When Yitro, Moses’ father-in-law saw how Moses personally judged the multitude of Jews, he suggested to Moses that he appoint “lower” courts and judges. Yitro then said: “All large cases shall be brought to you while all the small matters shall be judged by them.”
Now, although Moses complied with his father-in-law’s judicial reform, there was one deceptively minor change in the way Moses characterized Yitro’s plan. Yitro reserved the big cases for Moses and the small cases were to be judged by the other judges, Moses, by contrast, emphasized that the “difficult” cases he would judge personally while the easy ones will be judged by his appointees.
Commentators wonder why Moses altered the terms of this reform. Why did he reject the notion of judging the big cases and instead offered to try the “difficult” cases?
Commentators answer that Yitro’s proposal was in line with modern day legal procedure where cases that involve large sums of money are usually tried by higher level judges, whereas cases that involve small amounts of money are relegated to the small claims court.
Moses, however, rejected this procedure. In the spirit of the Talmudic exhortation to judges, “may a cases of one penny be as dear to you as a case of of a hundred maneh,” Moses did not consider cases that involved the poor and which therefore usually involved paltry sums of money, to be insignificant. The only criterion Moses would accept for personally trying a case, was that the case at hand should be a difficult one. It made no difference how much money was involved. As long as the case was a complex one, Moses felt it was his responsibility to handle it. If the case was straightforward, even though it might have involved huge sums of money, Moses delegated the trying of the case to a lower level court.
There is a profound lesson in all of this that applies not only to judges but also to leaders. It applies not only to leaders of countries and communities, but to every individual in his relationship with others. We are all in the position of judges, every time we judge the character, motives and actions of others. Moreover, whenever we interact with another person we stand in judgment as to the extent and quality of that relationship. Based on the “verdict” we will adjust our lives vis-א-vis the other individual, accordingly.
The two approaches — of Yitro and Moses — in judgment can be applied to our every interaction with others.
Embedded in each and every one of us is a spark of Moses. This means that Moses’ unique level of awareness, knowledge of and reverence for G-d exists within the soul of each and every one of us. However, one does not need to access this powerful sense of awareness every time we are compelled to judge others. Most of the time our interaction with others demands that we summon the lower levels of our soul’s faculties. For most situations, our internal “judges,” i.e., our intellect, sense of fairness and righteousness, will suffice to determine how best to relate to the other person.
There are times, however, when mere intellect and a sense of fairness will not suffice because the situation is complex. In these instances, one must search deeply within one’s soul for the Moses component which allows us to view the situation from a more G-dly vantage point.
The lesson from Moses’ response to Yitro is that the need to pull out all the stops depends not on the scope of the case, but on its complexity. One should not dismiss a mere exchange of words with another as a trivial matter. Even these “small” matters involve complex ethical and moral issues. Even “minor” comments can have major repercussions that can not be sorted out by utilizing one’s conventional faculties. To this end, one must seek guidance by summoning the “spark of Moses” within one’s soul.
In the spirit of our Sages’ statement that “Moses was the first redeemer and Moses will be the final redeemer,” one must realize that our liberation — both physical and spiritual — depends on the degree to which we call upon the Moses component of our souls to define the way we relate to and judge others.
By constantly being aware of G-d — the spark of Moses within us — we will be far more conscientious in our dealings with others, never taking anyone — or anything we say or do to anyone — for granted, This enhanced conscientiousness will certainly create an atmosphere of a world of Moshiach that will hasten and prepare us for the imminent Redemption through our righteous Moshiach, whose soul is suffused with the spirit of Moses.