The Torah records how ‘Yisro, the priest of Midian, Moshe’s father-in-law’ heard about the marvelous events that had transpired with the Jewish nation. It then goes on to describe how ‘Yisro, Moshe’s father-in-law’ decides to bring Moshe’s wife and children from Midian to rejoin them. He presents himself once again as ‘I, your father-in-law, Yisro’ have come to you. Moshe greets him warmly, reviewing in detail all that had taken place. After being inspired by what he heard the Torah depicts how, now merely, ‘Yisro’, rejoices, and according to tradition converts, joining in the destiny of the Jewish people. In the next scenario we are told how, ‘Yisro, Moshe’s father-in-law’, brings offerings for G-d, where Aharon and the elders of Israel break bread with the ‘father-in-law’ of Moshe. From this point on in all his interactions with Moshe he is referred to as simply, ‘Moshe’s father-in-law’.
Seemingly, Yisro, quickly sheds his status as a priest of Midian as soon as he realizes what has occurred. He still retains his identity as ‘Yisro’ but that too seems to wane after he dedicates himself to Aharon and the elders, being subsequently identified in his role as the father-in-law of Moshe.
In life we so often start off with our very ‘name’ seeking to make a reputation for ourselves by the profession we attain. We also define ourselves in the stature we gain through the associations of prominent people we make and ‘rub shoulders’ with.
The wise Yisro quickly ‘gets it’, discarding any notion of relevance in his personal achievement as priest of Midian. He nevertheless seeks to take pride in his stature as the ‘father-in-law’ of royalty, Moshe the leader of the Jewish nation.
Eventually he comes to realize it isn’t about what your skills are, or about whom you know, it is about what you can accomplish on the behalf of others that really defines who you are. Yisro, after offering sage advice to Moshe regarding the administrating of the nation, discovers the privilege he has in playing a vital part in the mosaic of G-d’s masterplan. He is happy to submerge even his very ‘name’ and merely regale in his role as being attached to greatness as just the loyal and devoted father-in-law of Moshe.
The Midrash says that Yisro marveled at how from his initial and generous invitation to invite Moshe into his home after his having saved Yisro’s ‘daughters in distress’, brought about his eventual merit to host the leaders of the nation sixty years later.
This the Midrash states is the fulfillment of the famous verse in Koheles. ‘Cast your bread upon the waters, for you shall find it after many days’. (11:1)
The verse isn’t teaching us that one should calculate on doing acts of kindness in the hopes of one day having it come back to benefit you. That would go against any notion of altruism which is the hallmark of Judaism, the selfless commitment to do what is right simply because it is the right thing to do. Rather it is teaching us that we should act even when it seems as if we are ‘casting our bread upon the water’ without any evident gain. One day we will find validation for what we did, whether in this or the next world, because everything has a purpose and accomplishes in the greater plan even if we may not sense it. We must though believe it.
In Mishlei, King Solomon: When you smite the scorner, the fool will become prudent. (19:25)
The Midrash teaches the scorner is Amalek, and the fool, Yisro. Amalek seeks primacy. He sees a world of human achievement that summons man to gain position and power. In his encounter with obstacles in attaining his goals he becomes cynical, scornful and hateful in frustration. The wise man however realizes that as long as we act purposefully and honestly we have no fear of failure because in the masterplan of G-d if one acts in devotion to one’s fellow man and G-d one will find validation one day sooner or later. It sometimes pays to be the ‘simple one’, the fool who doesn’t necessarily calculate the efficacy of his actions, though knowing we make a difference.
The Holy Baal Shem would often say regarding the verse in Mishlei: ‘The simple believe anything’ (14:15), “Ich bin a naar und ich glayb”; “I am a fool and I believe”!
There are often moments in life when we realize how all is orchestrated from on high and all we can do is act genuinely, devotedly and without getting frustrated when things seem not to work out. As long as we believe with absolute faith, and act faithfully, we are guaranteed to one day be validated for our honest efforts.
On the very first day upon my arrival here in the holy land and while walking back after having prayed Mincha at the Kotel, I had a ‘Yisro moment’.
I had been approached shortly before I left Baltimore by an individual who was looking for assistance in helping to get vital information regarding some family’s Halachic status as Jews. He presented some documentation to see if I knew any of the parties involved. I happened to recognize one of the signatories as someone I had met over twenty years ago in Israel and had not had any contact since. I said I would attempt to locate him and see if he remembered me. As I was walking through the Mamilla mall, lo and behold there was the person I had sought to find falling right into my lap. Not one hundred percent certain it was him, after all I hadn’t seen him in nearly two decades, I called out his name, and indeed it was! He remembered me and we had a warm reunion.
I realized that whatever we do in life, the friends we make, the experiences we encounter, they all fall together sooner or later. Sometimes it may take lifetime or beyond and occasionally we are fortunate to wait only two decades.
That realization encourages us to live life happily sometimes as a ‘simpleton’, with the awareness that being a ‘naar’ can often make us greatly wiser!
With love, greetings from Yerushalayim,
צבי טייכמאן
