The Humility of Moshe Rabbenu – Maayan Inbar

This Parasha covers many topics, but I would like to focus on a special connection and special attribute (middah). The connection between Moshe Rabenu and his father in law (Yitro) and the middah of respecting one’s elders. Moshe Rabenu, who brought his People out of Egypt, knows that according to halacha he is still required to respect his father in law, even though he is not Jewish. We can understand why this Parasha is called Yitro.

“Moses told his father in law [about] all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians … Thereupon, Jethro said, “Blessed is the Lord, Who has rescued you from the hands of the Egyptians … Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the deities”

Moshe went out to meet his father in law, he bent down and kissed him. They greeted each other and then they went into the tent. Unlike Avraham Avinu who invited guests and asked Sara his wife to prepare food – despite the long journey Bnei Yisrael have gone through in the desert, Moshe does not mention food, but invites Yitro into his tent to teach him and bring him closer to Torah. Moshe explains to him what his role is among the people and Yitro is shocked to hear that Moshe is doing this all alone:

“Moses’ father in law said to him, “The thing you are doing is not good”

Yitro tells Moshe that if he continues like this, he will collapse. He suggests that Moshe takes officers: “leaders over thousands, leaders over hundreds, leaders over fifties, and leaders over tens” and only the most serious cases will be brought before Moshe.”

Moshe accepts this suggestion, even though he had no obligation to do so (we must remember that Yitro is not Jewish yet and Moshe was at a much higher spiritual level than him).

In order to explain this situation, we must mention that Yitro was a pagan priest (a priest of Midyan), who had a religious feeling that there was not only one idol in this world … even so, after hearing about the events of Kriyat Yam Suf and the war against Amalek, Yitro understood that there is only one God:

“Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the deities”

Here we see Moshe’s greatest attribute: modesty.

This is part of the reason that Hashem chose Moshe to lead Bnei Yisrael and with much thanks to him we received the Torah (Matan Torah is mentioned in Parashat Yitro).

This shows how modesty and faith can bring down the upper and supernatural forces. Despite all the stress we have these days, we must connect to our faith and modesty, which give us strength and ability to keep going.

As Chazal said: “it is a mitzvah to remember that Hashem is the One that gives you strength to make wealth.”