Thursday, 5 February 2026

Tzetl: Shabbos Yitro

7:06pm - Early candle lighting
8:11pm - Candle Lighting, Friday
9:10pm - Havdalah, Saturday
(Melbourne Australia)
Eruv Status: TBA cosv.org.au/eruv/
Good Shabbos!

PARSHAH IN A NUTSHELL
Exodus 18:1–20:23
The name of the Parshah, "Yitro," means "Jethro" and it is found in Exodus 18:1.

Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, hears of the great miracles which G‑d performed for the people of Israel, and comes from Midian to the Israelite camp, bringing with him Moses' wife and two sons. Jethro advises Moses to appoint a hierarchy of magistrates and judges to assist him in the task of governing and administering justice to the people.

The children of Israel camp opposite Mount Sinai, where they are told that G‑d has chosen them to be His "kingdom of priests" and "holy nation." The people respond by proclaiming, "All that G‑d has spoken, we shall do."

On the sixth day of the third month (Sivan), seven weeks after the Exodus, the entire nation of Israel assembles at the foot of Mount Sinai for the Giving of the Torah. G‑d descends on the mountain amidst thunder, lightning, billows of smoke and the blast of the shofar, and summons Moses to ascend.

G‑d proclaims the Ten Commandments, commanding the people of Israel to believe in G‑d, not to worship idols or take G‑d's name in vain, to keep the Shabbat, honor their parents, not to murder, not to commit adultery, not to steal, and not to bear false witness or covet another's property. The people cry out to Moses that the revelation is too intense for them to bear, begging him to receive the Torah from G‑d and convey it to them.


HAFTORAH IN A NUTSHELL
Isaiah 6:1–13
This week's haftorah discusses Isaiah's vision of the Heavenly Chariot (the merkavah), a revelation that was experienced by all the Israelites when G‑d spoke the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai—an event recounted in this week's Torah reading.

Isaiah perceives G‑d sitting on a throne surrounded by angels. Isaiah vividly describes the angels and their behavior (in anthropomorphic terms). During the course of this vision, Isaiah volunteers to be G‑d's emissary to transmit His message to the Israelites. He is immediately given a depressing prophecy regarding the exile the nation will suffer as punishment for their many sins—and the Land of Israel will be left empty and desolate, though there will be left a "trunk" of the Jewish people that eventually will regrow.


SAGES ON THE PARSHAH

I am the L‑rd your G‑d (20:2)

Because G‑d appeared to them at the Red Sea as a mighty warrior, at Sinai as a sage teaching Torah, in the days of Solomon as a handsome lad, and in the times of Daniel as a compassionate old man, G‑d said to them: Just because you perceive Me in many guises, do not think that there are many gods. Rather, it is I who was at the sea, I who was at Sinai, I who is in every place—"I am the L‑rd your G‑d."

(Midrash Tanchuma)

https://w2.chabad.org/media/pdf/31/ZFpX313975.pdf



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