Published February 04, 2010
17th of 54 sedras; 5th of 11 in Sh’mot
Written on 138 lines in a Sefer Torah, ranks 46th
15 Parshiyot; 4 open, 11 closed
75* p’sukim - ranks 47th
(only 7 sedras have fewer p’sukim)
1105 words, 4022 letters - ranks 46th
Yitro is the smallest sedra in Sh’mot
*Tradition is that Yitro has 72 p’sukim, not 75. We’ll TRY to say more on this in a box inside.
Of 620 letters in the Aseret HaDibrot, 68 are ALEF (11%). Not one is a TET.
172 words in the Aseret HaDibrot - 118 distinct words. 12 LOs, 15 G-d’s names
How many p’sukim in Yitro?
Most Chumashim have 75 p’sukim in Parshat Yitro. The “traditional” count is 72. (The “siman” for that number is YONADAV - ben Shim’a, a nephew of David HaMelech’s.)
If you combine the first two p’sukim of the Aseret HaDibrot, as some sources do, there will be 74 p’sukim in Yitro. If we count DIBROT rather than p’sukim for the Aseret HaDibrot, then the number drops to 72 (from 75) and that might reconcile the difference. But not quite. Because when we read the Aseret haDibrot with TAAMEI HA’ELYON (as Dibrot), there are only 9 p’sukim/dibrot, since the first two are definitely combined. Total - 71. So?
MITZVOT
Yitro contains 17 of the 613 mitzvot;
3 positive and 14 prohibitions;
(14 of the 17 are within the Aseret HaDibrot)
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