Parashat Yitro

At the beginning of the parashah, Moshe is spending time with Yitro in the Israelite encampment, recounting to him the exodus from Egypt and all that the people had experienced since. The next day, Yitro observes Moshe at work in his leadership capacity, occupied from morning until night dealing with the challenges and complaints of Bnai Yisrael. Yitro has the insight to see that Moshe’s approach to leadership is unsustainable, and the wisdom to coach Moshe on better ways he could organize himself and his lieutenants. Yitro is clearly a trusted advisor to Moshe, he helps Moshe restructure his entire leadership team, and it is easy to imagine that Moshe will be able to lean on Yitro for advice and good counsel in the years ahead as well.

But actually, that’s not the case. Yitro does not remain by Moshe’s side for the rest of his tenure as leader of the people. A mere ten pesukim after giving Moshe this life-changing intervention and coaching session, Yitro returns to his land — he will not be there to guide Moshe personally in the years ahead.

As an educator and a parent, this resonates for me. As teachers, we work day in and day out to share with our students the most important pieces of our history, our values, and our traditions, but we know that we will not be by our students’ sides forever. In fact, we share these essential lessons with our students specifically because we know that our time with them is limited. This is also true as parents — the years fly by and we have only a relatively short amount of time to share our insights and wisdom with our children, as Yitro did with Moshe, before they head off on their own. As educators and parents, we must appreciate this time with our students, and these years with our children, for the truly precious gift that it is, and strive to make every minute count.

Shabbat Shalom