From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2006
2:43 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas
Yisro, 5766
All In a Day's Work
By Rabbi Joshua (laboriously known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
Moshe's father-in-law, Yisro, upon hearing of the exodus of the Jewish people
from Egypt, takes his daughter and grandchildren and comes to see his son-in-law
Moshe, who is encamped, with his people, by the 'Mountain of God.' Moshe then
gives him an account of what had occurred, and Yisro praises God, brings some
animal sacrifices and partakes of them in a meal that he shares with Moshe,
Aharon and the elders of the nation. This entire process is seen, by the
midrash, as one of conversion, as elaborated upon by Rabbi Nachman Levine in his
article, The Gentile Priest, The Gentile Prophet : Two Biblical Narratives in
Jewish Thought (volume 4, number 2, 5756). Rabbi Levine, in his article, notes
that there is a dispute in the Talmud whether this episode with Yisro occurred
before the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, or afterwards. Rabbi Levine
suggests that if we assume that it occurred after the giving of the Torah, it is
mentioned before that event as a prelude to the Torah's account of the giving of
the Torah, because the Talmud understands that episode as constituting the
collective conversion of the Jewish people, a process which entailed bris milah,
which was done in Egypt before bringing the Pesach sacrifice, immersion in a
body of water that constitutes a mikvah, and the bringing of a sacrifice. Rabbi
Levine cites various rabbinic sources that prove all these elements were present
in both conversion processes. I would like to expand on his presentation to show
the wider implications of the placement of Yisro's process of conversion in this
parsha, as a prelude to the collective conversion process undertaken by the
Jewish people at Mt. Sinai.
My teacher, Rav Aharon
Soloveichik, zt"l, pointed out an apparent discrepancy in regard to the point in
history at which the status of Jew was first attained. On the one hand, the
Talmud (Kerisos 9a) derives the requirements of conversion from the process that
the Israelites underwent at Mt.Sinai. On the other hand, another passage in the
Talmud (Kiddushin 18a) tells us that Eisav had the status of a 'Yisroel mumar,'
or a Jew addicted to a certain sin, which implies that the concept of Jewish
identity already existed in his time. Rav Aharon explained that, in fact, there
are two kinds of 'kedushas Yisroel,' or two levels of Jewish status, each of
which began at a different point in history. Ramban in parshas Emor says that
from the time that Avrohom entered into the covenant, meaning, from the time he
circumcised himself, the status of Jew was created. Rav Aharon interpreted this
to mean that kedushas Yisroel of the individual was initiated at that point. A
second level of Jewish status, collective kedushas Yisroel, was created through
the collective conversion that was undertaken at Mt. Sinai. Inherent in every
Jew, says Rav Aharon, are both of these levels of kedushas Yisroel. Perhaps,
then, we can explain, simply, that the individual conversion of Yisro was placed
in this week's parsha, which relates the collective process of conversion at Mt.
Sinai, to remind us that there are, in fact, two levels of kedushas Yisroel that
every Jew has within him. I believe, however, that there is a more significant
message being imported by the contiguity of these two conversion
episodes.
The Rambam, in his Commentary to the Mishnah in
Chulin, chapter seven, writes that we observe mitzvos only because of God's
command at Mt. Sinai as transmitted through Moshe. Thus, we do not observe bris
milah because Avrohom did, but because God commanded us through Moshe, at Sinai,
to observe bris milah, as Avrohom did. We need to understand this formulation of
the Rambam. If the sole reason that we observe bris milah is because God
commanded us through Moshe at Sinai to observe it, why is Avrohom's bris milah
mentioned at all? I believe, however, that there is an important message being
conveyed here. Rav Kook writes in his seminal work, Oros, that what
distinguishes a Jew from a non-Jew in terms of religion is the national
character of one's religious commitment. Although other nations have had great
spiritual personalities, their relationship with God was basically a private
matter, unrelated to any connection to a particular people. For a Jew, however,
even one’s personal relationship with God is effected by his relationship with
his people, and must be seen through the prism of the collective of the Jewish
nation. Translating this observation into the terms we have been discussing,
each Jew must view his personal relationship with God, his individual kedushas
Yisroel, through the prism of his collective commitment, his collective kedushas
Yisroel. While every person has his own, personal mission in life to fulfill, he
must understand how that mission figures in the wider picture of the destiny of
the Jewish nation. When the Jewish nation underwent its collective conversion at
Mt. Sinai, this is exactly what happened. The collective dimension of kedushas
Yisroel was intertwined with the individual aspect, creating a unique kind of
religious commitment, merging the individual with the community. Perhaps, then,
this is what the Rambam means when he says that we observe the mitzvah of bris
milah because God, through Moshe, commanded us to do so at Mt. Sinai, as Avrohom
had done.
Based on our understanding of the interplay of the
two instances of conversion in our parsha, we can explain another incident
concerning Yisro and Moshe, recorded by the Torah after its account of Yisro's
conversion. This incident, the Talmud tells us, occurred after the giving of the
Torah, even according to the opinion that the first incident with Yisro
mentioned in the parsha occurred before the giving of the Torah. The Torah
here tells us that Yisro observed Moshe judging the people from morning until
evening, entirely by himself. Yisro rebuked Moshe and said, "This thing you do
is not good. You will surely weary - you, as well as this people that is with
you." (Shemos 18:17-18). He then goes on to advise Moshe to set up a system of
courts that will try some of the cases that arise. Ostensibly, one might think
that Yisro was simply worried about the huge work load that Moshe took upon
himself, and that, in the end, he would not be able to handle it, and thereby
disappoint the people who were seeking litigation, as well. Rav Dovid Feinstein,
however, points out, in his Kol Dodi on the Torah, that Yisro was primarily
interested in the honor of the people. This is apparent from the fact that he
did not say, 'What are you doing to yourself?' but, rather, 'What are you doing
to the people?' He was telling Moshe that if he took all of the work of judging
solely upon himself, he would not give others a chance to develop their own
skills at judging, and thereby realize their potential, or, in the terms we have
been using, his own mission in life. This mission was important in terms of the
wider destiny of the people, as well, because there was a need to inculcate the
notion that the people would ultimately be responsible, after Moshe's passing,
to keep the tradition of Torah teaching and living alive. Yisro himself made his
own contribution to the nation in this respect by advising Moshe to set up a
court system, and this advice was incorporated in the Torah. In this way, Yisro,
himself, merged his own individual kedushas Yisroel with that of the nation, and
taught others to do so, as well.
Please address all
correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address -
JoshHoff @ AOL.com.
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