Dvar Torah from this Week on Parsha Yitro
I wrote the Dvar Torah (literally, words of Torah) for the Hillel newsletter this week. This week's section is about the the trek to Mount Sinai and culminates with God delivering the Commandments to Moses. You can read the whole thing here, and I've included an excerpt below:
Finally, we see in this portion the importance of the Torah to the Jewish people. Previously, Moses has served as the leader of the Jews as they escaped Egypt and wandered in the desert. Moses is a tzadik among his generation, and he received assistance from God in overcoming the obstacles he faces. Finally, in Yitro, Moses appoints others to serve as judges alongside him, choosing people who do not have this personal relationship with God. Although at first it seems like they would not be as wise or fair as Moses, promptly after these judges are appointed, Moses goes up Mount Sinai to receive the Commandments from God. The link between these Jews being appointed as Judges and receiving the Commandments from God shows that all the wisdom these leaders need to help adjudicate matters correctly can be found in the Torah. Today, when we might not have direct instructions from the Lord on how best to handle problems that arise, we still have the Torah, which was used then as a substitute for God's wisdom in helping the new Jewish leaders serve the Jewish people.
Not to mention, last week apparently no one wrote a Dvar Torah for the newsletter, so they ran the one from last year, which happened to be the one I wrote. So if you want to see what I thought about Beshalach, which is about the escape from Egypt, some wandering in the desert, and then Moses leading the Jews in a battle against Amalek. You can read the whole thing here.
Finally, we see in this portion the importance of the Torah to the Jewish people. Previously, Moses has served as the leader of the Jews as they escaped Egypt and wandered in the desert. Moses is a tzadik among his generation, and he received assistance from God in overcoming the obstacles he faces. Finally, in Yitro, Moses appoints others to serve as judges alongside him, choosing people who do not have this personal relationship with God. Although at first it seems like they would not be as wise or fair as Moses, promptly after these judges are appointed, Moses goes up Mount Sinai to receive the Commandments from God. The link between these Jews being appointed as Judges and receiving the Commandments from God shows that all the wisdom these leaders need to help adjudicate matters correctly can be found in the Torah. Today, when we might not have direct instructions from the Lord on how best to handle problems that arise, we still have the Torah, which was used then as a substitute for God's wisdom in helping the new Jewish leaders serve the Jewish people.
Not to mention, last week apparently no one wrote a Dvar Torah for the newsletter, so they ran the one from last year, which happened to be the one I wrote. So if you want to see what I thought about Beshalach, which is about the escape from Egypt, some wandering in the desert, and then Moses leading the Jews in a battle against Amalek. You can read the whole thing here.