Religious Therapy

The accepted interpretation of Yitro’s advice to Moshe was that there was concern about Moshe’s being overworked. Yitro saw that he was busy from the morning until the evening answering Halachic questions. Yitro felt that Moshe needed to delegate some of his workload to others.

Rav Soloveitchik felt that there could not have been such difficulties related to Jewish Law. In the desert, everything was provided for the people. They were protected and they had food and water.

The Rav’s original idea was that the people were traumatized by their lengthy slavery. They loved Moshe and felt great comfort just by being at his side. Moshe didn’t even need to speak to speak to the עם. His presence gave them strength and reassurance.

I have witnessed similar connections to holy Rabbis in our day. The aura of holiness that emanates from these Tzadikim, gives great comfort to their disciples. Even sitting in the home of the צדיק is similarly relaxing and reassuring. And nowadays, we are fortunate to have the Kotel Hama’aravi, that has that same magical effect of giving comfort. We need to take advantage of such religious therapy.