Parashat Yitro

This week’s parashah, the pinnacle moment for our Peoplehood — the revelation of God and the giving of the Torah at Sinai — is named for a gentile, Yitro. Shouldn’t Moshe Rabbeinu, who climbed the mountain and received the Law, be awarded this place of pride? Who is Yitro, and what is it about him that merits such honor? Let’s take a closer look. A productive approach, as practiced in our Tanakh classes, is to uncover the peshat meaning of the text by applying a literary device to uncover meaning. Our parashah opens with the words, “Vayishma Yitro” — “Yitro heard” (Exodus 18:1). The reader might instantaneously conclude that Yitro heard about the Israelite victory against the cruel surprise attack of the Amalekites recounted at the very end of the last parashah, Beshalach. However, we are surprised that the subject of Yitro’s hearing was an earlier victory — “how the LORD had brought Israel out from Egypt” (18:1). Applying the technique of semichut parshiot — the juxtaposition of texts — we recognize that the Torah means to contrast Amalek with Yitro, a righteous gentile, who accords respect to God and Israel. This alone may be reason enough to honor him as an example for all time that there are non-Jews who would not hate, but rather, embrace us. 

A further literary approach would draw upon previous mentions of Yitro to understand his character. The text introduces him in the second chapter of Exodus not by name but by a kinui — an epithet: “Kohen Midian,” the Priest of Midian, alerting us to his exalted stature in the religion of the Midianites. But rather than peg him as an idolator, Yitro, who has many names in the Torah, is first identified as Reuel, which means “friend of God,” alerting us that this foreign leader is to be differentiated from Pharaoh, the antagonist of the Exodus narrative. We soon learn that Yitro had seven daughters who came to draw water for their father’s flock. Moshe, who at the time was on the run from Pharaoh, arrives at the Midianite well in time to defend the women from the aggressions of male shepherds. When his daughters return with the animals much sooner than expected (they were apparently delayed by these men daily), Yitro learns about an ish — a man — who rescued them from the shepherds. “Where is he then?” Yitro asks. “Why did you leave the man? Ask him in to break bread” (Exodus 2:20). Moshe consents to eat with the ish — the man — and gains the hand of one of the ish’s daughters in marriage. Here, the epithet ish, applied to both men, may be interpreted to mean they each recognized a man — a mensch — in the other; the Torah communicates their equivalence in character with an epithet common to both. 

Good character alone merits a parashah, but there’s more. After the war with Amalek, the Israelites encamp at “the mountain of God,” soon to receive the Torah. Yitro visits the Israelite camp and witnesses the lone role Moshe has in settling disputes among the Israelites. “You cannot do this alone,” Yitro cautions, “you will wear yourself out.” It is Yitro who advises Moshe to establish a court system and appoint other men of good character to share the job. This advice alone merits the naming of the parashah for Yitro, who establishes the system by which the soon-to-be-received laws of Torah could be adjudicated!

While we may rest our case for naming the parashah for Yitro on the literary approach alone (juxtaposition, the use of epithets, and characterization), a derash on the text yields the reason most satisfying for our current moment. When Yitro hears all about the wonders and miracles God performed in freeing the Israelites from the tyranny of Egypt, the text describes his reaction with an unusual word, “vayechad.” Most often translated as “he rejoiced,” based on the verb root hdh, to rejoice — Yitro took joy in God’s goodness to the Israelites. While Rashi agrees that the literal meaning here is “rejoice,” the usage is unusual enough for Rashi to encourage the reader to riff on the word midrashically. The similar-sounding root hdd, meaning “to sharpen” or “to be keen” describes Yitro’s acuity in his advice to Moshe. However, the best riff of all comes from Rabbeinu Bahya, the medieval Spanish commentator, who says that we may hear the word echad — unity — as intimately related to vayechad. Yitro is the one who rejoices in the success of others, the sharp one who promotes the success of others, but most extraordinarily, he is the one who promotes unity among people and nations — and unifies within himself the qualities of good leadership: operational knowhow with menschlichkeit. Our parashah is well-named. The moment for Yitro is now.

Shabbat Shalom