Yitro
The Creator wants to make the world into His home.
All the events recorded in the Torah, beginning with the creation of the world, have been leading up to this point. Giving of the Torah is about to fulfill the purpose for which He, The Creator, created the world. The Creator wants to make the world into His home.
One more event was to occur before the giving of the Torah and had it not occurred, God could not have given the Torah, Yitro, Moses’ father-in-law, prince and high priest of Midian, had to renounce paganism and join the Hebrew people. Our nature, as believers, is to take what we have for granted. *Sometimes, we need an outsider’s point of view to get us to appreciate what our Creator has done for us and through Yitro’s perspective, look and learn how we have been blessed.
One would think that of all the possible names for this week’s Parsha, the least likely would be that of a non-Hebraic priest who had tried every form of idol worship in the world. And yet there it is in black fire on white fire: "Yitro priest of Midian is featured in his own Torah portion."
When Yitro heard of the Exodus and the 11 miracles that were performed for the Children of Israel, his happiness was so great that he felt physically elated, like someone who weeps or faints through being overwhelmed with the emotion of unexpected joy. Literally, his flesh started to prickle. He had goosebumps. (Ex. 18:9)
When Yitro heard all that God had done for the Hebrew people, he rejoiced and said: “Blessed be God, who rescued you from hand of Egypt and the hand of Pharaoh, who liberated the people from Egypt's power. Now I know that God is the greatest of all deities: for the very thing they plotted came on them!" [Ex.18:10-11]
The Talmud (to learn) derives from Yitro's blessing, a rule, that we should recite the blessing "Who made miracles for our fathers in this place" when seeing the place where a miracle occurred for the Hebrew people. [Berachot 54]
Appreciating All Aspects of a Miracle:
We need to analyze the concept of saying blessings over miracles. When we bless God, for a miraculous deliverance He performs, we feel completely indebted and thankful, because the entire action occurred especially for this one purpose, the fact of the miracle.
When an act is caused directly by God, then not only is the overall goal of the act for the ultimate good, but also all the details and the side-effects that stem from it are from G-D, and also for the ultimate good. The Ultimate Good is for all those who call upon the name of “Our Creator.”
What are the details?
Thus, when reading Torah, we should be appreciative for not only of the miracle itself, but also for any accompanying and all, inclusive details. This includes the location of the miracle, which at some point in time benefited, or will benefit those, who are involved with the miracle.
We, as readers, are also involved in the miracles and details of Torah, no matter where we are in space and time. As with the observance of Shabbat, when we get involved in study of Torah, our souls are transported to the time and place where Torah is speaking of.
This is what the Sages concluded from Yitro. A blessing over a miracle needs to include recognition of its’ positive effects and of its accompanying details.
We, and our repentance of turning back toward our Hebrew roots, are the positive effects of what God did in the past.
Besides thanking God for the overall rescue ("The G-D who liberated our people from Egypt's power"), Yitro also mentioned the details of that rescue: They/We were saved from the hands of the Egyptian people, and from Pharaoh's hands. Why were both aspects of suffering mentioned?
One can suffer at the hands of an evil people, even if the king is kind; and one can suffer at the hands of a cruel king, even if the people are sympathetic.
In Egypt, the Hebrews were the unfortunate victims of the cruelty of both the people and the king.
Furthermore, Yitro recognized that the punishment of Egypt was in like measure ("mida kneged mida measure for measure) "The very things they plotted against the Hebrews came upon them."
The Egyptians drowned Hebrew babies, so they were punished with drowning in the Red Sea. These things happened to them, so that we, who understand the past by reading Torah, might live our lives accordingly.
Here was an additional detail that reflected the ultimate justice and goodness of the miracle in all of its aspects.
They believed, and by inference, we believed in G-d and Moshe, His servant, but there is no mention of a similar reaction like that of Yitro until he saw and learned.
So how did we get to Yitro?
"And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand ... Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock." (Exodus 2:11-12,15-16 )
"Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian"
And so, it was that Moses found himself out in the desert wilderness of the Sinai, the first time, long prior to the Exodus, and how he came to meet Reuel, or Yitro, a priest of Midian, who would soon become Moses' father-in-law. Yitro was also called Reuel. (Reuel means friend of God, while Yitro means excellence). Reuel was apparently his personal name, while Yitro may have been a more official or title name. The Midianites originated from Midian, a son of Abraham through Hagar (Genesis 25:1-2), which therefore actually made Jethro and Moses distant cousins. The Midianite territory consisted mostly in the area east of The Dead Sea and The Jordan River, but during the time of Moses also included a large part of the Sinai. Moses married Zipporah, one of Jethro's seven daughters.
Together during their life in the Sinai, they had two sons - Gershom and Eliezer (Exodus 18:3-4). When God sent Moses back to Egypt for the Exodus, Zipporah and their two sons remained safely with Yitro, so as not to be a distraction, until after Moses returned to the Sinai with the Israelites. Moses was going off to perform the wars of the LORD. The war with Egypt and the war with the Amalekites were wars of the LORD and needed Moses’ full attention. Yitro unknowingly (or possibly knowingly) had played an important part in preparing Moses for his Exodus mission.
Moses had been born and raised in Egypt.
He had lived a relatively easy life - the hardships of living in the Sinai wilderness would have been unknown to him while growing up in the home of the Pharaoh’s daughter. (Exodus 2:10) During the long time that Moses lived and worked keeping Yitro’s flocks, Yitro no doubt taught him all about desert life - something that Moses would have known little of living in well-watered Goshen.
Many are surprised when they first read that Moses spent 40 years out in the desert wilderness before returning to Egypt for the Exodus. Certainly by then he would have become well familiar and accustomed to life in the Sinai, where he would later spend another 40 years leading the Israelites during their Wilderness Journey before their entry into the Promised Land.
The long time spent out in the very same wilderness where the freed Israelites would be taken and led for 4 more decades was all part of God's education of Moses and his people and us to this very day.
That training was accomplished through Yitro (the priest of Midian.)
Conclusion: What kind of book is the Torah and who is it meant for?
The Sages suggest, that the Torah is primarily a legal book, instructing and directing the Hebrew people how to lead their lives.
In answering his question, The Sages fundamentally changes our understanding of the goal of the Torah. They explain that the creation story is meant to teach the world that G-d is the creator of the heaven and the earth. He can thus apportion the earth to whatever nation He desires, for example, giving the land of Israel to the (Hebrew) people.
This message of the supremacy of G-d is a message, not only for Hebrews but for mankind as a whole. Even those that were once Hebrews and now are not. In fact, it took 20 generations for the first Hebrew to appear. Unlike many other religions, Judaism teaches that all of mankind can reach the level of the righteous, even if they do not embrace the Jewish religion, provided they acknowledge the existence of one G-d and live by a basic moral code.
In fact, it is easier for the non-Jew who has only 7 categories of mitzvoth to follow, to attain such a level.
The fact that the Torah was given in a dessert, a barren place belonging to no one and everyone, indicates that Torah has a message for all of mankind.
The entire concept of the Hebrew people rests on the notion that we are a model nation, one that must be part and parcel of the world around us, influencing it for the better. The historic experience forced us into a ghetto, both physically and mentally, forcing us to focus on our survival and abandoning our universal mission. That was a distortion of the role of the Hebrew people, the punishment of exile where the Torah itself was unable to be fully implemented.
Ability to influence others is directly linked to those of us as being a strong people who can earn the respect and admiration of those around us.
It was the awesome power of the Hebrew people; escaping Egypt, the splitting of the sea, the defeat of Amalek that motivated Yitro the heathen priest to join the Jewish people.
Rabbi Soloveitchik often said that our ability to influence others is directly linked to our honesty, integrity and ethical sensitivity.
It is not a stricter observance of Shabbat and Kashrut that will impact on the growth of others. Those crucial mitzvoth are a reflection of our special relationship with G-d and influence is displayed to ourselves more than to others.
It is this relationship that must motivate us to emulate G-d, by following His attributes or kindness, mercy, patience and forgiveness.
This dual role of the Hebrew people is to develop a special relationship with G-d and to build on that relationship by being a light unto the nations.
For example, in Yitro the reason for Shabbat is to acknowledge G-d as the creator of the world a notion of crucial importance for all of humanity.
All must remember (zachor) the Shabbat.
To cite just one more example: The last of the dibrot , lo tachmod is usually translated as don't be jealous. In parshat vaethchan the Torah adds the phrase lo titaveh , do not desire. The kli yakar explains that lo tachmud is only violated when one acts on their jealousy by devising a scheme (even if legal) to get that which they desire. The desiring itself is not sinful.
This standard of not trying to manipulate a situation to take something from someone is a standard expected of all human beings.
However, lo titaveh adds an additional component, the prohibition of the desire itself, one violated not in the Land but in the heart.
Self-control can only come about by observing the many mitzvoth of the Torah meant to teach us to be happy with our lot.
By living up to these high standards and with the Jewish people sovereign in the land of Israel we have an opportunity we have not had for 2,000 years; to set up a model society that will enable all to reach their potential.
" Zion will be redeemed through justice and her converts by righteousness" (Isaiah 1:27).