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I have always pictured Moshe Rabbeinu as a "giant" of a man
with tremendous abilities. After all, he had the clearest revelation of
HaShem of any of the Neviim. Yet on the Pasuk<br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>18: 24
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Moshe hearkened to the
voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.<br><br>
</i></b>RSRH writes<br><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>24
</b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>Nothing could be more
instructive than this information regarding the<br>
first State institution of the Jewish people, coming just before the
chapter<br>
on the Lawgiving. Moshe’s stature as a lawmaker was so small, and
his<br>
talent for organizing was so inadequate, that he had to learn the
basics<br>
of state organization from his father-in-law. This man Moshe worked<br>
himself to exhaustion and could not, on his own, organize such a
basic<br>
institution, or one similar to it, so beneficial to himself, to the
people,<br>
and to the matter at hand. This man, who needed Yisro’s counsel to<br>
appoint judges, could not have invented statutes and laws and given<br>
them to the people. This man was strictly the faithful instrument of<br>
God; he told the people God’s Word — and nothing more.<br><br>
I find this description of the abilities of Moshe Rabbeinu difficult to
reconcile with my "gut" impressions of him as a
"giant" of a man. On the other hand, I have wondered from
time to time why Moshe himself did not institute a system similar to the
one suggested by Yisro before Yisro arrived. <br><br>
I would be interested to hear what others think about this.<br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Yitzchok Levine</font></body>
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