Yitro - יתרו : "Jethro"
Torah : Exodus 18:1-20:23 (26)
Haftarah : Isaiah 6:1-7:6; 9:5-6
Gospel : Mark 7-8

Thought for the Week:

We should not think of them as rules imposed by an impersonal government. They are more like the wedding vows joyously taken by a blushing bride on her wedding day. If we understand the Torah as a ketubah (wedding contract), we see that it is far more than an ethical system or a moral list of dos and don'ts. Instead it functions as the sacred marriage covenant between God and His people.

Commentary:

You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me. (Exodus 20:5)

Jewish tradition maintains that the first commandment is the commandment to believe in God. Christian tradition has the first commandment as the prohibition on worshipping other gods. Eastern Orthodox reckoning agrees that the second commandment is a prohibition on idols. All of these commandments teach us to worship God alone and not to make representa...