Gabriel Dubb - Dvar Torah

My parsha or torah portion is called Yitro.

Yitro, in English, Jethro, is Moses’s father-in-law. Yitro was a Midianite priest and he was not part of the Jewish people. Yitro Acknowledges the God of the Jews. And makes a sacrifice to God.

The parsha starts off with, Yitro, giving Moses some good advice on how to administrate his people, which moses takes happily. Later Yitro leaves the parasha completely.

Later in the in the portion the children of Israel go to Mt Sinai to receive the Torah and the ten commandments, God reveals himself to the Jewish Nation and declares them his Nation. One of the Biggest if not the biggest events in the Torah. Surely this event deserves its own portion, yet it is COMBINED with the Yitro event. And the name of the parash is not The Ten Commandments - it is named Yitro.

I have looked into the possible reason that the two stories are combined into one portion. I found a meaning that I think resonates with this day and age.

The Parasha clearly teaches us the importance of learning and Including

knowledge and understanding that comes from other cultures and people besides the Torah.

It is impossible for one book to contain everything and the meaning of everything.

The Ten Commandments and the Torah are very important.

But when we are shown insights and understandings from somewhere else we should be open to these alternative teachings and if we are shown something innovative or useful we should be ready to accept these things and bring them into our own culture.

We should not just listen to one community we should listen and learn from everyone not just our family or our community. Our world is very diverse and there are many cultures to learn from. just like moses learning from his father in law.

The moral is you must not just think of yourself and your community you must teach others and learn from others.

And this is a very important Jewish value as shown to us by the Torah in this parasha called Yitro.

Shabbat Shalom