Yisros Perspective

An Essay on Parshas Yiso based on Darash Moshe, Drush 18

By Rabbi Sender Haber
I
Yisros first encounter with Moshe was as a judge in his capital murder trial. After the
international tribunal sentenced Moshe to death for killing the Egyptian, Yisro returned home
to Midyan only to find that Moshe had fled to Midyan as well.
Although he was considered the Kohein of Midyan, Yisro was not well liked by the locals. He
was a spiritual seeker who had studied and rejected their form of idolatry. They hated him.
When Yisros daughters were accosted at the well, the only person to help them was Moshe.
Yisro invited Moshe to his home. Rather than send him back to Egypt to die, Yisro put Moshe in
a dungeon where he was secretly fed by Tziporah for ten years. After ten years, Yisro allowed
Moshe and Tziporah to get engaged. He allowed the marriage on the condition that their first
born son would be a priest to idolatry. Yisro did not allow Moshe to give his son a Bris Milah as
long as they were in Midyan.
When Moshe retuned to Egypt to free the Jewish people he sent his wife and two sons back to
Yisro. As Moshe debated Pharaoh, inspired the Jewish people and engineered the Exodus, Yisro
and his family were far away and uninvolved in the city of Midyan.
Much later, when the Jews were finally travelling through the desert, Yisro decided to pay
Moshe a visit. He came to the Jewish camp and identified himself, but the people on the
outskirts of the camp would not let him in. He was not considered a friend of the Jewish people.
In desperation, Yisro shot arrows with messages into the Jewish camp. The first one said: I am
Your Father-in-law Yisro and I have come, the second said I have brought your wife, and the
third, I have brought her two children as well.
Moshe read the messages and decided to come out personally to greet Yisro. He was joined by
Aharon and Nadav and Avihu and large entourage of Jewish people. Moshe kissed and greeted
his Father-in-law and invited him into his tent where he told him the stories of the past few
months. Rashi explains that Moshes goal was to inspire Yisro and bring him closer to Hashem.

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What caused Yisro to finally come and see Moshe? There is an argument in the Gemara. Some
say that Yisro heard about the splitting of the sea and the victory against Amalek. Others say
that he heard about the giving of the Torah.
The Ramban points out that the Jews were camped at the time near Har Haelokim (Har Sinai).
We know that Moshe chanced on the burning bush at Har Haelokim when he was tending
Yisros flock, so Midyan and Har Haelokim were fairly close to one another. It is not unlikely
that Yisro travelled back and forth between Midyan and the Jewish encampment. It is
conceivable that Yisro actually came twice: once upon hearing about the splitting of the sea and
the war against Amalek, and again after the giving of the Torah.
II
The Medrash tells us that Yisro was not allowed to be present at the giving of the Torah
because he had not been a slave in Egypt. The Jews had toiled with bricks and mortar while
Yisro sat peacefully at home. He could not come now after the suffering was over to experience
the joy of the giving of the Torah.
Moshe sent Yisro home. When the Torah was given, Yisro was not present but he felt the earth
in Midyan shake. Together with other world leaders, he ran to Bilaam to find out exactly what
was happening. Bilaam explained to the leaders that although the earth was shaking and G-d
had appeared to the Jews, the world would not be destroyed. They had nothing to worry about.
The world leaders were convinced that they would not be harmed and returned to their homes.
Only Yisro could not return home. He was so impressed by the giving of the Torah that he
returned immediately to the Jewish camp and became a Jew.
Rav Moshe Feinstein explains (Drashos 18) that the world leaders could not relate to the Torah
because they could not understand why the Jews had accepted the Torah. The Jews had not
been under duress or threatened with destruction, yet they agreed to keep 613 mitzvos. Only
Yisro understood that the covenant of Har Sinai was the result of a very special relationship
between Hashem and His people. Yisro was inspired by this relationship and it moved him to
join the Jewish Nation.
III
One of the oddest aspects of Yisros relationship with the Jewish people was the advice that he
gave to Moshe. After completely ignoring Moshe through the most tumultuous time of his life,
Yisro had the confidence to tell Moshe that he was not teaching Torah properly.

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Rather than allowing Moshe to remain as the sole transmitter of the Torah, Yisro set up a
hierarchy of judges and decreed that only the most difficult of questions be brought to Moshe.
Initially, the Jewish people had not used the Yisro plan. They had insisted on going to Moshe
with every single question. This is because the most important event in their life and the goal in
all of their suffering was the giving of the Torah. They wanted nothing more than to draw out
this process by continuing to learn from Moshe. They wanted more Matan Torah.
Yisro knew that the Jewish people did not need to depend on the process of Matan Torah. He
was there because had been inspired just by hearing the stories and observing the relationship
that the Jewish people had with Hashem. He was understood and admired the greatness of the
Jewish people who had received the Torah from Hashem. It could be said that the Jewish
people based their spirituality on Matan Torah (the giving of the Torah), while Yisro was
inspired by the Kabbolas Hatorah (the receiving of the Torah).
Yisro was able to point out that to the Jewish people that they had gained more than just
knowledge at Har Sinai. They had actually received the Torah and that Torah was now within
them. They each had a personal obligation to understand it and teach it. It was possible to
judge a case and decide a halacha without consulting Moshe Rabbeinu.
IV
On Yom Kippur we compare Hashem to a glass blower who works patiently with a piece of
glass. He develops a concept in his mind and guides the lump of glass in and out of the fire. He
shapes it until it is perfect.
At any moment the glass blower could decide to stop working and leave the glass in its less
than perfect state. He could even choose to give up in frustration and allow the glass to shatter.
It is only a patient and dedicated glass blower who is able to see his concept through until the
end. He heats and reheats and shapes and reshapes until the piece is perfect.
Yisro watched from the sidelines as Hashem worked patiently with the Jewish people.
Sometimes He was shaping them and sometimes He seemed to be melting them back into
shapelessness. He would make them larger and then allow them to contract. He would blow
into them from of Himself and He would watch as they took shape. He made them hot and
cold, magnificent and ugly. Finally, at Har Sinai, Hashem made the Jewish people into perfect
pieces of art.

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Yisro was able to look on from the outside and see the beautiful finished product. When the
Jewish people felt like they were still a work in progress, being blown and shaped and guided
and formed, Yisro was able to tell them that they looked beautiful and that they had finally
absorbed the Torah and made it their own. They had absorbed Hashems Torah into their minds
and souls.
V
We need to make our own Kabbolas Hatorah. Cultivating a relationship with Hahsem and
receiving the Torah comes through hard work and, inevitably, through suffering. Hashem
shapes us and molds us through our experiences and educates us through our learning. After
hard work and years of connecting to Hashem, we have the ability to become walking Sifrei
torah and to form a relationship with Hashem that is so strong that His will is our will and our
will is His will. We can be given the gift of thinking our own Torah thoughts and of leading a life
that is truly shaped by the Torah.
The giving at the Torah at Har Sinai was the most intimate bond that Hashem ever formed with
a nation. The Jewish people were so used to the process of growth that they were not able to
fully recognize its culmination. The nations of the world were also unable to recognize the
greatness of the covenant because they simply had no appreciation for it.
It took an outsider and a spiritual seeker like Yisro to recognize our relationship for what it was.

Rabbi Sender Haber is the Rabbi of Congregation Bnai Israel of Norfolk, Va. This is one of a
series of essays based on the Derashos of Rav Moshe Feinstein. Rabbi Haber can be contacted
through his blog: TorahLab.org/outoftheloop.

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