Parashat Yitro

What actually happened at Mount Sinai?

When Moses altered the message given to him by God, he cut women out of the revelation at Sinai.

The Midianite has concerns about the well-being of the Israelites and their leader Moses.

Examining a new model of activism.

Jethro's position at the outside of the Jewish people allowed him to understand how to make the Torah work for a multiplicity of people.

There is a lot to learn from the commandment not to covet.

We are called on daily to "proclaim liberty throughout the land."

Seeking the living soul of our sacred texts.

Yitro tells Moses that only people of integrity, who themselves would never engage in legally questionable business dealings, are qualified to serve as judges.

The complex ways in which parents serve as our bridge between God and the world.

Jewish tradition places great emphasis on the way in which we hear and how we interpret the messages we receive.

Raising questions about our complex relationship with God.

Establishing an equitable human judicial system is the necessary condition for receiving the divine moral wisdom of the Torah.

Holiness derives from encounters with God in Torah study; it is not intrinsic to locations like Mount Sinai.

There are times we should separate from our neighbors--and times we should reach out.

In Moses and Jethro, we can see a model of transformational relationships ⁠— and losses.

It can often be difficult to truly hear what others are saying to us.

Each and every person we interact with can teach something.

Yitro: A resource for families.

Mount Sinai in smoke.

Isaiah's initiation as a prophet.

Questions and answers about the weekly Torah portion.

Unlike the first tablets, the second tablets, which were hewn by human hands, endured.

Jethro, Moses' father-in-law suggests a system for establishing lower courts to settle disputes; God speaks the Ten Commandments to the Children of Israel amidst fire, smoke, and the sound of the shofar.