…way. And that why, again and again and again, God, the prophets say, is not our God only. There are other people who worship God. Any non-Jews who do rather well in the Bible by way of worshipping God? Yitro – gives Israel its first governing system. Malchitzedek – in the days of Abraham – melech shalem – vehu cohen…
…have, well, Noach, of course, the only person in the whole of Tanach, who’s called a tzaddik. We have Iyov, “Job”, the most righteous person in the whole of Tanach, who isn’t Jewish. We have Yitro, Moses’ father-in-law, who teaches him how to lead, who isn’t Jewish. And to my mind, the most poignant and in some ways the most moving…
…of time with courage and confidence. BESHALLACH: There are no fast tracks. Lasting achievement takes time. You can never get there by the shortest road. The harder it gets, the stronger you become. YITRO: If you find yourself in a situation of conflict that threatens to break something apart, framing a covenant will help keep people together. There are certain…
…“a priest of God most high.” (Gen. 14:18). Yitro, Moses’ father-in-law, was a Midianite priest who gave his son-in-law sound advice as to how to lead. In the book of Jonah, during the storm, while Jonah the Hebrew Prophet was sleeping, the Gentile sailors were praying. When the Prophet arrived at Nineveh and delivered his warning, immediately the people repented,…
…natural family, as well as his identity as one of the children of Israel. It is a cliché to say that leadership is a lonely undertaking. But at the same time no leader can truly survive on their own. Yitro told Moses this many years earlier. Seeing him leading the people alone he said, “You and these people who come…
…in defence of the powerless. Shemot Vaera Bo Beshallach Yitro Mishpatim Terumah Tetzaveh Ki Tissa Vayakhel Pekudei Vayikra (Leviticus) In Vayikra, the book of Leviticus, God sets out the mystery and majesty of holiness, summoning the people with whom He covenanted to a life driven by its energy, lit by its radiance, transformed by its alignment with the will and…
…Beyond the Politics of Anger (The Daily Telegraph) The Home We Build Together (book) The Home We Build Together (animated video) The Universal and the Particular Not in God’s Name (Book – especially Ch. 11: The Universality of Justice, the Particularity of Love) Covenant & Conversation, Parshat Yitro: Particular Paths to a Universal God Video: Rabbi Sacks on Particular vs…
…not by God but by Moses’ father-in-law, the Midianite High Priest Yitro. Second is the list of caveats with which the king is to be charged: not to multiply horses, or wives, or wealth (Deut. 17: 16-17). As we know, it was precisely these cautions that King Solomon ignored, and it led to his downfall. In an exceptionally pointed passage…
…Yitro) Neighbours are usually people like us. It’s strangers not like us we need to learn not to hate (Thought For the Day, 19 October 2018) The Trace of God (Covenant & Conversation, Noach) Short Quotes from Rabbi Sacks To love God is to recognise His image in a human face, especially one whose creed, colour or culture is different…
Transcript In the 19th chapter of Sefer Shemot in the parsha of Yitro, God summons the people to Mount Sinai and gives them a remarkable offer. In the Rabbi’s phrase, He invites us to become God’s partners in the work of creation. And He says to the people, “You have seen how I have brought you out of Egypt, on…