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Outline Notes for Parashat Yitro

Parashat Yitro (Exodus) Exodus 18:1 - 20:23 Haftarah Reading:  Isaiah 6:1-7:6; 9:5-6 - The Book of Revelations - Part V.

No Audio Message Available for this Parashat.

I. Introduction

A. Shemot (Exodus) - The Book of Revelations - The Greatest Wedding Until The Present Time

B. Parashah Abbreviated Outline

1. Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, hears of the great miracles which G-d performed for the people of Israel, and comes from Midian to the Israelite camp, bringing with him Moses' wife and two sons. Jethro advises Moses to appoint a hierarchy of magistrates and judges to assist him in the task of governing and administrating justice to the people.
2. The Children of Israel camp opposite Mount Sinai, where they are told that G-d has chosen them to be His "kingdom of priests" and "holy nation." The people respond by proclaiming, "All that G-d has spoken, we shall do."
3. On the sixth day of the third month (Sivan), seven weeks after the Exodus, the entire nation of Israel assembles at the foot of Mount Sinai. G-d descends on the mountain amidst thunder, lightning, billows of smoke and the blast of the shofar, and summons Moses to ascend.
4. G-d proclaims the Ten Commandments, commanding the people of Israel to believe in G-d, not to worship idols or take G-d's name in vain, to keep the Shabbat, honor their parents, and not to murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness or covet another's property. The people cry out to Moses that the revelation is too intense for them to bear, begging him to receive the Torah from G-d and convey it to them.

C. Review: The Hidden meaning of Miriam's Tambourine

1. All the women had tambourines! - Shemot 15: 20- 21
2. The tambourine is a symbol of a person whose heart trusts in God's redemption and is prepared to rejoice in it when it comes
3. According to our sages, the women were more confident than the men, that G-d would perform miracles for the Jewish people.  While still in Egypt, they made tambourines to help them celebrate the Exodus. They used these tambourines to accompany them as they sang their praises to G-d.

D. The Revelation at Sinai is considered to depict the marriage between God and the people of Yisrael - Shemot 19:1-24:4; BT Taanit 26b; cp. Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 54:1

II. Parashat Yitro - The Greatest Wedding Until The Present Time

A. HaShem's wedding pledge/ proposal - Shemot 19: 4- 6

1. I will carry you on eagle's wings - v.4
2. You are my most beloved treasured possession - Am Segulah - v.5
3. A kingdom of ministers - v6a cp. 1 Peter 2: 9-10
4. A holy nation set apart for a special purpose - v. 6b cp. Rev 19: 7

B. Yisrael's unified wedding pledge - Na'aseh V'nishma" ("we will do and we will understand"). First they committed "we will do" and only after "will we understand." This teaches us that the goal of Judaism is deed - to perform the mitzvot, regardless if we understand them or not. Shemot 19:8 cp 19:1 (Unified)

C. Moshe brings the bride to the bridegroom as the bridegroom descends to meet His bride - Shemot 19:17

D. The wedding - Shemot 19: 16 - 17

1. The Midrash Mekhilta comments, "This teaches that the Divine Presence went forth to meet them like a bridegroom who goes forth to meet the bride."  According to this rabbinic understanding, God married the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai!  Moses stood there as the best man, the clouds were the huppah, the wedding canopy, and the Ten Commandments were the ketubbah, the wedding contract binding God and the Jews in a public commitment of love and mutual caring.
2. What a remarkable idea!  The metaphor of Sinai as marriage conveys that the core of our relationship with God is the consequence of a mutual love affair.  God loves us and we respond by loving God in return.  Because of this passion between the Jews and God, God offers a brit, an eternal covenant that will link us through the ages.  The terms of our relationship are spelled out in great detail in the Ten Commandments and the other 603 mitzvot found in the rest of the Torah.

E. Jewish Wedding Traditions

1. The wedding ring: The Tefillin also reminds one of the   wedding ring. Hoshea 2:21- 22 is recited as the tefillin strap is wrapped around the left middle finger three times. "The strap is thus a renewal of the "marriage" between God and Israel, and is therefore wound around the finger just like a wedding ring."
2. The Veiling of the Bride: Again Kaplan, in his book Made in   Heaven, states the kabalistic reason for the veiling of the bride. "The bride represents the nation of Israel, which is described as ‘the beautiful girl who has no eyes.' Israel follows God with utter blind faith, not questioning anything. So does the bride show that she has such utter faith in her husband that she is willing to walk blindly into marriage."
3. This concept of the male and female becoming one body or one flesh is an allusion to Bereshit 2:24:  "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall become one flesh." The idea of G-d as Bridegroom becoming one with his his bride is also alluded to in the New Testament. Paul of Tarsus, a student of Rabbi Gamliel, quotes Bereshit 2:24 in Ephesians 5:31.  Here he compares the marriage relationship with HaShem's matrimonial relationship with Israel. Paul calls this relationship a "profound mystery (sod)"- (Eph. 5:32). The "mystical" union between husband and wife and G-d and Yisrael based on Bereshit 2:24 is also addressed in Rabbi Ezriel Tauber's book To Become One The Torah Outlook on Marriage.

F. Yeshua is our Heavenly bridegroom - Yochanan 14:1-4

III. Conclusion

A. The Spirit and The Bride say, "Come!" Rev 20; 17

B. G-d has betrothed Himself to each one of us in a personal, loving, and intimate way. He has betrothed Himself to us with righteousness, justice, loving-kindness, compassion and faithfulness. These are words of affection and romance that describe our ‘spiritual marriage' to Him. Marriage is in fact a mirror of our relationship with HaShem.

C. Reaffirming our marriage vows to our heavenly Bridegroom

IV. Abbreviated Bibliography

1. Rev. Dr. A. Cohen Editor, The Soncino Books of the Bible The Five Megilloth, London, Jerusalem, New York: The Soncino Press, 1946,p. XI
2. Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Made In Heaven, and New York/Jerusalem: Moznaim Publishing Corporation, 1983,p.9
3. www.Yeshiva.org.il, Article on "Lag B'Omer"
4. Gabriella Samuel, The Kabbalah Handbook, and New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2007,p.264
5. Daniel C. Matt, Zohar The Book of Enlightenment, Mahwah, and New Jerse: Paulist Press, 1983,p.293
6. Simcha Paul Raphael, Jewish Views Of The Afterlife, and NorthVale, New Jersey: Jason Aronson Inc., 1996,p.288
7. DovBer Pinson, Reincarnation and Judaism The Journey of the Soul, Northvale, New Jersey: Jason Aronson Inc., 1999, pps. 79-80
8. All Scripture quotes are from The Soncino Books of the Bible
9. Aryeh Kaplan p.50
10. Aryeh Kaplan p.127
11. Rabbi Ezriel Tauber, To Become One The Torah Outlook on Marriage, Monsey, New York: Shaleves, 1990