There is a lot of good stuff in this week’s parsha (Torah reading).

The main event is obviously our receipt of The Ten Commandments with the descriptive pre- and post-event narrative. Even after recently viewing the ten plagues, the splitting of the sea, and the other miracles, hearing God’s voice directly from the top of Sinai was an awesome experience for our ancestors. In fact, the event was so moving, that the people asked Moses not to let God speak directly with them again. Our tradition teaches that not only did the generation living at the time stand at Sinai, but all future generations (including us) were there as well.

If The Ten Commandments is the main event in the parsha, then the origin of “delegation” must be the warmup act. Yitro, father-in-law of Moses, observed that Moses spent all day, morning to evening, alone, teaching Torah and judging cases for the nation. Yitro said to Moses, “The thing that you do is not good. You will certainly wear away, both you, and this people who are with you; for this thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it yourself alone.” Yitro went on to advise Moses to set up a system of judges with lower-level and higher-level God-fearing people to handle most cases, while retaining only the highest level cases for himself. “Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.”

*Disclaimer: I am an accountant, not a rabbi. Please go to synagogue, hear the Torah reading, and listen to the rabbi’s words of wisdom on the parsha.