Yisro's Judicial System: Connecting to Leaders, Not Just Solving Problems

The shiur opens with a fundamental difficulty: how could Moshe Rabbeinu have needed Yisro to tell him the obvious—that one person cannot handle all the disputes of an entire nation? Any civilization understands the need for a judicial hierarchy. Yet the Torah (תורה) gives Yisro tremendous credit, even adding a letter to his name and naming a parsha after him for this seemingly simple solution. Moreover, in Sefer Devarim, when Moshe reviews the forty years in the desert, he uses this episode as a criticism of the Jewish people, suggesting they gave the wrong answer when they accepted Yisro's advice. Rashi (רש"י) explains that the people should have said: "Who is better to learn from—you or your students? Better from you, Moshe." Rabbi Zweig explains that Yisro understood something revolutionary about the purpose of a judicial system. In a secular system, courts exist to resolve disputes efficiently—whether motivated by getting money back, proving you're right, or establishing societal order. For such purposes, a hierarchy of courts makes obvious sense, and every civilization has implemented this without needing special insight. But Yisro grasped that the Torah's judicial system serves an entirely different purpose.