Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

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Yitro Advises Moshe to Appoint Judges

There is a dispute over whether or not the previous section dealing with Yitro joining the Israelites was placed in Chumash in chronological order. Some say that Yitro only joined the Israelites after the giving of the Torah, yet some say he joined before.

Rashi says that regardless of when that last part occurred, this next part concerning Yitro advising Moshe to appoint judges is definitely not chronologically what occurred next in the story. He comes to this conclusion based on the fact that in the last verse of this chapter (Shmos 18:27) Moshe sends Yitro away, yet in the second year of the Israelites' travels, Moshe insists that Yitro does not leave them to return home (Bamidbar 10:11). Since there is no mention of Yitro coming back after he leaves, he must have only left after the second year, i.e. after the giving of the Torah.

So we can assume that the occurrences in this section are all after the giving of the Torah.

To be precise, this section begins on the day after the first Yom Kippur post the giving of the Torah, i.e the day after Moshe descends from the mountain after receiving the second set of tablets.

The way Rashi knows the exact day here is because it begins with Moshe sitting and judging the people. Moshe would not have judged anyone before the giving of the Torah as they didn't have official laws to follow to be judged by. The first tablets were given on the 17th of Tammuz, at which time he broke them, and then the following day ascended back up to Mount Sinai where he remained for 80 days. So this section could not have occurred during those 80 days as Moshe was not present with the people. After those 80 days passed, Moshe returned with the second tablets which he received. This was on Yom Kippur. So it was only after this point that it would make sense that Moshe would sit in judgement over the people. The text reads that this section began on the "morrow", so it must have been on the day after that Yom Kippur when they received the second tablets.

So it was that Moshe is "sitting" in judgement, "all day long"*.

*Side note: Moshe was not actually judging all day long, but rather there is an idea that if a person is engaged in sincere judgement for even a short amount of time, it is as if they are studying Torah all day and are partners with G-d in creation, which happened by way of "it was evening, it was morning etc..", i.e. as if it were all day long.

Yitro observes this scene, of Moshe sitting like a king while he is judging and the Israelites who come to him all stand, and he is displeased. He feels that it is not honorable to Israel for Moshe to sit alone like this with everyone else standing.

Yitro asks Moshe why he is judging in this manner, and Moshe replies that it is because the people who are approaching him are seeking G-d. When they have an argument with one another, they come to Moshe and Moshe meditates between them by teaching them G-d's laws.

Yitro, referred here with the honorable title (by association) of "Moshe's father in law", says that the way that Moshe is acting is not good. Yitro says that it will eventually be too much for Moshe to bear alone and he will wear himself out. Even if he had the assistance of Aaron, Chur* and the seventy elders, this still would not be enough.

*Side note: We know that Yitro is speaking hypothetically about others being involved with the judgement and not that they actually were, by virtue of the fact that he included Chur, who had been killed in trying to prevent the Israelites from worshipping the golden calf - something which occurred before this time.

Yitro tells Moshe to check with G-d to make sure that the advice that he is about to give him is sound.

He says that Moshe should serve as an intermediary between the Israelites and G-d. Moshe is to teach everyone the laws and how they should and should not behave. Moshe should then use the Holy Spirit invested within him to pick out men with specific qualities to serve as judges over the people. These qualities are:

* Rich men - So that they should not feel the need to impress or flatter anyone.

* G-d fearing men

* Truthful men - Men who are trustworthy and people feel confident in.

* Men who despise money - i.e. who are willing to give up their money even if it is rightfully theirs rather than fight it out in court.

Yitro tells Moshe that he should appoint 600 such judges in proportion to the 600,000 adult Israelite men at that time.

These judges will take over judging all of the more minor matters, while Moshe will handle the more major matters.

Yitro says that if after consulting with G-d about this, G-d commands Moshe to follow this system of delegation, Moshe and the elders who had been helping him in judgment would be able to endure it all, and they would arrive at where they were going peacefully. If G-d would not agree to this system and command Moshe to follow it, Yitro says that Moshe and the elders would not endure it all and would wear themselves out.

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