By Boruch Merkur
When everybody else was busy honoring Yisro by attending the
banquet, where in the world was Moshe?! * If we were talking about your average
person, maybe it is reasonable to say that he was just playing it safe, ducking
out from meeting with his in-laws. But it is hard to say this about Moshe
Rabbeinu.
"And Aharon and all the Elders of Israel came to eat bread
with Moshe’s father-in-law." All the dignitaries of the Jewish nation came out
to attend a great banquet in the honor of Yisro, Moshe Rabbeinu’s father-in-law.
Everyone who was anyone was there - but where in the world was Moshe? Why wasn’t
he enumerated as one of the attendees?
If we were talking about your average person, maybe it is
reasonable to say that he was just playing it safe, ducking out from meeting
with his in-laws. But it is hard to say this about Moshe Rabbeinu, the leader of
the Jewish people. Besides, the Torah has already illustrated how Moshe was
devoted to Yisro, as it is written, "Moshe went and he returned to his
father-in-law [to get permission (to leave Midyan and travel to Egypt) -
Rashi]."
So the question stands: when everybody else was busy honoring
Yisro by attending the banquet, where in the world was Moshe?!
Rashi explains that when it came to honoring his
father-in-law, on the contrary, Moshe Rabbeinu pulled out all the stops, taking
upon himself the role of "standing and waiting upon [Yisro and the other
guests]." Now that’s silver service!
Similarly, in narrating this story, the Torah itself takes
the opportunity to honor Yisro, as it is written: "Yisro, Kohen of Midyan, the
father-in-law of Moshe...came to Moshe, to the desert where he was encamped by
the Mountain of G-d." Not only is Yisro praised here in virtue of being the
father-in-law of Moshe Rabbeinu, leader of the Jewish people, but he is also
praised with greatness in his own right, honored with the title "Kohen Midyan,"
Minister of Midyan; the "foremost among them" (Rashi).
The Torah further commends Yisro by specifying that when he
"came to Moshe," he came "to the desert where he was encamped," teaching us "the
praise of Yisro, for he had been sitting in a position of honor in the world,
yet his heart moved him to go out to the desert, a place of desolation, to hear
words of Torah." (Rashi)
MINISTER OF MIDYAN, PRIEST OF MIDYAN
Wait a second! The term "kohen" also has a second
meaning: It is true that "kohen" means minister, or ruler (as it written,
"You will be to Me as a kingdom of kohanim," and as Rashi interprets, a
kingdom of ministers, or rulers [sarim]), but "kohen" also means
priest.
In fact, concerning Yisro, the title Kohen is not meant in
the holy sense of the word - that is, the Jewish priestly class, who were chosen
by G-d to serve in the Holy Temple - rather, it refers to priesthood in the
ignoble sense of the word. Before he converted, Yisro was a priest of idolatry,
as Rashi writes, "[Yisro] was familiar with every form of idolatry in the world;
there was not a single form of idolatry that he did not worship." So what kind
of praise is it to call Yisro "Priest of Midyan"?!
The Rebbe explains as follows:
The worship of idolatry originated as a flaw in reasoning, an
error in the attempt to fathom the Supernal will, as Rambam writes: "[The
original idolaters reasoned] that since the L-rd created the stars and
constellations to conduct the world...they are, therefore, fit to be praised and
exalted and honored. And this [they falsely concluded] is the will of G-d."
Although it is true that G-dly energy is channeled into the
world through intermediaries, such as the stars and constellations (as the Sages
say, "there is no blade of grass below that does not have a spiritual source [mazal]
Above that strikes it and tells it, ‘grow!’"), nevertheless, it is forbidden to
glorify them, etc. These beings have no freewill of their own. Rather, they are
merely "like the ax in the hand of the ax-wielder," acting according to the will
of the King, King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.
And just as there are intermediaries in the physical world,
so too there are intermediary beings in the spiritual realms, as it written,
"for there is a high one who watches over [another] high one, and there are yet
higher ones over them."
Even with regard to entities in the highest worlds this
prohibition stands; they mustn’t be worshipped, for these lofty beings are still
nothing more than "the ax in the hand of the ax-wielder." In fact, at these
sublime heights, the prohibition is even more pertinent, for relative to the
loftiness of the intermediary beings is the temptation to err in this matter,
G-d forbid, to believe that they wield power in their own right.
The Torah specifies that Yisro was the "Priest of Midyan," an
idolater who was "familiar with every form of idolatry in the world" not
to shame him, but actually to teach us the extent of his intellectual prowess:
Yisro had an encyclopedic knowledge and understanding of all of the lofty
intermediary beings, in all of the worlds, even those at the most sublime
heights. Notwithstanding Yisro’s profound intelligence, which resulted in
establishing a position of greatness and importance among his people, he was
willing to leave everything to convert and accept the one and only G-d.
[Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, vol. 11; pp. 74-5]
Yisro’s conversion was such a great transformation that the
Torah itself was given to the Jewish people as a result of it, as the Zohar
says: "Up until the time that Yisro came and praised the Holy One, blessed be
He, the Torah had not been given to the Jewish people. But when Yisro came and
said, ‘Blessed is G-d who saved [the Jewish people]... Now I know that G-d is
greater than all the gods, etc.,’ this caused the glory of the Holy One, blessed
be He, to be revealed Above and below. And then the Torah was given in its
entirety."
May it be that through our efforts in transforming ourselves
and the world around us, in striving to convert any trace of impurity into an
expression of holiness, that we merit to receive the "Torah chadasha,"
the Torah of Moshiach, who will usher in a time when "the knowledge of G-d will
fill the earth like water covers the ocean bed."