The Whole World Needs to be Ready

What will it take to perfect our world? The Torah teaches that one day we will live in an era of peace and tranquility, in a world free of hatred and jealousy, cleansed of illness, poverty and hunger. This will all be possible because every organism on earth will be conscious of G-d our Creator and will strive to live in sync with its purpose.

It will be a dream come true and it can’t happen soon enough but we need to prepare for this exciting time today through adopting this divinely inspired attitude to life more often. Is this a task exclusively for Jews?

In this week’s parsha we learn about Matan Torah, the climactic divine revelation at Sinai, which set in motion the ability for Jews to elevate the physical reality through Mitzvot. Whereas beforehand a physical object remained mundane and meaningless despite all the good done with it, all of that changed after the revelation at Sinai. Even the most coarse and mundane physical reality can now be permeated with divine meaning.

It is striking therefore, that the Torah prefaces the story of the events at Sinai with the arrival of Yisro, Moshe’s father-in-law to the Israelite camp. This reunion was so significant, that the entire parshah in which we read about Matan Torah is called “Yisro”!

The Zohar states that Matan Torah could not happen until Yisro converted to Judaism. Why?

Yisro was a man of great accomplishments with an impressive resume. Aside from being a former trusted advisor to Pharaoh, he had served as the highest ranking priest in every heathen institution known to man at the time. He was a deep thinker and his approach to idolatry stemmed from his vast knowledge of nature and even spiritual celestial beings. Considered the foremost intellectual powerhouse of pagan traditions, he was accorded many honorary titles and enjoyed a life of wealth and privilege.

But above all, he was a man of integrity, genuinely searching for the truth, which inevitably led him to acknowledge the fallacy of idolatry and to embrace the belief in the One G-d, Creator of the Universe.

Although many miracles had occurred during the exodus from Egypt, a significant divine revelation unprecedented in world history, it did not empower us to elevate our world to a higher state of consciousness. Subduing the world is not enough, we need to persuade it to change as well.

Yisro’s conversion signified that the world was ready for real change and the revelations that followed provided us the template to prepare our world for a time when G-dliness will pervade every detail of existence. Secluding ourselves in a cocoon of religious piety might feel warm and comforting but our mission is to engage the entire planet and inspire humanity to greater moral and ethical heights, in anticipation for a time that we all wish will begin right now.