Yitro (parsha)

Yitro (parsha)

Yitro, Yithro, or Yisro (יִתְרוֹ — 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 Exodus 18:1–20:23. The parshah tells of Jethro’s organizational counsel to Moses and God’s revelation of the Ten Commandments to the Israelites at Mount Sinai.

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.