Rabbi's Message

Dvar Torah for Parshas Yisro

This week's Parsha is named Parshas Yisro. It's about the giving of the Torah on Mt Sinai. So why wasn't the Parsha named after Mt Sinai instead of Yisro? There's a powerful lesson here. Yisro was a priest who had power, fame and money and he was really in a position where he had every comfort available to him. He left it all behind because the idol worship wasn't right. Subsequently, he was shunned by his society and faced enormous difficulties. He turned to G-d asking for guidance. That's when Moshe came to him and everything changed.

Yisro converts to Judaism and in so doing he remains the sign-the symbol, forever-of how much Hashem values the effort and the struggle that one puts in to achieve Torah and a good Jewish life.

Those who have had to struggle to live a Jewish life, especially one who goes through the hard work of conversion, are appreciated even more, and especially so because of the struggle. Successful effort is cherished by G-d forever. A person is defined by the "avoda," the work, that they put in to come closer to Hashem. This idea is found in the Mishna. This Mishna Avos writes that "Let be known that the Torah is not an inheritance."

Initially this is puzzling because, after all, it is well known and it is written, Torah was taught to us by Moshe, an inheritance of Kehillat Yaakov. So which way is it? The answer is as follows. We inherit a feeling for and a connection to the world of Torah. However, to be a true scholar of Torah, Talmid Chacham, one needs to invest much work and toil. According to the effort, so too does the Torah open up with it's reward. This part, the Torah cannot be inherited. There is no inherited "elite" or upper-class in Torah.

Completely regardless of where one comes from, the Torah can be yours if you work on it and, indeed, this is the nature of Torah and this is what Yisro was a living example of. One who has to work hard is automatically on a more exalted level, and so Yisro is, indeed, the name of this week's Parsha because Yisro's struggles, and others like it, are what define a most important message to remember when we think of Torah.

Good Shabbos!