These are the words that I shared at the recent JCRB-AJC Event featuring Ambassador Michael Oren. As a member of the board of JCRB-AJC, I was honored with the opportunity to begin the evening with words of Torah and Prayer.
January 28th, 2013
Yitro and Moshe: A Model Partnership
This week in synagogue we will read of the famous visit, the one paid by the father-in-law of Moses, Yitro to the children of Israel as they left Egypt.
In many ways he was a foreigner to Israel, not familiar with their religious practices or their history, even though his daughter had married Moses.
However, he did hear about the wonders and miracles that God had performed for them on their way out of Egypt– the splitting of the sea, the defeat of Amalek.
He just had to come in person to see this people led by Moses, to share his words of blessing.
Yitro’s reaction? He is overjoyed ויחד יתרו על כל הטובה אשר עשה ה לישראל אשר הצילו מיד מצרים
“Yitro rejoiced over all the good that God had done for Israel, that he had rescued it from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 18:9)
He cannot contain his excitement for all God had done for Israel.
And he then offers some constructive criticism— your system of governing the people needs some work, he tells Moses. He offers this advice with honesty, sincerity and wisdom, and Moses accepts it.
This partnership between Moses and the people and Yitro and his people continues for generations to come, even after Yitro returns home. Yitro’s descendants were the Keinites. Yael of the Keinites assassinates Sisera, as we read in last week’s Haftara, about which Devorah the prophetess sang. And Saul, king of Israel, warns the Keinites to move away from the Amalekites so they would not be harmed during Saul’s planned attack.
The Israelites and the Kenites look out for each other, they have each other’s backs. Theirs is a relationship of respect, decency and shared values.
In many ways I’d like to suggest that the relationship of Moshe and Yitro is emblematic of the relationship between Israel of today and the United States of America.
Two true democracies who elect leaders based on the will of the people and who know that they must be united to defend the freedom of all people to live and worship in peace.
God instructs the people of Israel before receiving the Torah and the Ten commandments,
ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש, “And you shall be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6). Yitro, the priest of Midian, also understood the importance of being a role model to others, of recognizing the ultimate right of all people to serve God and of the special gift that God gave the Jewish people– the land of Israel.
I would like to conclude with a blessing and a prayer. The blessing uses the very same words Yitro used in response to his joy–
ברוך ה “Blessed is God,” or better yet, “God is the source of all blessing,” and He has so ordained that Israel be redeemed from Egypt and be their own nation in their own land. ברוך ה
And I would like to offer a prayer at this time
אבינו שבשמים, give peace prosperity and purpose in all that we do together, the nation and people of Israel and the United States of America. May the relationship between the two countries continue to be one of mutual respect and shared values, in the spirit of Moshe and Yitro. Bless and protect your people Israel and her land that you gave to her forefathers; and bless and protect the United States of America.
Amen