The lesson of the end of the parshah is clear: immoral behavior is deadly for the Jewish people. Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch writes, “The sword of no stranger, the curse of no stranger [has] the power to damage Israel.” But we unfortunately have the power to harm ourselves – “by seceding from G-d and His Torah.” And so where Bilaam failed, we succeeded – by acting immorally with Moav’s women.

The importance of moral purity is often ignored by great nations and people. Even before the post-modern age, Western elites often allowed themselves to act immorally behind closed doors while paying allegiance to traditional morality in public. The Torah, though, recognizes no moral dispensation for “elites.” One law governs us all.

And if a person ignores this law, he cannot achieve greatness – no matter how much Torah he knows, how much power he attains, how nice he is, or how much charity he gives. The last pasuk in Parshas Yisro declares: Not with steps, but with a ramp, shall a person ascend the altar. Why? Because a person’s body may be exposed inappropriately when walking up steps. The lesson? “With gilui ervah the heights of the altar will never be mounted!” writes Rav Hirsch.

Torah greatness and national prosperity cannot be divorced from moral purity. The destroyed seven nations of Canaan are consistently associated in Chumash with depraved moral practices. The Jewish people, in contrast, have always been associated with moral purity, which is why, writes Rav Hirsch, the Torah stresses the paternal and familial lines of the Jewish people when Moshe counts them (“l’veis avosam l’mishpechosam”).

In some communities, children aren’t sure who their father is. That was never a problem among the Jewish people, and the moral purity this fact reflects was – and is – the source of our strength.