Yitro, Yithro, or Yisro (יתרו — Hebrew for “Jethro,” the second
word and first distinctive word in the parshah) is the
seventeenth weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish
cycle of Torah reading and the fifth in the book of Exodus. It
constitutes Shemot / Exodus 18:1–20:23. Jews in the Diaspora
read it the seventeenth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally
in late January or February. Jews also read part of the parshah,
Exodus 19:1–20:23, as a Torah reading on the first day of the
Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which commemorates the giving of the
Ten Commandments. Jewish unity began at Sinai. When each
individual Jew agreed to accept the Torah, he put aside his own
desires and embraced the agenda set down by God. In so doing,
every Jew focused on the same exact thing, the will of God. This
unified state created a new entity called Kol Yisrael, the
collective of Israel. This single entity means that each Jew is
part of the other and that it is impossible to separate or walk
away from the Kol. The Kol,