Parashat Yitro

Parashat Yitro opens with Yitro, Moses’ father-in-law, along with Moses’ wife, Zipporah and their two sons, Gershom and Eliezer paying Moses and the Children of Israel a visit in the desert. Yitro comes with Zipporah and Zipporah and Moses’ sons after hearing of the miracles and wonders that G-d has performed for the Children of Israel. The text is slightly ambiguous about what news Yitro heard which compelled him to come immediately to the desert. We can deduce from the text only that Yitro heard about the Exodus. One might suppose that this miracle in and of itself would warrant Yitro’s visit, especially since he brings Moses’ family back to him, whom he had not seen since Exodus Chapter 4 when he has them remain in Midian while he returns to Egypt.

Our sages have a diversity of opinions regarding the precise news Yitro heard. Rashi, basing his commentary to Exodus 18:1 on the Mechilta, a collection of Halakhic (Jewish legal) Midrashim and B.T. Zevachim 116a posits that Yitro heard of the Splitting of the Sea of reeds and the Children of Israel’s victory over Amalek. Regardless of which impressed him more, Yitro tells Moses that he now knows that G-d is the greatest of all of the Deities and from this Rashi gathers that Yitro had been on quite the spiritual journey, sampling every kind of religious practice that he could and finding none satisfactory. It is from Yitro’s exclamation and his sacrificial offerings to G-d that many gather that he in fact converted to Judaism. While this possibility is indeed intriguing, I am more interested in the fact that after he instructs Moses to reform his judiciary, significantly streamlining and making it more efficient, he is never to be heard from again in the Torah. Why is this, especially seeing what a tremendous impact his administrative changes made on Moses himself and the Children of Israel in general?

I do not believe that this question has an easy answer. Despite Yitro’s relationship to Moses, he is in many ways an outsider. Aside from his daughter and two grandsons, he appears not to have any ties to anyone in the Israelite camp. We are reminded some 36 times in the Torah to love the convert. And why is this? Because we know intrinsikly the feelings of the stranger, the outsider, the one who doesn’t quite fit in from our experiences in Egypt and I would add from the many times throughout our long history when we were looked upon as outsiders in our host countries. One of the most beautiful aspects of Judaism is our emphasis on community and doing things in community. Community and our bonds and relationships to other people form the very bedrock of our tradition. But what about the person who feels marginalized in our community? What steps can we take as individuals and as a community to bring that person out of the margins and into the very center of our community?

Perhaps, despite Yitro’s uncompromising and sincere commitment to Torah and Klal Yisrael, he wasn’t able to form solid bonds with other people and as a result returned to Midian, a place much more familiar to him where he surely had a large familial and friendship network in place. Yitro may have continued practicing Judaism in some form in Midian—we can never know for sure—but if he did not, and his falling away from Jewish practice had something to do with his treatment and reception in the community, there is something we all can take away from this unfortunate turn of events. When you see someone new in shul or in any community that we may be a part of who seems enthusiastic and excited to be there but doesn’t seem to have a good social network in place, reach out, introduce yourself, offer to explain things, answer questions, offer a listening ear. For many, it is a great leap of faith to join a new community, religious or otherwise, and we can all make that journey easier with a smile or kind word. May we all be inspired by Yitro’s dedication to Torah and commit ourselves to welcoming in the strangers in our midst. Shabbat shalom!