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Friday, March 29, 2024

Can You Hear Me Now? – Parshat Yitro

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Rabbi David Bibi is the Rabbi of the Sephardic Congregation of Long Beach and has taught in many community Synagogues. He has written and edited a weekly newsletter “Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace” for 19 years, and can be reached at DavidBibi@gmail.com.
Rabbi David Bibi is the Rabbi of the Sephardic Congregation of Long Beach and has taught in many community Synagogues. He has written and edited a weekly newsletter “Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace” for 19 years, and can be reached at [email protected].
Why is one of the most famous portions in the Torah, the one in which the Ten Commandments are given and listed named after a man who is bears the title of chief idol priest?

“Can you hear me now?” For about ten years we were inundated by some guy n a hardhat doing Verizon commercials asking that question, but is there more to it? And what about the clichés, “went into one ear and out the other”, or “speaking to him is like speaking to a stone”?

In last week’s portion of BeShalach, we read that the “nations heard”. And this week we begin by learning that Yitro heard. I recall discussing with Rabbi Abittan the concept of hearing and listening.

Sometimes we hear words but they have no effect. Sometimes we hear words and we think that we’ll act on them, but we don’t. And sometimes we hear, we commit and we act on those words.

I recall a story that I heard many years ago from Rabbi Mansour. It took place in Jerusalem in the 20’s. The family of Rav Chaim Yehuda Leib Auerbach was moving into a three bedroom apartment. The apartment had been occupied by a number of people including a young man who recently arrived from Europe and was heading off to work at a kibbutz. When the Auerbachs moved in, the young man asked permission to stay for another week. The Auerbachs agreed provided that the man would abide by and respect Shabbat.

On Shabbat the Rebetzin walked by the young man’s room only to see him writing a letter. She was upset and asked her son Shlomo Zalman z’sl who would eventually become a gadol hador to speak with the man.

Shlomo Zalman knocked on the door and explained to the man that his mother was upset as the man agreed to observe the Shabbat and obviously was not. The young man was puzzled. He knew on Shabbat one did not work or light a fire, but he wasn’t doing anything wrong. Shlomo Zalman explained that writing was a creative act and was not permitted.

The man apologized for not knowing explaining he never learned. But then looked at the Shlomo Zalman and asked. “Do you think I don’t know G-d? I do. Come let’s take a walk and I’ll tell you a story”.

“It was during the First World War in Europe. I was a soldier and the battlefields were bloody. We fought from trenches. We on one side and those we were combating on the other . Bullets would fly and every so often there was a brief pause to collect the wounded and the dead. In the trench with me were two religious Jews and during those pauses they sat together reading from small Psalm books they carried with them. Even within the horrors of war they had this aspect of calm that comes from deep faith and I was very jealous. Why didn’t my father teach me anything about being Jewish, I whispered to myself. So I turned to Hashem and said to him, if You are really here on this battlefield with us, if you really hear me and care about me, send me a sign and get me out of here. Let a bullet injure my trigger hand so they’ll send me back home and I’ll survive this war.

A moment later in the midst of the silence a single shot was heard. And that shot struck my right forefinger. You can still see that the finger does not bend. I was sent from the front and was committed to going to a Yeshiva and learning about G-d and everything those other Jews knew that I didn’t. G-d had spoken to me in the foxhole and now I would act on it. But once I got home I realized it would take only a short time to get my degree in agriculture so I put off the Yeshiva while I finished my studies at the university.

Six months later, diploma in hand, I set out for the Yeshiva. But the fervor of a miracle in the battlefield had cooled. A few days later I grew bored and left to pursue further studies in agriculture.

Commenting on the story later in life, Rabbi Auerbach observed that sometimes we hear, sometimes the voice is so loud that it penetrates us and we know, but unless we act all is for naught. (Although this young man did make aliyah, and did dedicate himself to the return of the Jewish people to the land and to building the land and I imagine its more than possible that some of his great grandchildren are learning today in a yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael).

Rabbi Mansour quoted the words from Aleynu LeShabeyach we say three times every day. “Veyadata HaYom, VeHashebota Lebabecha”. You will know that day and your heart will return.

We may ask for signs and it’s rare that we get such open and clear responses as the one the soldier got, but if we really pay attention, if we really listen, if we really open our eyes, we can see them. Hashem is always speaking to us. Sometimes it’s loud and sometimes it’s in a whisper, but it’s there. And when we do hear it and when we do know, it’s up to us to act.

The entire world heard what Yitro heard. They heard and they feared. They heard and they knew. They heard but failed to act. The opportunity was there for all of them, but the opportunity would pass them by. In the entire world only one man heard and acted. He was Yitro, I guess the portion could have been named for anyone in the world, but in the end it was named for the one man who acted.

We need to remember to get to the place takes many steps. We hear and we know, but the key is to act. The Verizon commercial asks, if you can hear me now. Yes, we can. But the real answer to the question comes from another commercial, it’s the one for Nike where we are told, Just do it!

So lets learn from Yitro. Today, get up and DO IT!

Shabbat Shalom

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