The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan expands Jethro's counsel into a short curriculum of communal life. "Give them counsel about the statutes and laws, make them understand the prayer they are to offer in the house of congregation, the manner of visiting the sick, of burying the dead, of being fruitful in doing good, and in the work and process of justice, and how to conduct themselves among the wicked" (Exodus 18:20).
The Aramaic turns a vague phrase into six concrete curricula. First, statutes and laws — the formal legal code. Second, prayer in the house of congregation, the beit knesset, the synagogue. The Targum is retrojecting synagogue prayer into the wilderness, teaching that Moses was meant to train Israel in liturgy before the Tabernacle was even built. Third, visiting the sick — bikkur cholim, which the Talmud in Sotah 14a grounds in God's visit to Abraham after his circumcision.
Fourth, burying the dead — kevurat ha-met, considered the purest act of kindness because the recipient cannot repay. Fifth, being fruitful in doing good — the general practice of gemilut chasadim. Sixth, justice and seventh, how to conduct themselves among the wicked — the ethics of life among difficult neighbors.
Jethro's curriculum is stunning in scope. He understands that law alone does not make a people. Prayer, mercy, honor for the dead, and wisdom among the wicked do.
The takeaway: a functional community teaches the law and how to pray, and how to sit with the dying, and how to stand among bad actors without becoming one.