Midreshet Amit

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In this week's Parsha, Parshat Yitro, many important events occur, such as the conversion of Yitro, Moshe's father-in-law, and Matan Torah. By now the miraculous redemption and exodus of Bnei Israel has been heard throughout the world. One's immediate reaction to hearing such unbelievable stories would be to try and solve the mysteries behind them, but surprisingly only one man does. Yitro, the high priest of Midyan, a non-Jew, is the only man to pursue the legend that is Bnei Israel. The opening pasuk of the parsha states, "Vayishma Yitro" - and Yitro heard. Many other nations or even individuals "heard" what happened to Bnei Israel, but Yitro did not just hear it; he listened and understood it. In his interest in converting to Judaism, Yitro was neither arrogant nor passive. Instead he was proactive and searched for his son-in-law to express his belief and wonder.

The second event in Parshat Yitro is Matan Torah. In perek 19 pesukim 1-2, it says, "In the third month following Bnei Yisrael's exodus from Egypt, on this day they arrived at the wilderness of Sinai. They journeyed from Rephidim and arrived at the wilderness of Sinai." The question that is raised by several commentaries is: why did the text need to repeat to us that Bnei Yisrael arrived at Sinai? One interesting answer that is given is that Bnei Yisrael needed more time to prepare and process before receiving the Torah. Each week, we prepare for Shabbat by cooking special foods and cleaning more thoroughly in order to get ourselves into the right mindset for bringing the kedusha of Shabbat into our homes. Similarly, Bnei Yisrael needed to get themselves into the right mindset but for an even more difficult task, namely bringing the kedusha of the Torah into their souls. To do so, Teshuva and reflection were a necessity.
There is a Midrash that explains that during Matan Torah, Hashem raised Har Sinai above the heads of Bnei Israel and threatened to drop it upon them should they refuse to accept the Torah. According to this Midrash, God forced Bnei Yisrael to accept the Torah out of fear. By doing this, Hashem took away Bnei Israel's bechirah, their free choice. This might help explain how it could be that a mere forty days after witnessing the huge miracle of Matan Torah, Bnei Yisrael could have done Chet HaEgel, the Sin of the Golden Calf. When Moshe disappeared for 40 days, they felt extreme abandonment and crumbled.

Interestingly, Chazal say that it was during Purim that Bnei Yisrael finally accepted the Torah willingly. They chose to fast for three days and took the Torah and Mitzvot upon themselves without being forced. Significantly, that time period ended with a very strong result, the rebuilding of the second Beit Hamikdash.

This year in Midreshet Amit, we are experiencing such great moments and preparing for the future. We need to make sure to be like Yitro and not only hear, but also understand and be proactive. I think this parsha is trying to teach us that we need to choose with thought and learn not out of fear or out of a lack of knowledge, but out of a desire to integrate Judaism into our lives and bring kedusha into our reality.