We Were Not Chosen For Our Brains
Although the Revelation at Sinai and the narration of the giving of the Asserres HaDibros [Ten Commandments] is certainly the dramatic pinnacle of this week’s parsha, the parsha begins on a very different note. Yisro, the father-in-law of Moshe, arrived; he observed the situation that Moshe Rabbeinu was busy the whole day adjudicating between people; he advised that this was not a good system and he recommended a system of higher and lower courts. Therefore, Chazal say that Moshe’s father- in-law (who had multiple names) was given the additional name of Yesser because a portion was added to the Torah in his merit (“Yesser al shem she’yiter parsha achas b’Torah”).
The Talmud records a dispute as to whether the events in this week’s parsha are recorded chronologically or not. In other words according to one opinion Yisro initially came before the giving of the Torah as the events are recorded in our parsha and according to the other opinion Yisro came after the giving of the Torah, in which case the story of his initial coming does not appear in true chronological sequence.
Regardless, literarily the prelude to the acceptance of the Torah is the narrative of Yisro coming and giving Klal Yisrael this “novel plan” of establishing a hierarchical court system. This matter needs to be analyzed. Why is this the beginning of the story of “Kabalas haTorah”? Why is our Parsha not known as “Parshas Kabalas HaTorah” or why is not this Shabbos known as “Shabbas Kabalas HaTorah”? Why is it “Parshas Yisro” and “Shabbas Parshas Yisro” as if somehow the message of Yisro’s coming almost overshadows the significance of Matan Torah?
The Or HaChaim haKadosh suggests a very novel answer to this question. In truth, the Or HaChaim writes, Yisro’s idea is not “rocket science”. The idea of the efficiency of a division of labor and the practicality of implementing a hierarchical court system is something that Klal Yisrael should have no doubt figured out on their own without Yisro. However, the Almighty wanted to send a message to the Jewish people of that generation and of all future generations that wisdom DOES exist amongst the nations of the world and that “there are some wise gentiles out there.” The lesson is that the Jews should not think that Hashem chose them because they are the wisest of all nations. We were not the only nation to whom Hashem chose to give the Torah because we necessarily have higher IQs than non-Jews. The reason why the incident with Yisro is the introduction to Kabalas HaTorah is to teach this lesson.
Why then were we Chosen? We were chosen because of Divine Kindness and because of Hashem’s love for the forefathers. It was because of the merit of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. Granted, they may have been smart, but that is not what the Almighty valued in them. Hashem valued the fact that Avraham was the Master of Chessed [kindness] par excellence. He valued Yitzchak because he was the Master of Gevurah [spiritual strength]. He valued Yaakov because he had the attribute of Emes [truth]. G-d values the forefathers because of their respective attributes and because those were the attributes they passed on to their descendants. This is why “He Chose us from all the nations.”
Unfortunately, there is sometimes a perpetual misperception in certain segments of our society. The misperception is that the nations of the world are stupid. This is an inappropriate Jewish outlook. There are in fact very bright people from the nations of the world. The last time I checked, Bill Gates is not Jewish. When my computer crashes, I do not know what to do and he does. Therefore, he is at least smarter than I am! Warren Buffet has made billions of dollars in the stock market and most of us have not. He too is smarter than we are. I am sure that there are brilliant doctors that are non-Jewish and there are brilliant lawyers that are non-Jewish and there are brilliant scientists that are non-Jewish.
Our Chosen-ness has nothing to do with brains. It has to do with middos [character traits]. This, the Orach Chaim haKadosh is teaching, is the reason we were chosen. At the end of the day, this is what it is all about.
Rabbeinu Bechaye points out that when the Torah talks about the greatness of Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Moshe, and Dovid, it never comments about how smart they were. Moshe is praised for his modesty, not for his brains. Noach is praised for his righteousness. Because of his Tzidkus, he was saved, not because of his brains. Yaakov is described as a simple person (ish Tam). Nothing about brains or intelligence or IQ is mentioned.
The bottom line is that the central challenge of Judaism is working on a person’s character traits (middos). The Vilna Gaon says on the verse “Hold fast to discipline (mussar / character); do not let go. Be careful with it; watch it for it is your life.” [Mishlei 4:13]: The reason we are here in this world is to improve a character trait, which we have thus far not perfected. Therefore, a person must always work hard on this, for if one does not improve on his middos while here, what is the purpose of life?
This is an important idea to remember in raising our children. We value brains so much, we value grades so much, we value success so much. But when our children come home from school with a report card that says they are polite, they are kind, they are helpful to others, we should make as big a deal about that as we do when a child gets straight As. At the end of the day, this is what it is all about – Hold fast to character discipline, do not let go.
