Yitro's Wisdom - Tehila Gimpel: The Land of Israel Fellowship

hey guys so in this week's parsha we read about the ten commandments of course um now i know jeremy's gonna be talking about the deeper meanings of the commandments themselves so i wanna speak about something else in some ways this is probably the most important torah portion of the year it's the pinnacle right it's what everyone's been waiting for everything's been leading up to this like from adam to noah to avraham has just been waiting to connect finally right for the world to be able to be ready to receive the torah we had to go through slavery and exodus and now it's like that special moment that's going to change history it's going to change everything the torah is going to come to the world and what is this week's portion called itra yeah he's the character that's first mentioned in the beginning of the portion so it's a legitimate name right it makes sense technically um but we know that a lot of shabbats that have important or special torah portions um you know that have something important about them have um have a special name like last week was uh technically called beshallah but it's called um you know commonly shabbat shira shabbat of song right because of the song at the sea as this like peak moment in the torah portion um so you would think that this week would also get a special name right but it's just you know shabbat of yitro now i don't really think though that it's a coincidence um that we know this parsha as as the parasha of yitro and that meeting yitro precedes the giving of the torah um i think yitro is teaching us some really two two i would say really critical lessons that are so important for our ability to receive the torah it's almost like they're they're they're prerequisites for us to be able to receive the torah so the torah portion starts out by saying heard it doesn't say they just showed up you know and brought moshe's wife and children it says that he heard he really heard like what's so special about hearing when you think about it everyone heard like the greatest empire at the time egypt was just decimated at the sea right a nation of slaves escaped to freedom that's a deal right what are you going to do with that that has to jiggle your world view a little bit i mean does your idol you know do cool stuff like splitting the sea everyone has to have heard about this the yitro really heard he heard and he showed up he did something like anyone could have said wait a minute something's happening with these people something's happening with the god of israel i want to seek the truth i want to attach myself to them and go learn more but most people didn't respond that way you know people just try to carry on with their lives turn the page of the newspaper go back to normal right somewhere even worse than that right in the end of last week's partial we read about amalek they really didn't want their worldview shaken up right so what if the so-called one god saved these people we're gonna take them down everything will be back to normal the way we understand the world will be right you know we'll stay in place no one's gonna bring any new perspectives into the world of this one god so they actually came to fight right yitro hears and he shows up right he doesn't let him you know this the news of the exodus just passing by he's moved to action he heard maybe in the way that king solomon was referring to when he asked hashem for alev shomaya a hearing heart right israel didn't just hear with his ears and kind of in one ear out the other as they say he heard with his heart he opened himself up boldly i mean that wasn't easy think about what it took for yitro to walk away and come and say i'm going to you know join israel and learn about the god of israel that had to be so hard to recognize hashem i mean it wasn't just changing his own worldview personally and that's hard right how hard is it to admit you're wrong about anything right he was a priest he had been preaching this midianite religious doctrine right this dogma for probably decades how hard is it right to like if it's just like to tell anyone that you're wrong about anything imagine having to do it when you're a mover and shaker like a molder of public opinion and come and tell all the people that have been trusting you that you've been wrong for all these years and there's actually this one god that is just mind-blowingly bold so he has this ability to listen and it's just so marvelous that the torah uses this word hearing shomeo right because the last time that israel encountered a non-jew in a leadership position let's say was was pharaoh right what did he say when moshe first comes and tells him you know hashem told me that you know you should let the jewish people go what does he say in chapter five he says [Music] who is hashem he doesn't say who is hashem that i should do what he says says who is hashem that i should hear him the same word right that he uses for each other i don't want to hear things that we're going to require me to change to go out of my comfort zone but yitro is different he is the model of the righteous gentile that comes to attach himself to israel how many people in our very own you know last century have heard miracles that hashem has done for israel in 1948 does that move them to do anything to change anything usually not turn the page next right we hear it keep sipping your coffee right some really don't like having their world change wait a minute what about replacement theology aren't the jews supposed to be wretched aren't they supposed to be at the bottom why would suddenly they have all these miracles so some actually come out and try to find ways to fight israel you know the u.n and security council the media ngos you know humanitarian organizations funding terror and arming terror groups right but the torah shows us gives us the model there are a few there are a few yitros the rare few that hear and they're awakened in their heart they hear in their heart and they show up they say here i am right tell me more i'm ready to learn and yitro isn't just coming and ready to learn he's teaching israel something he's teaching israel how to actually hear and that's this prerequisite for receiving the torah it's like until israel learned that lesson that yitra is sharing with them they couldn't really receive the torah and in fact when the torah is given what do israel say they don't just say okay we'll do that right i'm a lawyer most legal systems would be happy if people just say yep we'll follow the law lawmakers don't usually care how people study the law what it does to them internally just follow the laws buddy right just you know stop it red go a green thank you very much you don't need to philosophize it about it too much but israel what do we say when we receive the torah we don't just say hashem okay okay we'll do your torah we'll follow your commandments we got the memo we understand what yitro is teaching us we're going to hear it's not just about following the rules but really hearing hearing inside right being ready for what you're about to hear to change you from within so it's like yitro shows us these this amazing model that we're able to learn from the second thing i think hitro is teaching us is how to broaden our perspective i love the dialogue and the following verses moshe and yitro sit down to catch up right father-in-law son-in-law moshe was like let me tell you a story and the verse says he tells him all the the hardships that the jews have been through right he's like oh my gosh you don't know we we were running and we were there we did we were scared and we didn't have water and then omelette comes and how does it respond in chapter 18 verse 9 he says most people translate that as meaning he rejoiced for all the goodness that hashem had done to israel that's kind of funny because moshe just told them all the rough things that they had gone through like i imagine this kind of like if jeremy would come home and i'm like oh my god jeremy you don't know what i've been through this kid puked on me this one didn't make it to the toilet this one broke my favorite dish this one bumped her head we just barely made it through the day and then he would be like oh how nice dear sounds like you had a lovely day i'd want to strangle him right i'd say hey you're not really listening i want you to recognize how hard my day has been right and here yitro is like oh wow this is so nice to hear about all the goodness hashem has done for you but he's not forgetting to listen he's teaching something super deep he's saying as a person who wasn't there with you guys right well you might have seen those situations as super stressful and hard right it must have been rough as an outsider looking in i can tell you that to me this looks like hashem was you know doing good for you this was salvation i see the big picture right and it's not only here many times the yitros right the itro model the the the you know the outsiders that attach themselves to israel give strength to israel and show them a new perspective it's something that gives us you know a new way of looking at things in psalm 121 it talks about the time of redemption and it says that the nations will say hashem hashem has done great things for them right for israel and only after that verse do the jews say does israel say hashem has done great things for us we shall rejoice right because sometimes it takes an outsider to be like hello wake up hashem has done great things for you and then we become fully conscious about hashem's miracles and be like oh hashem has done great things to us the journey was really hard so we kind of lost our perspective but when someone ahitra comes from the outside and says hashem has done great things for you we're able to wake up you know it's a fun fact that when yatro hears about the miracles that hashem has done he says baruch hashem which is like a super jewish phrase right like if you walk around in israel and anything good happens to someone they say baruch hashem i've heard non-jews muslims you know all sorts of people saying that right and and they say hashem bless hashem and we something we received from yichur like israel taught us to say baruch hashem to recognize that even when things are challenging there's a bigger picture hashem is doing something amazing for us and to say baruch hashem so we have these two huge lessons taught to us right before receiving the torah and they really serve for guidelines as a torah life you want to receive the torah it's not about action alone it's also about hearing opening yourself up to change molding yourself and second you have to lift up your eyes from just the place where you are and see the big picture if you want to live a torah life you can't just be stuck in the dreariness of your everyday challenges you'll never be able right to see how things are part of hashem's greater plan so you know it's like israel is able to learn these two things um from yitro and grow and only through that you know meeting with someone who has fresh eyes and a fresh perspective right these fresh perspectives that are shared by new friends israel can have things like this illuminated for them um it's like this it's this beautiful partnership um of sharing and it's so important for hashem to teach us that right before receiving the torah that just shows us how central this idea is and only after we read about that do we go ahead and receive the commandments and for me this really connected like when i realized this it really connected with what we're doing here in the fellowship like in my mind what we're doing here is really following this model we find a precedent for it for the importance of this connection and partnership and friendship right here embedded in parshat itro already in the very beginning of this torah portion where we receive where we receive the commandments it's important to remember that torah isn't something that we get one time you know we got one time at sinai and now it's just sort of reverb reverberating it happens to us every day every day we choose if we're going to learn torah every day we choose if we're going to accept the yoke of torah in our life right it's not a one-time story to me it's a model for how we should continue to receive the torah every single day so i think it's an amazing privilege right for us to be sitting here in this very fellowship learning together getting ready now to learn about the commandments in the spirit of the torah portion itself of yitro that just illuminates for us how amazing this kind of connection this symbiotic relationship this partnership can be right jews alongside gentiles the itros that heard something and showed up right to say i want to connect and you know in that spirit to sit down and learn the ten commandments together in my mind i'm just so grateful for that so with that i wish you guys a great week shalom my name is jeremy gimpel a few months ago we started an online seminar teaching life-changing biblical wisdom revealed from the original hebrew and straight from the mountains of judea with global instability on the rise more and more people are turning to god realizing now they don't exactly know where to look for guidance the bible says the guidance will come from the land of israel what started as an online seminar has grown into a global fellowship with hundreds of members from over 30 countries we are participating in fulfilling prophecy as we learn the bible through the eyes of prophecy with a focus on what it's telling about us in our lives today what you will discover is that the wisdom transmitted thousands of years ago is speaking directly to us in our time right now instead of learning the bible as a religion it's the torah of israel the living guidance of god so please join us for our next online gathering and get access to the full library of teachings that the land of israel fellowship is offering join now and get an audio series on the prophecy encoded in the book of joshua absolutely for free just click on the link below or email fellowship at the land of israel.com i don't know how you found this video or what compelled you to click on that link but i don't believe in coincidence and i would encourage you to take the next step on your journey toward the land of israel i hope to see you with the land of israel fellowship shalom you