation of the people of Israel, and we are constantly being presented with opportunities to prove our commitment to the covenant made by our ancestors long ago. Each and every one of us is crucial in this. Everyone’s strengths are important in getting us all closer to our goals together. So as we are here doing our various activities in our encampment, we need to decide whether we will be described as vayachanu as we complain and argue over whose way is the right way, or will we have the strength and patience to be vayichan as we face our challenges one. May we always work together towards our goals as a community, yachdav.