Yitro. The Widsom of Three

“In the third month after the Israelites had left the land of Egypt, on that very day, they came to the wilderness of Sinai.”(Exodus 19:1)

בחודש השלישי לצאת בני ישראל מארץ מצרים ביום הזה באו מדבר סינ

A few days ago, I received from a close friend a black-and-white photo of an ultrasound, with this message: “It’s a girl!”

They had known for three months, but they waited for this day—the liminal ultrasound that would confirm, after those tender three months, that the fetus was well implanted, that the promise of pregnancy would indeed, God willing, lead to birth.

Three months.

This number is meaningful in so many areas of our lives.

Three months is the time it takes, according to specialists, to break an addiction and to establish lasting good habits.

Three months make up a season in temperate climates—a completed cycle.

And it may be the amount of time BneiIsrael needed, after their hurried departure from their land of slavery, to be ready to receive the Covenant of a new framework for life.

Yet there is something that goes beyond the mere passage of months: the number three itself is significant.

Three, in space, is the number of balance. And in the symbolic world, it is the number of Truth.

It is no coincidence that Pirkei Avot (1:2 and 1:18) tells us twice that the world stands on three pillars.The first time, those pillars are Torah (instruction), Avodah (service), and Gemilut Ḥasadim (acts of lovingkindness).The second time, the world stands on justice (mishpat), truth (emet), and peace (shalom).

The number three implies the existence of a middle line between two extremes.

In the Jewish mystical tradition, this is embodied by the central pillar of the sefirotic tree- from top to bottom—Tiferet, Yesod, and Malkhut.

If we overlay this diagram onto the human body, we find:

• Tiferet: harmony and truth, at the level of the solar plexus

• Yesod: foundation and vital force, at the level of the generative organs

• Malkhut: sovereignty and receptivity, at the level of the feet

  
  

For the Hasidic master Kedushat Levi, the fact that the verse specifies that the Israelites reached Sinai three months after leaving Egypt points precisely to the importance of this three-branched balance:

“Then he (the one who comits to serve truth) is included in the three lines, for within the attribute of truth everything is contained.”

ואז הוא כלול מג' קווין, כי במדת האמת כלול הכל

“This corresponds to the letter Shin (ש), which is composed of three lines.”

וזה בחינת שי"ן הכלול מג' קווין

“This is why it speaks of the third month: it corresponds to the attribute of truth, which is the Shin, formed as a triangle of Ḥesed (lovingkindness), Gevurah (strength, the ability to set healthy limits), and Tiferet.”

וזהו בחודש השלישי, שהוא בחינת האמת שהוא השי"ן שהוא משולש מחסד וגבורה והתפארת

Tiferet, the middle point, indeed carries these three meanings—harmony, beauty, and truth. Here, the Berdichever Rebbe focuses specifically on truth.

“When a person reaches the level of truth, they emerge from all aspects of evil and from all forms of constriction (all ‘Egypts’).”

כשאדם מגיע לבחינת האמת אז הוא יוצא מכל 

חלקי הרע ומכל המצירים.

Yes—when we are devoted to truth and willing to pay the price for it, the confinement of our mental patterns dissolves, and any unclear or unhealthy situation eventually unravels on its own.

The true Exodus from Egypt is not physical.

It happens within us.

In Israel today, many testimonies from former hostages and survivors of the Nova festival express this strange feeling: although they have left captivity physically, inwardly—at least at times—they still feel as though they are “there.”

Resilience means leaving Egypt a second time—in consciousness.

And for that, we need the right balance between lovingkindness and the ability to set boundaries.

Now, for the first time since 2014, there are no more israeli hostages held dead or alive in Azza.

Bnei Israel , thoses who were held captive, may have left Gaza, but it will still take time to be free, and to truly leave behind the vicious cycle of violence.

The people of Iran, at this very moment, are struggling to free themselves from their own Egypt.

The biblical narrative, Hasidic masters tell us, is a mirror of the human soul.

That is why, beyond its ancient setting, Sinai still speaks to us. It speaks in codes and in hints.

And the meaning of the number three, Kedushat Levi reminds us this week, is this: to be capable of truth, one needs just enough loving-kindness together with just enough ability to set healthy boundaries—toward oneself and toward others.

Yes, Being true grants access to true freedom, whatever the landscape of our lives may be. As we get ready to stand again at Sinai, what would it take, today, to face our truth?