Our Parsha this Shabbos is Parshas Yitro.It starts out by saying,"VaYishma Yitro,' - "And Yitro Heard," and it is here,when Jethro the Father-in-Law of Moshe ,came to follow HaShem as One.Such a beautiful action.It is such a sweet and beautiful action,the action of a Ger-a convert to our way,in recognizing the One True HaShem,that HaShem saw it fit to put the beautiful Ten Commandments in the portion called Yitro.So much,does HaShem love a convert to Judaism and also one who is a Ba'al Teshuvah and returns to the right path.HaShem waited so long to finally give His Precious Torah to us,His people ,since the beginning of the world and,even longer,as the Midrash states that HaShem's Torah preceded the world by Two Thousand Years.It was at this momentous occasion,that HaShem finally Blessed us with His beautiful Gift of Torah and honored the convert as well.Yitro had been a man who had tried every other religion and belief and had now come to realize that the Only Truth is HaShem HaKadosh Baruch Hu The Holy One Blessed Is He.
The Parsha starts out by saying,"VaYishma Yitro," - "And Jethro Heard,' as Jethro had finally heard himself as he opened Himself up to the truth as he went looking.People go through their lives following so many things that are not true,so many things that are foreign to what HaShem instructs,so many things that people of other faiths have carried through from the origins of that which is so untrue and made up of idolatry.They never stop to listen truly to what HaShem says to them and to all.They are too busy listening to the words of men claiming that which is so false and even put those men before HaShem (Chas Ve Shalom) thus leaving them not listening and hearing the true word of our Creator.HaShem talks to us all the time - HaShem talks to every living thing and being all the time,but so many just don't hear,as their own feelings get in the way and are thus so easily mislead.Yitro,stopped listening to the world around him and truly listened to HaShem.When HaShem took us out of Egypt and split the Yam Suf,Yitro could no longer deny The True Creator of All.So Yitro finally listened.The word 'Yitro,' has the root 'Yoter,' which means 'More.' And this is what HaShem expects of us all as Yitro did.To give more thgan ourselves and our own wishes and feelings-to reach above and beyond ourselves and our own needs and listen -"VaYishma," -"And Hear," the wishes of HaShem who made All and Knows all.When we can finally stop listening to ourselves and the physical world around us,and start to listen within,start to listen above what is around us,start to listen to HaShem is all things,then we will hear HaShem and He so sweetly and longingly wants us to.HaShem has been speaking all the time.Let us start listening.I wish HaShem with Love a Beautiful Shabbos Kodesh and to all of you with love ,a beautiful Shabbos Kodesh.