Yisro noticed the manner in which Moshe was judging the Jewish people and suggested a more efficient system of handling their cases. This Sicha sheds light on the reason that Moshe himself didn’t create a system of multiple judges to begin with, and an appreciation for the variant levels that the Jewish people could reach.
In this week’s Torah portion, Moshe’s father-in-law, Yisro, visits the Israelite camp. When he arrives, he notices the curious state of affairs in which Moshe was dealing with all of the Jewish people’s judicial matters, and sets out to change them.
Text 1
It came about on the next day that Moshe sat down to judge the people, and the people stood before Moshe from the morning until the evening. When Moshe’s father in law saw what he was doing to the people, he said, "What is this thing that you are doing to the people? Why do you sit by yourself, while all the people stand before you from morning till evening?" Moshe said to his father in law, "For the people come to me to seek G-d. If any of them has a case, he comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the statutes of G-d and His teachings." Moshe’s father in law said to him, "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."
Shemos 18:13-18
Yisro was surprised at the tremendous burden that Moshe was attempting to deal with, in judging all the judicial matters of the nation by himself, and therefore set out to revise the system. He advised Moshe that he should appoint judges over the nation to bear the burden along with him. He suggested a system in which there should be “leaders over thousands, leaders over hundreds, leaders over fifties, and leaders over tens.” Only the supremely difficult queries should be brought to Moshe himself.
This would facilitate a workable arrangement in which Moshe would not deal with each and every query of the Jewish people, from the most trivial to the most difficult. It would even out the load, as part of the burden of judging the nation would be placed in the hands of capable judges. Moshe accepted Yisro’s advice and implemented all of his suggestions.
Simple advice
This whole narrative though, appears peculiar. The difficulty of one individual judging an entire nation is rather obvious. It seems preposterous that Moshe would be able to attend to all of their needs properly without being worn out. Yisro’s statement that “you cannot do it alone” is readily apparent and his advice as well, was rather obvious.
How is it that Moshe Rabbeinu, the ultimate Jewish leader, did not realize the apparent issue in the way he judged the Israelites? Why did he himself not initially conclude that he was unable to do it alone and appoint judges to help him in this difficult task? Why was it that specifically Yisro, an outsider, who had only recently come to the Israelite camp, was the one to suggest and implement this most basic plan?
There is a famous dictum that “a guest for a while sees for a mile.” At times, it takes an outsider to offer good advice. All too often, it is because the person is deeply involved in a situation, that they miss the bigger picture. The person who is a newcomer is objective, and can oftentimes bring a fresh perspective and solution to the difficulties that those who have been immersed in the situation cannot see.
Accordingly, one might assume that this was the case in regards to Moshe and Yisro. It was because Yisro was new to the scene that he was able to see a difficulty and provide advice for something that Moshe had missed.
While this aphorism is indeed true in regards to a normal scenario, it is quite improbable to be the case concerning Moshe and his assessment that he was able to judge the people.
Moshe Rabbeinu was not just any leader—he was born to lead. Moshe was chosen by G-d himself to be the leader of the budding Jewish nation, and had already been serving in that capacity for quite some time.
It is therefore not possible to assume that he would miss this most basic point in leadership. A righteous leader of Moshe’s caliber would not err in the estimation of his ability to judge the people in all their issues, if he was truly unable to do so.
From this we can conclude that in Moshe’s perspective, he was indeed the only one who was able to properly judge the people, whether on small matters or large matters, and he believed he would be able to judge them properly without tiring.
This idea is expressed as well in the following statement of the Sages, regarding Yisro’s name.
Text 2
[Yisro] for the fact that he added on (yiter) a section of the Torah, [i.e.] “But you shall see [choose] (from among the entire people, men of accomplishment...)”
Shemos 18:21
The reason that the Torah refers to him by the name Yisro, as opposed to one of his other names, is because the word yiter means to add. Since “he added...a section of the Torah,” the Torah refers to him as Yisro.
From the fact that the expression that is used is, “that he added” to the Torah, versus that he merited that this parsha would be called after his name, it is clear that were it not for his advice, this section of the Torah would not be added. Were it not for Yisro, Moshe would have continued to judge the Jewish people alone, and that would have been the proper Torah path. Yisro changed the original course of the Torah, so-to-speak, by implementing a new system of judging the nation.
It is therefore apparent that Moshe’s actions were indeed the proper way to act according to Torah, as it was truly only Moshe who was able to properly judge the people. However, the question is now reversed. If Moshe would have indeed been able to judge all the queries of the Jewish people, and this initially was the proper intended path of Torah, what prompted Moshe (and the Almighty) to change the original manner in which the judicial system was instituted, and to heed Yisro’s advice?
Giving the Torah
A similar dramatic shift between the way that Moshe perceived the Israelites and the way that they actually were, occurred by the giving of the Torah.
When the Ten Commandments were given to the Jewish people, they exclaimed that it was too much for them to hear the Commandments directly from G-d, and requested that Moshe would be the one to relate them. G-d acquiesced to their request, but Moshe was not pleased that the Jewish people had suggested this.
Text 3
And you said, "Behold, the Lord, our G-d, has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we saw this day that G-d speaks with man, yet [man] remains alive. So now, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we continue to hear the voice of the Lord, our G-d, anymore, we will die. For who is there of all flesh, who heard the voice of the living G-d speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? You approach, and hear all that the Lord, our G-d, will say, and you speak to us all that the Lord, our G-d, will speak to you, and we will hear and do. And the Lord heard the sound of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, "I have heard the sound of the words of this people that they have spoken to you; they have done well in all that they have spoken.”
Devarim 5: 22-25
The Israelites protested that “if we continue to hear the voice of the Lord, our G-d, anymore, we will die.” They therefore asked that Moshe serve as the intermediary between G-d and them. G-d said that “they have done well in all that they have spoken,” and acquiesced to their wish. Moshe though, was not pleased that the Jewish people desired this change and that they desired to hear the Commandments from a mere mortal instead of hearing them from the Almighty Himself.
Rashi expresses this in his commentary on the above verse:
Text 4
You weakened my strength as that of a female, for I was distressed regarding you, and you weakened me, since I saw that you were not anxious to approach G-d out of love. Would it not have been preferable for you to learn [directly] from the mouth of the Almighty G-d, rather than to learn from me?
Rashi, Devarim 5:24
According to Moshe’s viewpoint, the Israelites would have been able to hear the Ten Commandments directly from the Almighty, and he was therefore disappointed at their request to hear them from him. G-d, however, did accept their appeal and had Moshe relate the Commandments to the Jewish people. This incident as well seems problematic: there seems to be a great discrepancy between the way that Moshe assessed the Jewish people and the level on which they actually were holding. How is it possible that Moshe Rabbeinu—the faithful shepherd of the Jewish people—was so off the mark with his assessment of his flock?
With your teacher
In truth, however, Moshe was not mistaken in his assessment. It is not that Moshe misjudged the true standing of his people, but rather that when Moshe appraised them, he evaluated their standing as they were in Moshe’s presence. While they were in Moshe’s presence, they indeed would have been able to hear the Commandments directly from G-d.
For, when a person is in the presence of their mentor, they stand on a higher plane than when they are alone. Although the Israelites may be holding on a lower level, in the presence of Moshe they were inspired by his presence and uplifted to a level that was more similar to his own. When the Israelites were affected by Moshe’s awesome personality, they were indeed able to hear the Commandments directly from G-d.
This idea is expressed in the following Talmudic statement:
Text 5
R. Chiyya ben Ammi further said in the name of Ulla: “A man should always live in the same town as his teacher. For as long as Shimei the son of Gera was alive, [King] Shlomo (his student) did not marry the daughter of Pharaoh.”
Talmud, Berachos 8a
When a person is in the presence of their teacher, their own spiritual heights are amplified. Thus, when the Jewish people were in the presence of Moshe, they were affected by him, and would have truly been capable of receiving the Ten Commandments directly from G-d. Moshe elevated them to a level closer to his own, and they were therefore able to listen directly to G-d’s instructions, just as he was.
The Jewish people however, objected to this and desired to hear the Torah from Moshe. They did not want to receive the Torah on a level that had been superimposed on their existence, but instead, through the actual level on which they would holding themselves, without the impetus of Moshe’s spirituality.
