Boulder Aish Kodesh

Yitro emerges onto the scene like fresh water, offering a fresh perspective on the situation of the Jewish people. As someone who stands outside the drama, he is able to recognize the value and depth of their experiences until that moment – he sees with amazement the parting of the sea, the man, the well, the defeat of Egypt, the defeat of Amalek, the giving of the Torah, etc. In fact, says the Midrash Mechilta, Yitro was the first person ever to say ‘baruch Hashem’ – and the Midrash adds that this speaks quite badly of the Jewish people who experienced all of these things first hand, but were unable to separate out their personal dramas enough to recognize the gifts Hashem had given them. Point taken.

In speaking of liberation from ‘the hand of Egypt and the hand of Pharaoh’, the Midrash repeats for us the verse that speaks of Pharaoh as ‘the great crocodile who sits in his river, and who says ‘my river is mine, and I made myself.’ Liberation from Egypt is more than geography – it is the liberation from the mindset of Pharaoh, from being closed off and self made and self-sufficient.

Perhaps we do not realize how substantial Yitro’s shift has been. He moves from a position of power, of being a high priest, to humbly joining the camp of his son-in-law. His enthusiasm calls into question our own ability to be permeable, to be open to new things, to be capable of admitting when we are wrong, and to humbly moving into the camp of a teacher.

He also challenges us to look at our lives, as individuals and as a nation, and to notice how blessed we are. He challenges us to say ‘Baruch Hashem’, and to leave out the buts, the caveats, the exceptions, and the complaints.

We might ascribe some supernatural ability to Yitro – he is obviously gifted in his ability to move across so many lines in order to find the truth. But the truth is, the Midrash acknowledges his ambiguities as well. On the verse ‘and Yitro was joyous’, Rashi bring the Midrash that writes on the word vayichad that it actually means two things – ‘he was joyous’ and ‘he pricked himself’. As the Midrash writes, Yitro inflicted pain on himself out of sorrow for the loss of Egypt. After all, Egypt was the greatest power at that time, and Yitro surely vested great admiration in Egypt’s power. When it fell, it was the fall of an icon for him, something he felt was absolutely powerful collapsed. This can bring about a real crisis.

The Malbim finds a bridge between his dismay over the fall of Egypt and his joy at the rising star of the Jewish people. He writes that chedvah, the root of the word vayichad, is not just any kind of joy. It is the state where ‘inner, spiritual joy overcomes external sadness.’ Meaning, a person could be feeling real pain, but can overcome that pain with a deep inner joy. This is chedvah.

Implicit in Yitro’s joy/pain is a full ability to feel pain, and to overcome it. Whereas Pharaoh moves linearly through his feelings, giving them absolute power in a meaningless world, Yitro is able to feel them but subjugate them to a more urgent reality in a world that only gets more meaningful.