Jethro Counsels Moses to Teach the Way and the Deed

(Exodus 18:19) "Now listen to my voice, I will advise you, and may God be with you." "If you listen to me, it will be well with you." "And may God be with you": go take counsel with the Almighty. "Be you for the people": be for them like a vessel full of utterances, and bring the matters you hear: explain and make them understood. "And you shall warn them of the statutes": these are the midrashic teachings. "And the laws": these are the legal rulings. "And you shall make known to them the way they should walk": this is the study of Torah. "And the deed that they should do": this is the good deed; the words of Rabbi Yehoshua. Rabbi Elazar of Modi'in says: "and you shall make known," make known to them their very lives; "the way," this is visiting the sick; "that they should walk," this is burying the dead; "in it," this is acts of loving-kindness; "and the deed," this is the line of the law; "that they should do," this is beyond the line of the law. The master said: "that they should walk," this is visiting the sick; but that is acts of loving-kindness! It is needed only for one of his own age and stature, for the master said: one of his own age and stature takes away one part in sixty of the illness, and even so he is obligated to go to him. "In it," this is burial; but that is acts of loving-kindness! It is needed only for an elder for whom it is beneath his dignity. "That they should do," this is beyond the line of the law, for Rabbi Yochanan said: why was Jerusalem destroyed? Because they judged in it by the strict law of the Torah and did not act beyond the line of the law.