The Wedding Day As we prepare to read the story of the great revelation at Sinai, where the Jewish people received the ten commandments, the Torah inserts a story that does not fit the chronological order. The Torah tells us that "on the next morning" Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, saw how Moses was judging the people alone. Jethro said: "The thing you are doing is not good. You will surely wear yourself out both you and these people who are with you for the matter is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone (18:17-18)". Instead, Jethro suggested: "You shall choose out of the entire nation men of substance, G-d-fearers, men of truth, who hate monetary gain, and you shall appoint over them [Israel] leaders over thousands, leaders over hundreds, leaders over fifties, and leaders over tens. (18:21)". Moses indeed implemented Jethro's suggestion. When did this story occur? The verse says: "it came about the next day". Which day is this referring to? Rashi explains that "the next day" does not refer to the previous story, the day after Jethro came to the Jewish camp, but rather it refers to the day after Yom Kippur (Yom Kippur is the day the Jewish people received the second tablets), which occurred over four months later. Why is the story that occurred many months later inserted at this point before the giving of the Torah? The giving of the Torah at Sinai was not only a time when the Jewish people accepted G-d's commandments and agreed to submit His word. The Mishnah teaches that the day the Torah was given was the wedding day of G-d, the groom, and the Jewish people, the bride. The Torah therefore represents not the submission to G-d, but rather it represents the marriage and union between the Jewish people and G-d. This explains the uniqueness of the Torah. The Torah is not only the word of G-d, but rather it is a partnership between the word of G-d, conveyed in the written Torah, and the understanding of the people, the application of the Torah which is found in the Oral Torah (the Mishnah, the Talmud, and its commentaries). In Judaism, the question "what is the will of G-d?" is addressed not only by G-d in the written Torah, but also in the Talmud, which is the human application and understanding of the Divine word. Moses represents the written Torah, as he was the conduit to deliver the word of G-d to the Jewish people. Jethro, on the other hand, represents the contribution of the oral Torah, the human input. Therefore, Jethro insisted that the people had to be involved in the judicial system, applying the word of G-d to their lives. By placing the details of Jethro's advice before the revelation at Sinai, the Torah implies that the day we stood at Sinai was not the day we became subjects of G-d. It was our wedding day. Adapted from the Pri Tzadik
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