Shavuah Tov!! Wishing everyone a blessed week
This week we walk with Parashah “Yitro.” “And Yitro, the priest of Midian, the father in law of Moshe, heard all that G-d did for Moshe and to Israel his people.”(Shemot 18:1)
Rashi cites the Talmud (Zevachim 116a): what did Yitro hear that made him come to join the Jewish people? The miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea and the war with Amalek.
What impressed Yitro so much and made him change his ways completely, for he was the number one idol worshipper that there has ever existed. He tried every idol under the sun, eventually making him recognize the ONE and ONLY G-d, was that he was able to see the Divine intervention in the sequence of events following the Exodus from Egypt.
Just as Pharaoh drowned the Jewish baby boys in the Nile at the end H”S drowned him and all his army in the Yam Suf (Red Sea).
Everyone has moments of inspiration, when we are given a gift to see things clearly. The difference between a great person and an ordinary person is that the great person acts upon his inspirations.
Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian asked on this Rashi:we can understand how the miracle of the Red Sea influenced Yitro for it was 100%Mida Keneged Mida (what goes around comes around), but what was so moving about the war with Amalek? The answer lies in that sometimes to be able to appreciate Torah values is to look at those who lack Torah values.Amalek also heard about the miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea. They themselves were in no danger from the Israelites, nevertheless they cruelly tried to wipe them out for no reason. When Yitro heard this he was moved. He realized how one needs H”S in his life for basic values.
Yitro has such a level of awareness that a whole Parashah is named after him and this is not just any Parashah, it’s the Parashah in which the Ten Commandments were given to the Jewish People at Mount Sinai.
www.livealittlehigher.com
