In Parshat Yitro (Shmot 20:8-11), as part of the Ten Commandments, we read about the obligation to rest on Shabbat:Remember the Shabbat day to sanctify it. Six days shall you work and accomplish all your work. But the seventh day is Shabbat to Hashem, your God. You...
In Parshat Yitro, Shmot 18:2-4 we read:Moshe’s father-in-law, Yitro, took Moshe’s wife, Tziporah, after Moshe had sent her back home along with her two sons. The name of one was Gershom, because he (Moshe) had said, “I was a stranger in an alien...
In Parshat Yitro, B’nai Yisrael received the Ten Commandments. The fifth commandment (Shmot 20:12) stands out because not only is it a commandment, there is also a reward attached:Honor your father and your mother, so that your days will be lengthened upon...
Sponsored by Steven Toberman and Bonnie & Micky Kamelin blessed memory of their mother, Marion Tomsky Toberman, Miriam bat Yaakov Hirsch Halevi and Devora, in commemoration of her 12th yahrzeit anniversary כ"ו...
In Parshat Yitro, B’nei Yisrael received the Torah as a community, yet each individual’s relationship with the Torah is personal and unique.In the Talmud, Eruvin 54, Rabbi Yochanan asks why the words of the Torah are compared to a fig tree as it says in...
In Parshat Yitro, Moshe is overwhelmed with judging the nation on his own. Yitro, Moshe’s father in law noticed this and told Moshe that he will wear himself out if he continues to do everything on his own.Yitro’s suggestion is found in Shmot...
The Aseret HaDibrot, the Ten Commandments, were declared to B’nei Yisrael as a group while they stood at Mt. Sinai.If the commandments were told to B’nai Yisrael as a group, then why are they written in singular form?Let’s take the first...
In Honor of Melitta Oppenheim’s Bat MitzvahIn Shmot 2:16-17, we see that Yitro’s daughters were treated disrespectfully by the shepherds: “The Kohen of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water (from the well) and fill the troughs to...
Parshat Yitro describes God’s revelation to B’nai Yisrael at Har Sinai. According to Yalkut Shimoni, Shir HaShirim 992, B’nai Yisrael who were sanctified at Har Sinai are compared to a nut. When the shell is broken, the nut emerges. When the...
The first time that the Ten Commandments appear in the Torah is in Parshat Yitro. The Third Commandment is found in Shmot 20:7: “Do not take the Name of Hashem, your God in vain. For God will not acquit the one who takes His Name in vain.”...
In Parshat Yitro, Shmot 19:3 we read: “Moshe went up to the Presence of God and God called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Ko tomar liveit Yaakov v’tagid livnei Yisrael’, This is what you shall say to Beit Yaakov (the house of Yaakov) and...
Check out the Midreshet Devora Video at www.midreshetdevora.org! In Parsha Yitro, we read about the revelation at Sinai when God gives B’nai Yisrael the Ten Commandments. Why were there only Ten Commandments given at Mt. Sinai? After all we...
By Molly Geller, a student at Midreshet Devora (www.midreshetdevora.org) Parshat Yitro opens with Yitro, Moshe's father-in-law having an interest in all of the miracles that Hashem performed for B’nai Israel. Rashi on Shmot 4:18 comments that Yitro had seven...
In Parshat Yitro (Shmot 19:8) before the Ten Commandments were given we find B’nai Yisrael proclaiming the words “All that God has spoken, we will do (naaseh)”. In Parshat Mishpatim (Shmot 24:7) we read “He then took the book of the...
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Ma'amad Har Sinai, The Revelation at Sinai which we read in Parshat Yitro is actually the wedding between God and the Jewish people and is in many ways similar to a wedding between a bride and groom. Before their wedding, the bride and sometimes the groom...
Each Friday night when we recite the famous “Lecha Dodi” prayer we say the following words: “Shamor v’Zachor b’dibur echad, ‘safeguard’ and ‘remember’ in a single utterance…”The song is referring to...