Parasha Yitro

par le Rav Raphaël Benizri

Parasha Yitro (יתרו) — Shemot 18:1 – 20:23. Read on Shabbat, January 30, 2027.

Summary of Parasha Yitro

Yitro, priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moshe, hears of all that G-d has done for Israel. He comes to the wilderness with Tzipporah and her two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. Moshe tells him about the Exodus from Egypt; Yitro rejoices, blesses G-d and offers sacrifices. The next day, seeing Moshe judge the people alone from morning to evening, he advises him to appoint capable men, who fear G-d, men of integrity who despise unjust gain, as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens, to judge everyday matters. Moshe follows this advice, and Yitro then returns to his own land. In the third month after the Exodus from Egypt, the people arrive in the wilderness of Sinai and encamp opposite the mountain. G-d proposes a covenant: if they listen to His voice, they will be for Him a kingdom of priests and a holy nation; the people answer with one voice that they will do all that G-d has spoken. After three days of preparation, with boundaries set around the mountain, Mount Sinai is wrapped in smoke, amid thunder, lightning and the sound of the shofar. G-d pronounces the Ten Commandments. Frightened, the people ask Moshe to speak to them himself. The parasha concludes with the prohibition against making idols of silver or gold and with the laws of the altar.