Episode Transcript
[00:00:15] Speaker A: I want to have a guest introduction to this week's Torah portion.
This is Logan Timmer. You can come right up here, my friend.
This is Stan right here. And we'll pick it up is I want you to just listen, and I'd like you to wait to the end and see if Logan's intro can help you identify this week's Torah portion.
This guy is incredible. Thank you. Thank you. Guess what Torah portion it is.
If you're part of the international Shalom Mechan family or just too young to know, you may not know. That is the theme song for one of the most enriching television shows ever to be on television, the Beverly hillbillies. That was the theme. And they had a nephew named Jethro Bodine.
Jethro was not the smartest guy in the world.
He always had some idea brewing up, and if I recall, they rarely worked out. But I want to introduce you today to another Jethro that I often talk about. Every year. I talk about him, actually, Yitro, as we know him in Hebrew. Yitro. For the sake of today's message, here's what you need to know. He's a midianite. He's the father in law of Moses. He is the father of who?
Moses'wife. We already had a message about her. Zipporah. Right. He has many, many names in the Torah. Sometimes it's confusing how many names he has and who's actually being talked about. Tradition tells us, interestingly, you may not know this, that Yitro was one of Pharaoh's top advisors in Egypt. Did you know that?
That's in there.
And he came to his senses after seeing what God had done, and he aligned himself with the jewish people. Jewish commentary. Tradition also tells us that Jethro ultimately converted, became part of the nation of Israel.
He has the honor of having his name attached to probably the most important Torah portion we have, which is called Yitro. When the ten Commandments are given, the Yoserat Hadevarim, the ten words, the ten things, at Har Sinai, at the mount. And so, unlike the Jethro from the Beverly hillbillies, this Jethro has some good ideas. Really good idea, actually.
Transformational idea. He is a Smart cookie, and we'll see that today in this teaching, he gives some of the best advice that Israel could have ever received. And if we trace the biblical story here, what you'll find is that his advice goes from Jethro to Jesus, or Yitro to Yeshua, if you prefer.
This illustrates just how important his words that he gave to Moses actually are to all of us. And it's a pretty well known section of Torah.
Virtually every jewish lesson on leadership and delegation and things like this always refers to Parasha Yitro, and to Jethro, to his words in Exodus 18. Let me show you the obvious lesson for review, and then we'll dig deeper. Just a section of reading here. It came about the next day that Moses sat to judge the people. And the people stood before Moses from the morning until the evening. Now, when Moses'father in law saw that he was doing for the people, he said, what is this thing that you're doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, and all the people stand before you from morning until evening? Moses said to his father in law, because the people come to me to inquire of God when they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I judge between someone and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and his laws. Moses Father in law then said to him the famous words, the thing that you are doing is not good.
You will surely wear out both yourself and these people who are with you, because the task is too heavy for you. You can't do it alone. And then Jethro gives him the instruction. Now, listen to me. I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You be the people's representative before God. You bring the disputes to God. Then admonish them about the statutes and the laws. And make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do. Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God. Men of truth, those who hate, dishonest gain. And you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, hundreds, or fifty s and tens. Let them judge the people. And it goes on. And he says, it's going to make your life easier. So Moses listened to his father in law and did everything that he said. First off, from last year's message, which was about Jethro. In this portion, notice that Moses listened to everything his father in law said. This is the sign of a good leader. Humility, a midianite, an idol worshipper. And his father in law. And he listened. He listened. He did the thing. Okay, that was last year. But back to this year. It's obvious you get the picture right from that little brief section of text. Jethro's looking out for his boy. He's looking out for his son in law, right? He knows. He's teaching him to delegate, to not think too highly of himself, that he can do too much. And he's really protecting Moshe's sanity, actually.
And then this is the supposed great instruction that Moses gives. I mean, that Jethro gives to Moses. You're going to burn out. You're going to make mistakes.
You've got to delegate and diversify. Moses. Okay, that's the lesson. Delegation. True enough. Good lesson. Got it.
But I want you to note something in the question that Jethro asks.
Jethro asks Moses, first and foremost, what is this thing you are doing to the people?
What is this thing you are doing to the people? Rabbi monk, mystical, great commentator, points out that this is such an obvious question, Jethro can plainly see what Moses is doing, that he's overworked, he's putting too much on himself. It seems quite obvious what he's doing. So Rabbi Monk concludes there must be something deeper than that behind that question.
What is this thing you are doing? Lam to the people. His first concern is actually the people.
The appropriate question, if Moses was the priority, is, Moses, what are you doing to yourself?
But that's not the question he asks. What are you doing? Lam to the people.
He's concerned about Moses, but he's teaching Moses a lesson we don't hear quite as plainly. But I'll teach it to you.
I want you to note also the level here of delegation that Jethro instructs Moses to give, to implement. And we can see this through mathematics. This lesson that Jethro is teaching you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands of hundreds of. Based on the number of israelites that were in that camp, that means out of every thousand Israelites, there were 131 leaders per. That's a lot of leaders. That means one in eight jewish men were serving in some kind of leadership role. That's a lot of leaders.
And here's the point. Jethro was looking out for Moses, but even more than that, maybe, possibly, he's looking out for the people.
In what way? The easy way is to say, well, Moses, you're going to screw this up. And then the people know you'll give them the wrong answer. Something's going to be bad. No, he's looking out for the people in a different way. The community, the nation. By saying, what is this thing you're doing to the people? Jethro is saying, Moses, you will never, ever build a successful community if you rob the people of the ability to serve, if you try to do everything all the time, you are taking one of the greatest privileges that the people in a community will ever have. If you want to lead a connected, thriving, sustainable nation, you must allow the people to get involved, to invest themselves in the work and the leadership and the relationship building. You literally can't do it alone. But more importantly, you shouldn't, because it's a terrible thing to do. It's not a community.
This is not good. He says. Lotov say it. Lot good in Hebrew. There's one other place. I learned this from rabi Sachs. There's one other place where that phrase is used in the Torah.
Can you think of where that is? This is Lotov. Not good. Any ideas?
Way back in the beginning, literally.
Vayome Lotov, hiotra dam Levado.
It is not good for man to be alone. So what will I do? I'll make him a partner. I'll make him a creative partner. I will help him, a fitting counterpart who will serve alongside him. And only together will they build a community.
Adam had tried to name all the animals, and he was still lonely. So God says, lotov, dude, I'll make you someone to share in the responsibility.
So he says to Moses, not bad for a midianite idolater. Pagan, right? To connect the Torah from Genesis two to Moses, Lotov, Moses, not good. You need to appoint one in eight people to get out there and start helping you lead.
And we only need to look back one week to last week's message, where we learned about nachshoning it, right. To understand the value of even one good community leader. While Moses stood from afar, a leader of the people, Nakshon stepped into the water.
You must, must have a community invested in serving the people. Jethro's teaching is a fundamental lesson in leadership. It's this. You ready empower people, Moses, give them power. And this is sort of. It's an interesting thing, because this is actually. Many commentators suggest that this is out of order. This thing with Jethro comes, and later comes the giving of the commandments. Okay? It's actually probably flipped that this story with Jethro happened after the commandments had been given. You know why? Because we read it in the text where it's derived from this. It says, Moses said to his father in law, for the people come to me to seek God. If any of them has a case, he comes to me. I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the statutes of God and his teachings. He had to know them, right? They had to have been received in order for him to do that. So it would look as if the chronology here is out of order.
But the Torah doesn't make that mistake, even if it is chronologically out of order. Do you know why?
You can have the greatest system of laws and rules, and everything about your system can be set up perfectly.
But if you don't have a community willing to step up and enforce those and live them out together, they will not work.
So, Jethro, in this, the Torah is teaching us, before we get into all the laws, you must understand the value of your community and serving and leading and doing all this. It is properly placed in the Torah. And so, community service, we're in it together. It is a fundamental foundation of a healthy society. So, as we move into the story now of the commandments, I want you to note something else. These are the words of God.
You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to me. Now then, if you'll obey me faithfully and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among the peoples. Indeed, all the earth is mine, but you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
These are the words that you shall speak to the children of Israel. Okay.
The whole earth is mine, which you could say.
And so it doesn't really matter what you do. I'm in charge. God. The whole earth is mine.
The follow up is the point.
I want you to be alongside of me. You need to come in and serve. I could say God says, I'm in charge of all of it, and I don't need you. But I don't want to say that because I want you to step up and be a partner in creation. This is the jewish idea. It's very different than God created us. Damned by default, to burn in hell. And then if we say a prayer, we're created solely, exclusively to worship God until we die and go to heaven.
That stinks. That's not a good life. The life is that God created us. And yes, we have problems, and there was a fall and we need to be redeemed, and there's going to be this other thing. But we're co creators. That's the jewish idea. Tekun Alam, repairing the world, building the kingdom, waiting on the kingdom God is building, even in the world itself. A community that you're a part of, right?
Absolutely.
So he says, though rabbi Sachs asked the question, when was Israel as a whole a kingdom of priests?
A kingdom of priests. That's a very elite crew, the priests. That's Aaron's sons. Right? When was all of Israel priests?
Well, it depends on how you define the word priest, because the Rambam and other commentators look at a priest and they say, all right, this is a leader. This is like a prince among the people.
But even Ezra and other literal commentators, they say, no, a priest is a servant.
So is it a leader or is it a servant?
Which one?
Yes.
Yes. And this is exactly how Israel represents a nation of priests. Leader servants.
Leader servants.
This is what he meant when they were to be called a nation of priests. Servant leaders. And it started with Moses bringing the people into serving the community, not just them, not just their family, but actually, who did God call Israel to shine a light to?
Everyone in deuteronomy four.
They have a light to the world calling. What does that make them? Servant leaders.
That's what Israel was called to be a holy nation. Yes. Servant leadership model. A holy nation. Deuteronomy four. Observe them faithfully, for that will be the proof of your wisdom and discernment to other peoples, who, on hearing of these laws, will say, surely that great nation is a wise and discerning people. For what great nation is there that has a God so close at hand as is our God whenever we call?
That's a holy nation and a kingdom of priests. You, in some sense, if you're not jewish, are fulfilling the deuteronomy four job of jewish servant leadership, because you are here. And so that lesson in deuteronomy four, that began right here with our midianite former idol worshipper Jethro, teaching it to the leader of leaders, Moses, you can't realize a calling without serving other people. And that takes us from Jethro to Jesus.
Not only did Yeshua teach and exemplify the idea of, I didn't come to serve. I mean, I didn't come to be served. I came to serve.
He called the disciples into the same practice, servant leadership. That's what they did. Moses and Yeshua exemplify servant leadership, but it was what they did for the people that had the real power. Jethro's model, to Moses, it wasn't just about delegating tasks. Okay, Moses, get it off your plate. Let them go do it. No, it's about helping them develop and strengthen the community. That's obvious. What did Yeshua do?
He created a team of disciples that were supposed to do what? Go and show other people the way through servant leadership. That's what he created.
He exemplifies that in some way. Parables built on the idea of, don't waste what you've been given. Don't bury your talent in the ground. Go and do something with it. Serve somebody.
And this incredible diversity that comes along through this community service. Not the kind where you got pulled over and had to go serve community service on a Sunday. Not that one. Servant leadership. Community service. Okay. Jethro's council. Appoint thousands, hundreds, fifty s tens. He's endorsing the idea of diversity and leadership. And the parallel is the same. You go to act six. Remember, they're frustrated. Somebody's frustrated because their widows aren't getting bread. And the disciples say, all right, well, let's appoint seven folks because we're too busy to wait tables, is basically what they say. So you appoint these seven guys, they need to have these characteristics, and then they go out and lead through service.
And this legacy, this multiplication, it is so obvious in Yeshua's great commission. You're going to teach the nations. You're going to serve them through teaching.
You're going to do the work. Because guess what? I'm out of here. I'll still be around. You'll have this holy spirit thing, but it's up to you. You're a kingdom of priests. Go make disciples. And in so doing, what did he say? Which no one really ever gives any real thought to. You'll do greater things than these.
The diversity and strength of servant leadership in a community.
That's Yeshua taking the very same thing that Moses had to learn. Yeshua already knew the example. And we understand here that Yeshua is speaking the father's heart. Love God, love people. That's the deal. That's the deal. And you need to do that through investing in other people. I know this is the most played out over, listened to, overspoken. I can't believe we're getting another message about serving people.
Guess what?
You're getting another message about serving people because it's really, really important.
And one in eight of the tribes of Israel were serving in some capacity.
Don't take this the wrong way. What's your excuse?
People say, what are you talking about? I'm alone.
I'm totally alone.
It sounds great. I don't have anybody or there's nothing for me to do. That's not true. There's always something to do, and it may not be find something here to do. Find something wherever you are, do your thing there. And maybe it's not in a religious environment that you're doing it right, because actually, what is the part of servant leadership? You're supposed to exemplify God to other people. So it might be who knows where, but don't tell me there's nothing to do.
I'm alone. I don't have anybody. Make disciples, build a community, loving God, loving other people, it's still the story. And we talk a lot about community around here. We do for good reason.
Everyone has a responsibility to be a partner, priest, servant, leader in some way. You know what? Even though this year, 15 years this synagogue's been around, this year, in August, the last three have been explosively, amazingly, wonderful, fantastic. You know why? You know why?
You.
You people who said, I'm getting involved, I'm going to do something. I'm taking ownership. I'm doing this, I'm doing that. Yes, there's still a leader. There must be a leader. Jethro didn't say, hey, go sit down, Moses. You're done. They don't need you anymore. I understand there has to be a role of leadership, and I do that.
But together, leader as servant, community as servant leaders, we thrive.
So this is it.
I'll remind you of the rebbe's words when Jonathan Sachs came to him. It's one of my favorite stories. Jonathan Sachs was a young college student, philosophy major. He went to see the rabbi through some amazing circumstances in Crown Heights. And the rabbi was asking him, what are you going to do with your life? How are you going to serve the jewish people? How are you going to strengthen this community? And Rabbi Sack said, well, with the situation I find myself in. And he listened quietly, and then he stopped him, and he said, no one finds themselves in a situation.
You put yourself in a situation, and if the situation is not good, then change the situation. And you say, well, that's easy for you to say. No, it's not easy for me to say, I understand. It's very, very difficult. And people, I was talking to Kelly about this. I thought, gosh, as I'm thinking about that, is that really anyone? What if somebody didn't do anything to get into a situation? Well, I'm not talking about, like, terminal illness and things like that. I'm talking about the fact that most people have an excuse why they don't do things well, I couldn't possibly.
The things we do put us where we are. You realize that. And it may have been a decision you made 25 years ago, but if you need to change that, if you're breathing, there's still time. And an important part of becoming the person that you're supposed to be is to put yourself in a situation where you are able to serve and lead other people. Is that easy enough?
That's the takeaway.
You don't have to do it alone because you have a community. Jethro was wise. He set the trajectory for the nation. This is the principle that later in jewish thought became Kol Yisra'el Aravim Sebaze. That means every jew, all Israelites are responsible for one another. That's what that means.
From rabbi Sachs Jews were the people who did not leave leadership to a single individual, however holy or exalted, or to an elite. Instead, every one of them was expected to be both prince and servant. That is to say, every one of them was called on to be a leader. So guess what? Rabbi Sachs is my mentor.
Yeshua is my messiah, my rabbi, and my teacher. And he says the same thing to you.
We are all responsible to one another, and we are responsible to the community that we live and breathe and thrive in.
So I'm taking Jethro's words and I'm giving them to you. Anything else is Lotov.
You need to be Tov Meod very good at servant leadership, loving God, loving other people.
[00:28:39] Speaker B: Shabbat Shalom please visit our website, shalommaken.org, to learn more about us. Join our live services, access other teachings sign up for our newsletter, join our private network that will connect you with our greater community from around the world or contribute to the work of Shalom Akin. Thank you for watching, and we look forward to connecting with.
