QUESTIONS AND
COMMENTARY FOR PARASHAT YITRO
1. How many of the Ten
Commandments did God directly speak to the children of Israel at Sinai? Did they hear all of them directly from the
mouth of God or only some? What is this meant to teach us?
Rabbi Jason Sobel
Our Sages disagree on the number of commandments
that our ancestors heard at Sinai. Rambam, for example, says that Israel
only heard God directly speak the first two commandments. The midrash teaches
that they heard all Ten Commandments. Which is correct? According to Rashi both
are.
In Exodus 20:1 we read, "God spoke all these
statements." The phrase "all these statements" seems to be entirely unnecessary
if God had only spoken the first two commandments. Thus Rashi teaches that God
miraculously spoke all of the Ten Commandments in one incomprehensible
utterance. Then, God clearly articulated the first two commandments word for
word. After hearing God speak the first two commandments, the people feared
that they could not continue to hear the voice of God and live so they asked
that Moses communicate the rest of the commandments to them.
Although the Torah does not explicitly state that
God only clearly communicated the first two commandments, there is biblical
support for this view. The grammar of the Ten Commandments itself seems to
support this conclusion. The first two commandments are spoken in the first
person (I am the Lord your God - Commandment One; you must not have any other
gods before me - Commandment Two), whereas in the other commandments God speaks
in the third person (You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain -
Commandment Three). The fact that the first two commandments are placed
together in the same paragraph while the all the others are separated also
alludes to the unique way in which they were communicated (Meam Loez).
The way God communicated the Ten Commandments to us
at Sinai reveals several important spiritual truths about the Torah. Based on
God's miraculous, incomprehensible utterance of the Ten Commandments, we learn
that the Torah is a unified, inseparable whole. The Ten Commandments cannot be
separated from the rest of God's mitzvot. All are equally God's word and
will for our lives, and, as such, we should strive to understand and live out
all of them. As Rabbi Yehuda says in Perkei Avot, "Be as scrupulous in
performing a minor mitzva as you are in performing a major one, for you
do not know the reward for each." We cannot, therefore, conclude that it is
acceptable to keep only the weightier matters of the Torah while disregarding
the lesser aspects even if we believe it is humanly impossible to keep all of
them (Matthew 23:23; James 2:10).
God's direct articulation of the first two
commandments teaches us to be especially mindful of cultivating faith and trust
in God alone and to be on guard against creating and worshipping idols. Thus
the first two commandments had to be heard clearly by Israel for they are the
foundation and bedrock of the Torah as is evidenced in the words of the Shema,
"Hear O' Israel, Lord is God, the Lord alone." Believing that there is one all
powerful Creator and Redeemer who alone is worthy of worship is the perquisite
for obeying God and keeping all of God's commandments. As the author of Hebrews
writes, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who
comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who
earnestly seek him" (Hebrews 11:6).
2. What does this
week's Torah portion teach us about what God expects from us?
Joshua Brumbach
This week's parasha tells us that "Moses went
up to God, and then the LORD called to him from the mountain" (Exodus 19:3).
This phrase begins the retelling of the powerful story of God giving the Torah
to Israel and
of the experience we had as a people standing before the presence of God.
This most interesting point is made before God
actually gives any of the mitzvot. It teaches us that all the blessings,
mitzvot, and covenants rely on action from our part. The Torah
specifically tells us that Moses went up to God, and then the LORD called down
to him. The giving of the Torah rested on Moses taking the faith initiative to
seek out God, to climb up the mountain in an expectation of encountering the manifest presence of the
Divine. It was an action, an action of faith. That is what all of the mitzvot
are. They are lessons in faith.
Moses did his part, so that God could do God's part,
and the response is just as tremendous.
Before we as a people even had an opportunity to hear all of the mitzvot,
God required that we first make a choice, by faith, to follow in his ways
before we even knew what would be expected. And by faith, we, the Jewish people,
accepted the Torah before it was even given: "All the people answered as one,
‘Everything the LORD speaks, we will do'" (Exodus 19:8).
Judaism teaches us that we are partners with God in
bringing redemption into the world. Of
course God could have done it without our help. However, the most exciting
thing is that God gives us the opportunity to sanctify the Name of God in the
earth. We have been given the ability to see the world through a different set
of lenses. Instead of viewing everything as either "holy" or "secular," our
mission as Jews is to see things as "holy" and "not yet holy." We can either
see the world as mundane, or take simple everyday acts and elevate them to the
level of holiness.
God gives us the privilege of partnering with him
in bringing redemption into the world.
To do our part, so that God can do God's part. God stands at the door
and knocks (see Revelation 3:20). God beckons us to be faithful to the
mitzvot and faithful to the covenant. Through
obedience to Torah, and the pursuit of God's presence, it is possible to engage
and change the world, and prepare the way for the coming of our righteous
Mashiach Yeshua.
Benjamin
Ehrenfeld
Matthew 7:1-12 - The Simple Profoundness of Truth
Matthew 7 concludes the author's presentation of the
famous "Sermon on the Mount." Verses 1-12 include some of the most widely
referenced quotes from Messiah Yeshua. These classic verses present a glimpse
into the subtle depth, gentle humor, and loving reassurance of the personality
of Yeshua Himself. We can divide verse 1-12 into two sections: 1. Judgment; 2. Faith & Reward.
The first section (Judgment) begins with the
ever-ubiquitous quote, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." It then continues with
an elaboration on Yeshua's part about why we should not be judgmental of
others. The visual image of one attempting to remove a speck from the eye of
another while he has a giant log in his own eye was Yeshua's humorous way of
illustrating an important lesson. The language he uses is intimate and
accessible so that all people may be moved by it and be able to understand it.
His solution to the problem of being judgmental is simple: Before we can
criticize someone for his or her errors, we must be completely clean of our
own. The last verse of this first section contains Yeshua's remark about not
throwing "pearls before swine." This teaching, on the surface, seems as if it
could have been placed anywhere in his sermon. Yet it is here for a very
important reason. Yeshua did not want our efforts toward a non-judgmental
attitude to make us oblivious to people who may be trying to use us or do evil
with the good we provide. The juxtaposition of the two verses "Judge not" and
"Do not throw pearls before swine" illustrates the value of both humility and
common sense caution. His rule of "no condemnation" did not mean that he
expected us to assume that everyone is a saint. He encouraged us to live in
that balance between positive judgment and common sense caution.
The second section of this portion (Faith and
Reward) begins with Yeshua's charge for us to ask, seek, and trust that our
requests will be answered. He continues to stress that if we are capable of
giving good gifts, it is only logical to believe that God will provide gifts
that are infinitely better. Abraham Joshua Heschel explained that the Tanakh is
a story of "God seeking man." To a certain extent, we can a similar perspective
in the
Brit Chadasha, where God seeks out lost sinners. However, Yeshua also
charges us to seek out God in every situation. This is a part of the general
attitude of Yeshua; that we are called to constantly take extra steps toward
holiness (i.e. Matthew 5:21-48). Yeshua again ends this section with a statement
that may outwardly seem unrelated: "So in everything, do to others what you
would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." This
teaching, like the statement about not throwing pearls before swine, is a means
to balance the previous exhortation. One may walk away with the impression that
we can just ask God for anything, and it will be provided, but Yeshua does not
stop there. He ends with the "Golden Rule," which is the primary goal of all
the
mitzvot. Yeshua's last statement
is a way of saying, "Because God will give you good gifts, be sure you do the
same for others. This will assure your right to these gifts from God."
Parashat Yitro
1. How
many of the Ten Commandments did God directly speak to the children of Israel
at Sinai? Did they hear all of them directly from the mouth of God or only
some? What is this meant to teach us?
2. What does this week's
Torah portion teach us about what God expects from us?
NEXT WEEK'S READINGS
- PARASHAT MISHPATIM - SHABBAT SHEQALIM
Exodus
21:1-24:18
Exodus
30:11-16
2
Kings 12:1-17
Mark
2:1-12
UPCOMING YACHAD NETWORK EVENTS
3rd Annual Young Leaders Shabbaton
Beverly
Hills, CA ● June 8-9, 2007
6th Annual Young Messianic Jewish
Scholars Conference
Beverly
Hills, CA ● June 8-9, 2007
Learning 
