Setting The Stage

By Rabbi Joshua (directorially known as The Hoffer) Hoffman.

In memory of Yerachmiel Shimon ben Ya’akov Shammai, who passed away recently in New York. May his memory be a blessing.

In the beginning of Parshas Yisro, the Torah informs us that Yisro heard of all that God had done for the Jewish people when he took them out of Egypt, and decided to come and join them. There is a dispute in the Talmud (Zevachim 115) whether Yisro came before or after the Torah was given at Mount Sinai. According to the opinion that he came after the Torah was given, we need to understand why his visit was recorded before that revelation.

The Rashbam explains that the Torah did not want to interrupt the continuity of the mitzvos between the Decalogue and the mitzvos recorded in parshas Mishpatim. Rav Avraham Ibn Ezra, on the other hand, says that the Torah wanted to contrast Yisro’s reaction to the events of the redemption to that of Amaleik, recorded at the end of parshas Beshalach. Both of these explanations are given on the peshat level, explaining the plain sense of the verses, but I believe they can be expanded upon in a manner that renders certain principles essential to the revelation at Mount Sinai.

The Rashbam’s explanation focuses on the mitzvos given at Mount Sinai and recorded in parshas Yisro and parshas Mishpatim. The first mitzvoh recorded, according to the Rambam’s enumeration, is that of belief in God. Others do not count this as a mitzva because it is the foundation of all mitzvos, and without it, mitzvos are not conceivable. The Rambam, in his Laws of the Foundations of the Torah, explains that this mitzvoh can be fulfilled by delving into physics and metaphysics in order to understand the existence of God in a fuller way (see Warren Ze'ev Harvey’s article on the topic in Hazon Nachum). A basic recognition of God, then, is a prerequisite for the possibility of mitzvos, but to fulfill the first mitzvoh, of belief in God, according to the Rambam, one must study physics and metaphysics, or today’s equivalent of those disciplines. Yisro followed a somewhat similar path. He had been a priest of Midyan, and had tried and rejected every form of idolatry until he finally reached the conclusion that God is the true ruler of the universe. In this way, he served as an example for the Jews to build on their basic recognition of God and ponder his existence intellectually until they came to a deeper understanding of Him, to the extent of their ability. This is one message that can be gleaned from the Torah’s reversing of the order of Yisro’s visit and Matan Torah.

According to the Ibn Ezra, the Torah, in recording Yisro’s visit where it does, is focusing on the contrast between Yisro’s reaction to the events of the redemption, to Amaleik’s reaction. Actually, as the Torah tells us in parshas Beshalach, other nations were filled with fear upon hearing about the splitting of the sea and the drowning of the Egyptians. Amaleik, however, as the rabbis tell us, by attacking the Jews, cooled off that reaction of these nations, as someone who jumps into a hot tub of water cools it off for those who follow. Yisro wanted to counter this effect of Amaleik’s reaction, and so, as the Be’er Yosef explains, publicly traveled to the Jewish encampment demonstrating to all the nations his acceptance of God. In this manner, he exercised a great deal of humility, giving up his status as a high priest of Midyan along with all the honor that it involved, and joining the Jewish people. Humility is an essential character trait of the Jewish people, and essential, as the rabbis tell us, to the proper study of Torah. This is indicated, say the rabbis, by the choice of Mount Sinai, the smallest of mountains, as the location for the giving of the Torah. This is also indicated by the choice of Moshe, the most humble of all men, as the one who would teach Torah to the Jewish people. Placing the account of Yisro’s visit before the revelation at Mount Sinai, then, also taught the importance of humility to the acceptance of the Torah.