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Why is this week’s parsha named after יתרו ? Though he seems to have been an impressive person and a wonderful father-in-law to Moshe, Moshe himself does not have a parsha named after him, so why does Yitro?  Not only that, but Yitro’s parsha contains no less than Matan Torah and the Ten Commandments!  What did Yitro do to merit such a distinction? 

Perhaps the answer lies in the first three verbs used to describe Yitro’s actions in this week’s parsha: “va’yishma” – he heard, “va’yikach” – he took, and “va’yavo” – he came.  Yitro heard about all the miracles that God had performed for Bnei Yisrael in taking them out of Egypt, and he then took his daughter and grandsons, and came to join Am Yisrael in the midbar.  Surely Yitro was not the only one who heard about all the miracles of Yetziat Mitzrayim.  But only Yitro DID something in response to what he heard.  He was not content to merely be inspired for a moment but he ACTED upon his inspiration and did something with it.  He was moved by what he heard about God’s awesome power, and in response, decided to pick himself up from Midian and join Am Yisrael in the desert. 
Yitro in turn then made a positive difference for Am Yisrael.  When Moshe was having trouble handling all of Bnei Yisrael’s questions, Yitro offered his assistance and made a court system to make it easier for Moshe.

We learn from Yitro that we should act upon our inspirations and take everything we learn to heart.  We should not be content to merely be inspired for a moment but should use our moments of inspiration to propel us to take action.  We should all strive to be like Yitro, act on our moments of inspiration, and make a difference.