Lead Tidbit
Variation on a Theme
A theme that is found in the last two sedras (at least) and that has been presented in Torah Tidbits, occurs yet again in Parshat Yitro, as it will in Mishpatim, as well. One way to put that theme is "Miracles & Nature". The idea of it is that Bnei Yisrael witnessed great wonders of a supernatural type, as well as being acutely aware of nature and what it has to offer. But for Bnei Yisrael then, they lived through the miracles and later were eased into the natural world.

We have the benefit of hindsight and can see both the supernatural and the natural, both miracles and "real" life in the same glance. As mentioned last week, we must equally appreciate the Bread from Heaven and the Lechem Min HaAretz - both of which comes from the same Divine source.

Parshat Yitro provides us with another lesson along the same lines. We go from the Splitting of the Sea and its great wonders to Revelation at Sinai with its great wonders. But in between, at the beginning of the sedra, we have an episode that is so mundane, down to earth, that it demands that we notice it for its contrast to what precedes it and follows it in the Torah. Yitro, father-in- law of Moshe Rabeinu, seems to take a leisurely morning stroll to see what his son-in-law does for a living (as we would describe it in today's terms). He observes and he suggests and G-d agrees, so to speak, to Yitro's suggestion. And what does it deal with? With everyday, day-to-day life. Not with a splitting sea, not with water from a rock, not with an ever-increasing Shofar blast... with everyday, mundane things. Questions that arise about daily conduct. Petty squabbles. Life. Normal life.

And then the Torah tells us that we arrived at Sinai... and we received the Torah in a totally miraculous setting.

And then comes next week's sedra of Mishpatim with its wide range of mundane mitzvot.

The point - again - is that miracles are wrought by G-d, and so are the normal things that happen every day. He created the world 5764 years ago, and He renews Creation every single day. We must relate to G-d when we read about Matan Torah and when we hold a blade of grass between our fingers. We relate to Him in shul and at the dining room table, in the street, everywhere. This is a theme oft- repeated in the Torah. And the mix of nature and miracle, mundane and lofty, that we find in the sedras of Sh'mot, keep reminding us of the whole picture.