This week’s parashah is one of the most famous parashiot in the Torah, for the Ten Commandments, perhaps the most popular text of the entire Hebrew Bible, are enunciated there. Given their importance, it is interesting that this parashah is named after a biblical character and one who is neither so outstanding, for that matter: “Yitro”.
Who was Yitro? He was Moses’ father-in-law, but he was also the “Priest of Midian”. His family relationship with Moses, plus the wisdom he shows by advising him regarding the arrangement of the judicial structure of the incipient Hebrew nation, makes him worthy of certain renown. But his status as priest of an idolatrous people undoubtedly demerits him as a Pentateuch hero (even when, according to the Midrash, he convinced himself of the truth of the God of Israel, gave up his idols and converted to Judaism).
At the beginning of the parashah, Rashi quotes a midrash which explains that in truth, Yitro had seven different names. By saying that each name refers to a distinct quality present in Yitro, the midrash is trying to explain the fact of Moses’ father-in-law being called in so dissimilar ways in the Torah. Be it what it may, the name Yitro thus becomes even more diffuse, which minimizes his right to have a distinguished parashah named after him.
It is worthwhile to notice that out of the 54 parashiot in the Torah, only five bear the name of a person: Noach, Chayei Sarah, Yitro, Balak and Pinchas. Many characters much more worthy have been left without a parashah to their name.
That is why we wonder: wouldn’t it have been better to name such an important parashah with a more appropriate name, a name honoring a text as extraordinary as the Decalogue? Well, this is a good time to explain that, actually, the parashiot do not get their names according to their content; instead, the first unusual word that appears in the first or second verse is chosen as their title. This method, which seems hazardous and unable to summarize any idea in the title, has proven to be relatively effective to physically locate the texts in the scroll where the Torah is written, which lack any other kind of signs (just so you know, opera arias are named the same way, although due, I suppose, to very different reasons).
Hence, the doubt about the name of our parashah is thus resolved, even when some commentators could try to offer some explanation that goes beyond mere technicalities. The parashah wherein God reveals Himself to His people and gives them the Ten Commandments, symbolic of the Hebrew law, received the name Yitro for its having appeared at the beginning of the parashah, and for its being an unusual term.
Nevertheless, by assigning the name Yitro to this parashah, this first name immediately becomes famous and remembered. Dozens of generations of Jews have followed the yearly cycle of the Torah, where the portion named Yitro is read every year. Thousands of scholarly commentaries and rabbinical sources point out this name to refer to a specific text. Countless sermons have been written and will be written in the future, beginning with a phrase somehow similar to, “this week we read Parashat Yitro”.
Is there something we can learn from the ambiguous title of the parashah containing the Ten Commandments? I believe that here, we can clearly see the strategic and pedagogical importance of naming our community projects. Why? Just as the fact of our parashah bearing a first name made that name and the character it refers to acquire an unexpected reputation, we as well can make a difference when we choose a good name for a community activity or program.
Let me illustrate this concept with a couple of successful examples. In Latin America, almost all Jews refer to the Friday night service as “Kabbalat Shabbat”. This does not mean that they know the meaning of the words, nor that they know Hebrew, but rather that this name was given at some point to this prayer. Likewise, the Feast of Freedom is known by the Jews of this continent as “Pesach”. I have never heard a Latin American Jew with a minimum of Jewish education referring to these celebrations as “the Friday night service” or “the Jewish Passover”, as happens with Jews from other parts of the world.
I would never dare do hateful comparisons, but just make you see this noteworthy fact: one and the same activity is known by different names. But there’s more, of course: the simple fact of calling an activity such as the evening service, “Kabbalat Shabbat”, allows a person to connect in a different way with the source and essence of the activity. That after this prayer we greet each other with a “Shabbat Shalom” instead of “Have a great Saturday”, or something like that, inserts us much more effectively into the Jewish culture. Eating “Kneidelach” is not the same as eating “matzah balls”, believe me; even though they contain the same ingredients, they taste very differently. “Tzedakah” is a Jewish obligation; “charity” is something else.
When we call things by their original names, making reference to their sources, we give them another dimension. A name chosen wisely has multiple meanings, refers to several meaningful concepts that allow us to relate them with ideas filled with much more richness. Even if we don’t know Hebrew or Yiddish, calling things by their original names allows us to make a Jewish “quality leap”, if I may use the expression.
In the case of Parashat Yitro, there doesn’t seem to have been any deliberation when they called it so, but rather just a technicality. But when we prepare community projects, we have the chance to choose their names on purpose, so as to make them more meaningful, profound and spicy to the general culture of our fellow Jews.
Thus I end the commentary of the Parashah of the Week, even when some people may have thought that they were reading a commentary on the weekly portion of the cycle of the Jewish ritual reading of the Pentateuch. Or were you imagining it was the same thing.
Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky
B’nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica
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