You will surely wear yourself out both you and these people who are with you for the matter is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. (Shemos 18:18)

Moshe’s father-in-law’s come to visit in this week’s parsha. He watches his son-in-law and, like a typical father-in-law, he has some criticism. Moshe would sit and judge cases the whole day and Yisro feels this is not proper. He feels it is too much and Moshe is going to “burn out”. Therefore, he recommends Moshe to assign other judges who will handle the smaller cases and the larger cases should go to Moshe. Moshe agrees.

No one can do everything. I learned this lesson last week. My children were on break from yeshiva last week, so we did like many others and visited Disney. On Monday, my wife, her parents, and our two youngest children went to the Magic Kingdom, while I took my oldest children to Disney Quest. Disney Quest basically an indoor five-floor arcade including some rides. One of the rides was Buzz Lightyear’s Astroblasters, which is bumper cars with a shooting cannon. Riders enter an enclosed car for two. One person controls the steering wheel and gas pedal, while the other controls a cannon that shoots large balls at other cars. Well, since I was with two children, they went together, while I went by myself. The way the ride worked was if the balls that were shot hit a star shaped spot on the side of the other car, that car that received the hit would spin around in a circle for 10 seconds. Since I was by myself, this was a difficult ride. I tried to steer with one hand and fire the cannon with my other hand. I was not very successful. Most of the ride I spent spinning in circles because my kids kept on getting direct hits on my car. Since I had so much time to think while I was spinning in circles, I realized a person cannot do everything in the world by himself. Actually, most things that a person does in this world, he needs others to help him.

It is a very interesting that the Torah records the event of Yisro and Moshe in the beginning of this week’s parsha. This parsha is famous because it contains the giving of the Aseres HaDibros (the Ten Statements, which is usually translated the Ten Commandments). The Torah states that the Jews were camped opposite Mount Sinai (Shemos 19:2). Rashi points out that the word “camped” is in the singular form. But there were thousands of Jews there, so why is it in the singular? The answer is that the Jews were together as one. Every Jew realized that they are nothing by themselves. They are only a full person when they work with others.

This is the lesson Yisro wanted to teach Moshe. Moshe was very great, but even with all of his greatness, he needed others. When a person realizes he needs others, he will realize he needs to work with them. When he works with them, they become joined together as one. This was the level we reached when we stood at Mount Sinai and this is the level we should strive to reach in our lives today. But the first step is to realize we can’t do everything on our own; we need others.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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