There is absolutely nothing important enough to make us overlook the pain of others.
Our parsha presents the most important and transformative event in human history, the Revelation at Sinai. It was there that we saw God and it was from there that through Moshe we received the laws, truths and values that were to govern every aspect of our lives.
That, however, is not our parsha’s top story. Instead, we are told about how Moshe’s father-in-law, Yitro, introduced a change in how the Jewish people would access those laws, truth and values. Yitro saw the long lines of people waiting for Moshe in order to seek out God’s word from the person who had the most access to it. Worrying about the tiring effect of those long waiting lines on the people and on Moshe, Yitro suggested a system of lower court judges and leaders who would be more available to the people to respond to their queries.
This was a very practical suggestion, but it was hardly idealistic. Moshe was the ultimate prophet! Here he was, a man of God, ish ha’Elokim, engaged in dispensing God’s word in its purest form, and Yitro steps in to suggest a very human alternative because of his worry that Moshe would be overworked and the people worn out by waiting. Does this seem like the most fitting lead story to the Sinai experience?
Yitro was evidently adding a critical dimension to the successful integration of Torah into Klal Yisrael, specifically, the value of maintaining awareness of the human needs of others even while pursuing the divine Torah. The drive for the purest rendition of God’s word should not obscure the immediate needs of the people around you. True Torah could not be conveyed as long as Moshe was dispensing God’s word unmindful of the long line of people waiting and as long as the people continued waiting on Moshe without regard for the strain it was placing on him.
Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai was the most dedicated of Torah scholars, who “never engaged in idle conversation, never walked four cubits without engaging in Torah study and without donning phylacteries… no person ever found him sitting and silent, rather, he was always sitting and studying.” The Sages said about Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai that he did not neglect “Bible; Mishna; Gemara; halakhot and aggadot; minutiae of the Torah and minutiae of the scribes,” and many other areas of study (Sukkah 28a). Yet, it was that same Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai who was the first to greet everyone, including the non-Jews he encountered in the street (Brachos 17a). His integration of Torah was so complete that it enhanced his awareness and sensitivity to all those around him.
Rav Yehuda Amital, z”l, the founding rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion, would often repeat the Chasidic story about the Baal HaTanya, the first rebbe of Chabad, who was studying in the upper level of his home, while his son Rav Dov Ber, known as the Mitteler Rebbe, was studying downstairs, where he and his family resided. At some point, one of the Mitteler Rebbe’s children fell from his cradle and began to cry. His father was so immersed in his study that he did not hear the baby crying, but the Baal HaTanya heard the baby and went down to comfort him and return him to his cradle. On his way back upstairs, he passed the room where the Mitteler Rebbe was studying and told him that no matter how immersed a person is in his Torah studies, when a Jewish child cries he must hear it and respond.
That was Yitro’s gift to the Jewish people. Overwhelmed by the spirituality of Sinai, we may have become less sensitive to and respectful of the real and basic human needs of others. Yitro came from afar and reminded us that in the pursuit of God and Torah we must be even more aware of the discomfort, the needs, and certainly, the suffering of others.
Rabbi Moshe Hauer is executive vice president of the Orthodox Union (OU), the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization.
