This parsha is short, very short. There are only two episodes in Yitro, but they are two very consequential moments.
In a particularly human interaction, Moses’ mentor and father-in-law admonishes Moses to set up a system of governance that will serve both Moses and the people. Yitro appears to know full well that if Moses has to deal with the minutia of daily Israelite life, he just isn’t going to make it 40 years… Prophetic burn out is real. Yitro helps Moses set up an appelate system of chieftans to share the Israelite legal burdens before he leaves them forever.
The second half of the parsha is Moses’ second theophany in which the 10 commandments, which are commonly considered to be categories of the 613 mitzvot, are revealed! In just one, very short parsha, we are bequeathed the earthly and the heavenly systems of justice. Perhaps this should serve as a reminder that our pursuit of justice comes both from on high and on earth, as it is written in Deuteronomy 30:11-14:
“Surely, this Torah which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, ‘Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?’ No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.”