| The Portion of Yitro The Acquisition of Royalty Following the crossing of the Red Sea, the Israelites begin to settle down to their day-to-day lives in the desert. Moses sits in judgement of the people from morning to night. Yitro, Moses' father-in-law arrives in the camp with Moses' wife Tzipora and sees Moses' hard work. Yitro says to Moses "What you are doing is not good…You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people…" (Exodus 18;17-18). To continue to judge the Israelites in an efficient manner in the manner of kings, Yitro suggests to Moses that he appoint judges to judge the people. Only the most difficult cases will come to Moses himself. In this way, Moses can attain the level of royalty, as is stated in the Ethics of the Fathers (chapter 6, Mishna 6): royalty may be attained in thirty ways. An allusion to the acquisition of royalty about which Yitro is speaking is found in the small addition to the letter "lamed" (whose numerical value is thirty) in the words "navol tibol" (you will surely wear yourself out). If you do not humble yourself, you will not succeed in attaining royalty. (Sefer Rokeiach)
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