The major question I have is why bother using the name of a gentile for the parashah which is primarily known for the giving of the aseret hadibrot.
Let's have a look at the beginning of the parsha where Yitro comes to the newly freed Hebrew people and finds his son-in-law Moses dealing out judgment on a case by case basis for all disputes occurring between people and perhaps even with God. At this stage Yitro is not considered Jewish and as far as we are aware identifies as the priest of Midian. And yet from such a person we find that he strongly suggests to Moses that this method of judging people need to be upgraded.
As an aside it is also curious to wonder about the age difference between Moses and Jethro. It is generally accepted that Moses was 40 when he came to Midian after escaping from Egypt and that is also when he met his wife Tzippora which means that she would still have likely been a young woman give or take around 20 and then they had two sons. Therefore it is likely that Jethro was perhaps 20 to 30 years older than his daughter which puts his age anywhere between 35 and 55 when Moses first arrived. This certainly is interesting because it puts Moses and Jethro in the frame of being peers and perhaps even possibly that Moses was older than Jethro.
So we find Jethro giving advice to his son in law the leader of the Jewish people not necessarily as sagely fatherly advice but more than likely perhaps as a respected peer.
Now what is really interesting I find is that the western society of today throughout the world is normally regarded as being based on Judeo-Christian foundations. So our court systems you would think would be based on a judicial system from specifically the Torah of the Jewish people and the example of the Jewish people themselves. However now that we know that Moses was autocratically giving judgment in every case it is fair to say that this in fact is not the style of our modern judicial system. In fact the explicit recommendation of Jethro is for Moses to establish a judicial hierarchy delegating lower cases to lower courts, and courts of appeal for when necessary, with Moses being the pinnacle of decision makers. Thus we see it is indeed the recommendation of the priest of Midian, a non-jew from a non-jewish culture and society, upon which the Jewish people and further modern society base their court systems on. How fascinating.
How is this related to the original question of why this well regarded parsha with its all important ten commandments is given the name of a non-Jew let alone a priest who is a leader of a non-jewish culture.
It seems to me that in the Jewish life I have experienced it is commonly found that Jewish communities with a significant proportion of baalei teshuvah, those returning to observant faith, and also converts to the faith, are indeed quite uplifting and exciting to be a part of. Perhaps just as we are aware in the science of genetics that diversity of the genetic pool increases strength to the general population so too the analogy of a diverse genetic pool may also work in the macro sense for a community at large. Meaning that we can all learn something from each other and our Judaism and does not exist in a vacuum.
When the Jewish people were given the Torah it was as if in fact we were all like converts and Jethro can be seen to be the prime example of our status. The fact is is that the laws of Torah whilst they are immutable they are also respectful of the times and society that we live in. We often have to find a way for our Judaism to exist in the society that we place ourselves.
The point is that Jethro brought something to the table that was acceptable to Moses, the person who we see as our intermediary with God, as well as with God directly. His suggestion was worthy and indeed preferable. It added to Judaism and the Jewish laws without circumventing the laws. Thus we often find in communities with people who are coming back to Judaism that they bring fresh and exciting ways to live our Judaism and indeed popularize it for its popular ways. It is not that we are seeking to change, nor are we seeking to necessarily grow in popularity, but rather that the multifarious ways of being Jewish has great advantages in the way we live our life.
When we reach out to make suggestions to make things better in a way that fits with Torah then God responds to us and gives us even greater things to match our fervour for wanting to be better and closer to God. Thus God responds to our willingness to involve ourselves in Torah and the correct ways of conduct, and we are given the Ten Commandments.
I bless you with innovation in a way that furthers Torah in our life and that God responds in kind.
