Taking Advice

The question was asked as to why so much credit is given to Yitro for suggesting that Moshe get help in judging the people. Couldn’t Moshe have figured this out on his own? It would seem fairly obvious that he would need to appoint other judges to deal with easier cases.

There is an important lesson to be learned here, regarding seeking advice. One must never feel too proud not to ask others for help with a major decision.

Even Hashem Himself demonstrated this when Adam was created. The Torah tells us that Hashem said, “Let us make man,” when He certainly did not need help.

Some of the greatest leaders taught that it was possible to learn something from everyone. As long as one is not insecure and he is open to listening, there is a great deal to be learned.

Rabbi Twerski wrote that he found that doctors demonstrated such insecurities because of their big egos. They do not like being second guessed, which is really a sign of insecurity and inferiority.

In Yitro’s case, there was good reason to listen to him. He had a great deal of experience and he tried every religion in the world. Experience is a great teacher and young people, in particular, need to learn to seek the advise of those older and wiser.

Moshe could have figured things out on his own. But he wanted to set the example of learning to listen and to try to learn from everyone.