Parshat Yitro
In this week's parsha, Klal Yisrael is officially established as a fearsome force among the nations. After decimating Egypt and defeating Amalek, they begin their long 40 year journey in the Desert. The Torah tells us of Yitro, the father in law of Moshe: "And Yitro, priest of Midian, Moshe's father-in-law, heard about all that HaShem had done for Moshe and for His people Yisrael, when HaShem brought Yisrael out of Egypt…Yitro, the father-in-law of Moses, came to Moses with his sons and wife, to the Wilderness where he was encamped, by the Mountain of G-d." Strangely, the Torah needs to tell us that the Jews were encamped in the wilderness; don't we know this already? Rashi, of course, notes this and brings the Mechilta which explains: "We already know of our own account that they were in the desert! Rather in the praise of Yitro does Scripture speak: for he was living amidst worldwide honor and yet his heart inspired him to go out into the desert, a desolate place, for the purpose of hearing words of Torah."
Yitro, as Rashi explains, was overcome with so much emotion from all the miracles that HaShem preformed for Klal Yisrael and although he was one of the most respected members of the world, he left his life of luxury to go to a place of desolation, a "Makom tohu." The word "tohu" in Bereishit is used to explain what the world was like before creation: "unformed and desolate." From here we see the extent to which the word tohu can connote literally nothing, and still Yitro was drawn to the desert to hear words of Torah. This was the power of his emotion, which allowed him to look past the impediments of the desert. It drove him out of a life of security and comfort to join the Jewish people in the wilderness, a place fraught with danger and discomfort. It caused him to change his whole life from top to bottom and become a Jew.
However, later on in the parsha we are struck with a tremendous difficulty. When Yitro reaches the encampment of Klal Yisrael, Moshe comes to greet him. Moshe begins to tell him of all the miracles that HaShem preformed for Klal Yisrael and Rashi again brings the Mechilta to explain why Moshe felt it important to tell all of this to Yitro: "In order to draw his heart to bring him closer to the Torah."
Why must Moshe draw him closer to Torah? We just explained that Yitro gave up everything he had and came to the Midbar to hear words of Torah. What is Moshe trying to accomplish here?
Perhaps the answer lies in the words of Rashi himself. Rashi describes this emotion which overcame Yitro as "U'ndavo Libo -- Inspiration of the heart". As we saw earlier, this inspiration was so powerful that it caused Yitro change his entire life. However, like all emotions it can dissipate over time, and once that emotion was lost, Yitro may desire to return to his old way of life.
Moshe understood this, and he wanted to draw Yitro's heart to the Torah, to teach him the importance of capturing his feelings of inspiration and concretizing them. Yitro was coming from a lifestyle of Avodah Zarah. According to the Midrash he had tried out every other religion; he moved from one thing to the next, never finding lasting satisfaction. He may have been accustomed to the idea of "instant inspiration and gratification," but these feelings are not real. Judaism is not a "feel-good" religion and it does not claim to offer ecstasy and constant excitement. Rather, it is a perfect blend of dedication of mind and heart. A commitment to Torah must be constant, even when we lose our original inspiration. Perhaps this is the explanation of the Mechilta, "In order to draw his heart to bring him closer to the Torah." Not just the heart, but the person himself, so at that time when the feelings of the heart leave, the true person, with his commitment to Torah, will remain. By bringing Yitro closer, Moshe was ensuring that he would continue his upward progress and dedication to HaShem's Torah.
According to this explanation, we can now understand another difficultly: After Moshe retells of all the miracles in Egypt, the Medrash says that Yitro responded: "I was aware of Him in the past but, now, all the more so." The question is: why now? Didn't Yitro come out to the wilderness with the recognition of HaShem already in mind?
We can answer this in light of what we have said. While it is true that Yitro already came to the desert with belief in HaShem, his belief was rooted in a fleeting emotion. Although this inspired him to change his life, nevertheless it was still an emotion. Now that Yitro has firmly established his belief, he can say that he is "more aware of HaShem."
We see from Yitro the importance of taking our moments of inspiration and making them into a concrete reality in our lives. Belief may start out as a feeling, but unless one builds upon it to come to a more concrete and consistent plateau, it will not carry him through life. Only once he does this essential work can he proclaim a deep and real belief in HaShem and his Torah.
Shabbat Shalom
Naftali Kassorla
