Yitro: All-night Revelation

Jacob is with IfNotNow NYC.

Yitro, this week’s parsha, marks the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. This moment, along with the liberation from slavery, is the most fundamental in Judaism. It is also the basis for modern festivals of Shavuot, in which we celebrate ongoing revelation by hosting all-night study sessions.

Last year was the first time I ever celebrated Shavuot. At the JCC Manhattan in the Upper West Side, I heard Rabbi Mira Rivera, author of last week’s IfNotNow d’var Torah, give a talk on stepping into the words of the prophets. Looking back at that night has me thinking- what could we imagine as an IfNotNow Shavuot, one that fully celebrates liberation and revelation, freedom and dignity?

To work towards an answer, we can step into the words of Yitro.

The parsha gives a complex account of the relationship between Moses, God, and the Jewish people. At the opening of Yitro, Moses has assumed the office of magistrate of the Israelites, judge of disputes large and small. His father-in-law, Jethro, or Yitro, advises him instead to “seek out, from among all the people, capable individuals who fear God- trustworthy ones who spurn ill-gotten gain. Set these over them as chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and let them judge the people at all times. (18:21)” Jethro argues that if Moses does not heed this advice, and continues occupying the sole position of judge, “you will surely wear yourself out, and these people as well.”

It’s easy to understand why presiding over the people by himself would wear out Moses. But the people? Why would they be worn out? The answer, I think, has to do with leadership itself. It’s not that Moses’s leadership itself is necessarily bad. Rather, by only hearing the voice of one leader, the people Israel are being worn out by the absence of voices closer to their small communities. They suffer from listening to the same old prophet.

At IfNotNow, we fight to make sure that our own Jewish community is not worn out by its institutional leaders. We insist on making our community more spiritually whole, and more responsive to Jews who insist that a strong Jewish people does not require an oppressive occupation. We continually look through our own community as an organization for new leaders- those capable of radical indignation at oppression, and radical amazement at peoples’ ability to confront it.

It is of no small importance that the suggestion to delegate decision-making power comes from Jethro, himself not a member of the People Israel. An IfNotNow Shavuot, then, must be decentralized, non-hierarchical, and inspired by the wisdom of those from both inside and outside of the Jewish community.

But even within our community, who deserves to be seen? And who must fight for that right?

Again, Yitro can give us guidance. In preparation for the revelation at Sinai, God tells Moses, “Go to the people and warn them to stay pure today and tomorrow. Let them wash their clothes. Let them be ready for the third day; for on the third day יהוה will come down, in the sight of all the people, on Mount Sinai.”

Yet when he relays this message to the Israelites, Moses doesn’t quite include “all the people.” Rather, in Exodus 19:15, he says, “Be ready for the third day: you should not go near a woman.”

The terrible significance of this verse has not been lost on feminist Jewish writers. Diane M. Sharon asks, “does this formulation mean that Moses was only speaking to men?” Judith Plaskow, in Standing Again at Sinai, writes, “at the very moment when Israel stands trembling waiting for God’s presence to descend upon the mountain, Moses addresses the community only as men…Moses does not say, ‘Men and women do not go near each other.’ At the central moment of Jewish history, women are invisible.’”

As these authors recognize, women are excluded here by Moses, not God. Of course, it isn’t always easy to tell the difference between messenger and message. Indeed, in Yitro, the Torah tells us that at the moment of revelation, “All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the blare of the horn and the mountain smoking, and when the people saw it, they fell back and stood at a distance. ‘You speak to us,’ they said to Moses, ‘and we will obey; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.’” The people rely on Moses, a flawed messenger, because they cannot hear the word of God directly.

We must not let our reliance on messengers make us beholden to those Jewish leaders who would exclude women- or queer Jews, or Jews of color, or non-Ashkenazi Jews, or converted Jews, or any other minority in our community. Nor can we close our community to Jethro and other “outsiders,” or to those “insiders” who act in solidarity with Palestinians and others.

Indeed, an IfNotNow Shavuot would be radical, joyful, all-night exercise in pursuing wisdom that rejects those who would seek to exclude. It would be a communal act of becoming less reliant on our leaders, and more closely connected to God. And it would make us less ruled by our fears. I look forward to celebrating with you. Shabbat Shalom.