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Parashot & Haftarot from Shemot -
Exodus |
Weekly Bible Reading #17
Year 5773 (2012/2013) –
Feb. 2, 2013
Parashat Yithro
( Abundance )
Exodus 18:1-20:23
Haftarah
Isaiah 6:1-7:6; 9:5-9:6
NOTE: Kol HaTor, in
its commentaries on the weekly Parashot, endeavours to search for
and accentuate the Torah Messages contained in the Parashot as
applicable to the main Theme of Tanach of the Return of the House of
Israel, i.e. the Lost Ten Tribes of Northern Israel and their
Reconciliation with Judah to form the reunited 12-Tribed Kingdom of
Israel.
DISCLAIMER - The authors
whom we quote from for this Commentary
are not associated with KOL HA'TOR and need not agree
with our views expressed herein or in our
other publications. While we publish their
views for its relative value to the interpretation
of the Parashah, KOL HATOR does not necessarily
agree with the views expressed by these
authors.
______________
No doubt, the two
outstanding directives from our last few commentaries
were:
-
the need for UNITY amongst
HaShem's People, and
-
the need to open our
perspectives, to broaden our expectancies, to
release ourselves from the self-imposed bondage of
restrictive election of prospective leadership role
players and co-citizens of His Kingdom.
This all works towards Unity, which
establishes Peace in Zion - which will cause His
Shechinah Presence to return for all nations to behold!
We have seen how the great Moshe, who
came to the Israelites in Egyptian bondage as their
redeemer, came as a foreigner from a foreign land,
Midian, where he lived all his life after fleeing Egypt
where he grew up in the Palace of the Pharaoh.
Moshe married the daughter of a Midianite Priest!
Imagine if Jewish society today must consider accepting
a religious leader with such a non-Jewish pro-file!?
Then we read about Yosef - another
great leader and sustainer of Israel. He also
spent a great part of his life in Egypt where he became
a top official of the Pharaoh.
This week's Parashah opens with (and
is even named after) an even more 'strange character' -
a real 'goyish one' at that: Yithro, the
wise Midianite Priest, an idol worshipper who at one
time was one of the three top advisors of the Egyptian
Pharaoh. He was the father-in-law of Moshe. He now
steps forward and advises even Moshe, who was called by
HaShem for leading and teaching the Hebrew nation, on
how to do his job of executing justice over the nation
by appointing assistant judges.
Rabbi
Yosef Kalatsky,
Shlita
Dean, www.yadavraham.org
in his Parashat Yithro Commentary, writes as follows
about Yithro: "Chazal tell us that Yithro had worshiped
every deity in existence and ultimately concluded that
they were all false and there was only One G-d. Despite
the ridicule of his community, Yithro remained firm in
his belief. He was not willing to compromise on his
characteristic of truth for the sake of acceptance.
Through the process of searching for truth, he had honed
and perfected his capacity for truth. Thus, when he had
heard of the events of the splitting of the sea and the
war against the Amalekites, he recognized G-d as the
Omnipotent Being. When he had heard what had been done
to Amalek, who was truly evil, he chose to become part
of the Jewish people regardless of the degree of
sacrifice." According to Jewish tradition, Yothro
did convert to Judaism with his whole family.
We have here, in the character sketch
of Yithro, a perfect metaphor of re-identifying
10-Iwrael ('Ephraim') which is currently arising all
across the globe (in fulfillment of Ezekiel's Prophecy
of the Dry Bones which come together and receive life
and Spirit - Ezek. 37:1-14).
-
searchers after Truth,
-
recognizing the One True God of
the Hebrews,
-
realizing that they have been
chained to pagan religion all their life,
-
acting on the Truth that they
have come to realize,
-
not considering the ridicule of
his/her religious community from which they exit
themselves for the sake of Truth,
-
forfeiting even their own family
ties and national identity in the process, in
order to identify with the G-d of the Hebrews and
His People.
- and Yithro then sets the trend, the
only logic and essential solution, to fully identify
with the nation and System of this Great G-d of Israel
by converting - just like Ruth whom we read about later
in Scripture.
Rabbi
Yosef Kalatsky writes regarding the opening words of our
Parasha when Yithro came to Moshe with Moshe's wife and
sons: "The
Torah states, "Yithro, the Priest of Midian, the
father-in-law of Moshe, heard everything that G-d
said to Moshe and to Israel…" Rashi cites Chazal, "What
did Yisro hear that caused him to abandon all of his
glory to join the Jewish people in the desert? The
splitting of the Sea and the battle against the
Amalekites." Upon hearing these events, Yithro was
affected to the degree that he chose to abandon his
life’s accomplishments to become part of the Jewish
people."
Can, will Judah today accept re-awakening Ten Tribers
that come to them to be part of the Jewish religion and
the Jewish nation - to worship the Great G-d of Israel?
We read how Yithro was accepted by the Israelites:
Exod. 18:12: "...Aaron
came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal
with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence
of G-d."
Yithro
was one of a minority in the world who acted on his
new-found faith. The surrounding nations heard
about the Miracles that the G-d of Israel performed to
free His Nation - imagine, the Egyptian Army drowned in
the same sea that the Israelites had just passed through
miraculously! But, they did not come to join the
Hebrew nation. The Amalekites knew also - but,
they attacked the Nation in Exodus from Egypt.
We see
it all around us today. Notwithstanding the fact
that no nation yet could destroy the Jews, while many of
those nations disappeared from history. The nations
almost without exception today, oppose Jewish Israel and
work against it.
Just
this week, of Parashat Yithro, the
human rights panel of the
UN,
concluding that Jews have no rights in Judea and Samaria
or half of Jerusalem, stated, “Israel must … cease all
settlement activities without preconditions [and] must
immediately initiate a process of withdrawal of all
settlers.”
This week also, Israel destroyed factories and convoys
of poison gas war heads for delivery by Syria to the
Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon. Of course,
Israel was condemned by many nations for this act of
self defense - for it would make it more difficult to
rid the world of the Jews.
Since Egyptian times the nations have not relented from
their rejection of this 'People of God'. But, the
wise Yithro's will always be there - according to
Prophecy, a vast masse of people who will come to
realize Truth and who will identify with Judah (the
Jews) to form a mighty Nation which will settle within
the Biblical borders of the Promised Land - a land mass
far larger than the current 'Land of Israel', as we will
see from next week's Parashah. This extended Land
area is known in Israel as 'The Greater Israel', a term
which the government of Israel does NOT approve of for
it risks creating an international political Time Bomb.
The Return of the Ten Tribes of Israel is a topic well
acknowledged in Judaism, by most of its spiritual
leaders. The reality of such a Return, however,
poses a serious threat to the leaders of Judaism and is
a highly disliked concept amongst the Jewish nation of
Israel. The potential reality of such an awakening
posed by the current vibrant and fast increasing Hebrew
Roots Restoration Movement across the world, threatens
Israel and Jewry for several reasons:
-
They mirror and embody a 'Yithroh pagan priest' body
which, in Jewish tradition, is unacceptable
for Jews to be mixing with;
-
Their huge numbers pose a distinct and overwhelming
threat to Judaism which has traditionally been
targeted for extinction by its secular enemies and
for overwhelming and conversion to anti-Torah faiths
by religious factions;
-
The specter of a 'Greater Israel' is simply an
unacceptable, far fetched and absurd
consideration for Israel, which at this time cannot
even solve the problem of settling the current
Israel land mass. This, due greatly to the
demographic factor of an insufficient Jewish
population size.
-
It threatens an international
political Time Bomb. Under Arab influence, the major
part of the world already begrudges the Jews
ownership of current tiny Israel, West of the Jordan
River. Compared with the borders set by the Bible
for a 'Greater Israel', required to settle the
"uncountable numbers of people from all nations"
promised by G-d to Avraham, current Israel is but
the size of a nature reserve in the Greater Israel
area. Imagine the world's rejection of the idea that
the "Real Israel" comprises "all of modern-day
Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Syria,
Jordan and Iraq, as well as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia,
United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen most of Turkey and
all the land east of the Nile river." (Wikipedia
on 'Greater Israel').
A 'Yithro' who is
subservient to the Torah
As a
metaphor representing the Ten Tribes, Yithro sets an
important example that re-identifying Ten Tribers should
seriously take note of:
He does
NOT try to overwhelm Moshe with his pagan theology - as
Ten Tribers so often wish to do, coming from a religious
culture which taught them that it is their spiritual
responsibility and 'duty' to 'save' Jews.
To the
contrary: listen to Yithro's advice, as an informed
advisor from the ruling court of the Pharaoh of the
world's super power of those times:
Exodus
18:20 "Teach
them (the Hebrew nation) G-d's Decrees and Instructions,
and show them the Way they are to live
and how they are to behave.
24 Moses listened to his
father-in-law and did everything he said."
Exod. 19:3, "Moses
went up to G-d,
and HaShem called
to him from the mountain and said, 'This is what
you are to say to the descendants of Jacob (12 Tribes)
and what you are to tell the people of Israel:
4 ‘You yourselves have seen
what I did to Egypt,
and how I carried you on eagles’ wings
and brought you to Myself.
5 Now if you obey Me
fully
and keep My Covenant,
then out of all nations you will be My treasured
Possession."
Is
HaShem not carrying re-identifying 10 Tribers who are
returning to Torah in these Times of the Second Exodus,
miraculously "on eagles' wings?" Is He not
returning them to Himself, as He promised through
ancient Prophets? Has He not miraculously
reconciled them to His Covenant - returned them to their
ancient Hebraic Roots?
Now if
you obey Him fully
and keep His Covenant,
then He will surely also bring you into the Land as He
has promised?
The Haftarah
With the above guidelines
set, we leave readers to draw their own inspiration from
the Haftarah - while we will simply close with this
final guiding reprimand from the portion:
Isaiah 6:9,
“Go
and tell
this
people:
“‘Be
ever
hearing,
but
never
understanding;
be
ever
seeing,
but
never
perceiving.’
10
Make
the
heart
of
this
people
calloused;
make
their
ears
dull
and
close
their
eyes.
Otherwise
they
might
see
with
their
eyes,
hear
with
their
ears,
understand
with
their
hearts,
and
turn
and
be
healed.”
Yithro
heard,
Yithro
perceived
- he
understood
with
his
heart.
He
turned
and
became
healed.
He
joined
the
Family
of
HaShem!
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