{"id":42105,"date":"2018-10-16T16:12:06","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T13:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=42105"},"modified":"2022-05-10T19:49:30","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T16:49:30","slug":"torah-is-not-our-only-source-of-wisdom-and-insight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/torah-is-not-our-only-source-of-wisdom-and-insight\/","title":{"rendered":"Torah Is Not Our Only Source Of Wisdom And Insight"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[366,410,372],"acf":{"old_id":"42105","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":37918,"related_cahpter":"69","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Just before a moment of encounter with God, Exodus stops to teach a lesson","content":"

Parashat Yitro begins by recounting the story of Moses being visited by his father-in-law at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 18:5). But at the opening of the next chapter, we learn that Moses and the Israelites have not yet arrived at Sinai\u2014they are still journeying from a place called Rephidim. What does this order come to teach us? <\/span><\/p>\n

Before learning of Jethro\u2019s arrival, we read of how the Israelites are assailed by the Amalekites, and only God\u2019s assistance enables them to fend off the marauders. <\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Abraham Ibn Ezra (1089-1167) suggests that the Torah presents these crucial events in Israel\u2019s history out of their proper order to draw attention to the stark contrast between them. Amalek seeks to ravage Israel, but Jethro shares in its joy at God\u2019s deliverance and offers guidance (Exodus 18:9-23). And just as Israel is enjoined to do battle with Amalek for generations, so is it charged with remembering the kindness of Jethro and cautioned not to harm his descendants (Ibn Ezra, Longer Commentary to Exodus 18:1). <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Why does the Torah juxtapose these two stories? <\/span><\/p>\n

    A people that has been brutally oppressed by one nation and then mercilessly attacked by another might well conclude that it has no friends, allies, or well-wishers. But the Torah wants to remind us that not all non-Jews are Amalek. Not everyone hates the Jews. <\/span><\/p>\n

    But there is another reason, I think, why the Torah introduces the story of Jethro before the Israelites encounter God at Mount Sinai. Every religious Jew has probably at least once entertained some version of this thought: \u201cWe have received Torah from God. We don\u2019t need any other sources of information.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    The book of Exodus nips this ideology in the bud. Right before the Israelites stand at Mount Sinai, they are taught a crucial lesson in the administration of justice by a non-Israelite who has no access to Torah. It is Jethro who tells Moses that the system he has set up for dealing with conflicts among the Israelites is untenable and offers advice to fix it.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Just before a moment of encounter with the magnificent presence of God, Exodus stops to teach a lesson: Torah is incomparable, and it is the axis around which Jewish life should rotate. But Torah is not our only source of wisdom and insight. By telling us the story of Jethro, and by placing it exactly where it is in the narrative structure, the Torah itself here endorses and emphasizes that very point. <\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":65799,"id":65799,"title":"is19-nations","filename":"is19-nations.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/one-god-to-love-them-all\/is19-nations\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is19-nations","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65798,"date":"2019-11-18 22:13:17","modified":"2023-06-13 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