ReWorked Sermon for Parashah Yitro

Why is the Torah so much about this idea of a covenant involving instructions, leadership, wisdom, uprightness, and the pursuit of an ideal people in a land of blessing? The late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks ז״ל in his book titled, Covenant and Conversation, observed that לֹא־טוֹב, “not good,” occurs only twice in the Torah. Moses’ father in law, Jethro uses it in this week’s Parashah when he observes Moses working all day long to hear the cases of the people. And it is used in Genesis 2.18 where God says, “It is not good for a man to be alone.” God is about to declare Israel “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6). But before God does that, we get this passage about the work of justice and appointing many leaders among the people. Rabbi Sacks observed that when it comes to a monarchy type of government, the work of ruling alone, this is fitting only for God and no one else. But in terms of human leadership, the task must be spread out among many people. He called it a democratization of leadership. The ancient Greeks coined a term that we use in English even today. In Greek demos means people & cracos means rule. So it means ruled by the people. This is the origin of our English word democracy, part of what our American government is based on. A Constitutional Republic with certain Democratic Principles.
The Torah is very definite in its approach to this topic. God is about to give the Decalogue, the summation of the covenant code by a representative Ten Commandments. Actually the first one is a statement. And the story preceding it, about Jethro who was the High Priest of Median at the time, and Moses establishing the emergence of a justice system in Israel, their first ever Sanhedrin Council, is filled with the symbolic use of the numbers seven and ten. It’s apparent that Jethro was a real stickler for details. Because of this, it’s the reason he was qualified to correct and counsel Moses. We learn from Ben Zoma in Pirkey Avot 4.1 אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם הַלּוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם a wise person learns from everyone.
What is this covenant with Israel really? Why is Torah so much about this idea of a covenant involving instructions, leadership, wisdom, uprightness, and the pursuit of an ideal people in a land of blessing? I asked this earlier and now I’ll give an answer. God is showing Israel that life in this present world can be more like life in the world to come. Since the concept of afterlife is not generally accepted in Reform Judaism, contrary to Orthodox and Conservative, nor is it something the written Torah teaches about specifically, but only hints at, we can also say, that life in the human sphere can be more like the ideal, the plane where God resides, where things like death and injustice are conquered and abolished.
The work of ridding society of all things evil is not a simple task. It is not something we are likely to accomplish for many lifetimes. But Torah holds up the ideal and urges us to work toward it. In great wisdom Rabbi Tarfon said in the Mishna, לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמֹר וְלֹא אַתָּה בֶן חוֹרִין לִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה “You are not required to complete the task, but neither are you permitted to neglect it either” (Pirkei Avot 2.16-My Translation).
It is not good that we relinquish the role of leading the world to a small group of powerful people. There are wrongs to right, injustices to fight, and many good people who need our help. Torah’s ideal is that many people, able men and women who respect God and hate corruption, would be very happy to get involved with us. And we must allow them to work with us. The Jewish idea of Tikkun Olam, the repair of the world, is everyone’s job. So let’s get to it…well…after Shabbes!
~Christo Chaney [כלב דניאל]
Congregation Shaareth Israel - Lubbock TX