A Stranger in a Foreign Land
Torah is the one stop source for all the knowledge we need. While we can learn valuable lessons from “foreign” sources, the ideal is to get them straight from Torah. PARSHAS YISRO PARSHAS YISRO
A Strange Dialogue Between Moses and Yisro
This week’s parsha relates why Moses named his first born son Gershom. This name is a contraction of two words: ger shom, which means “a stranger there.” Moses said at the birth of his firstborn: “I was a stranger in a foreign land,” alluding to the time he spent in exile, in Midian, where he met his wife Tziporah, the daughter of Yisro.
The Midrash that contains many of the oral traditions that fills in the gaps of the Biblical narrative cites an incredible dialogue between Moses and Yisro that sheds light on the words “foreign land.”
Moses said, ‘Since the entire world worships idols whom shall I serve? The PARSHAS YISRO One whose word created the world.’ For when Moses asked Yisro to give his daughter to marry Tziporah, Yisro insisted that he would do so on the condition that Moses’ first son would be for idolatry and the other children for G-d.
The Midrash concludes that Moses acceded to his request!
This enigmatic Midrash is problematic on many counts:
First, how strange are these cryptic words of the Midrash that suggest that Gershom, Moses’ firstborn, was groomed to be an idolater! And even more bizarre is Moses’ acquiescence to this proposal.
Second, the Midrash introduces this dialogue with Yisro by stating categorically that Moses said he would only worship the one G-d. How does that reconcile with the end of the Midrashic comment that he would agree to raise his firstborn for idol worship?
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Third, if Yisro was so keen about idolatry, why didn’t he make that request of Moses himself?
Fourth, if Yisro wanted his grandchildren to be idolaters, why didn’t he ask for Moses to raise all his children in that tradition?
Relentless Pursuit of Truth
In truth, while Yisro was known for his involvement with various idolatrous religions, which he eventually gave up in favor of Judaism, Yisro was constantly examining each religion for its truth. Yisro eventually came to understand the falseness of all these religions and the truth of Judaism. Yisro came to the truth because he searched for the truth.
Thus Yisro did not want his grandchildren to be idolaters, G-d forbid. And even if he did, Moses would certainly not accept that condition. Yisro rather wanted that one of Moses’ sons should be given the opportunity to search for the truth by first examining other cultures and their beliefs and then, at the end, come to the conclusion that there is PARSHAS YISRO one G-d. In Yisro’s mind, one can much better appreciate truth when it is arrived at after painstaking research. Yisro knew this from his own experience.
One of the reasons Yisro was so named is because of the association of the word Yisro and the statement of King Solomon in Ecclesiastes that there is an “advantage (Yisron) to wisdom over foolishness just as there is an advantage to light over darkness.” Chassidic philosophy explains that he was referring to the advantage to light and wisdom when it comes out of darkness. When a person realizes the truth after having groped through the darkness it is superior to the person whio has always been exposed to the light.
Yisro, true to his name and life’s experience, wanted his first grandchild to similarly achieve a higher form of light and wisdom by first being exposed to darkness and foolishness. approach Yisro only asked for this approach for the first-born knowing that the other children PARSHAS YISRO will be raised in a Jewish milieu and could not be expected to be searchers in other domains. But, the firstborn, who will be born and raised in a foreign country where idolatry thrives, should be exposed to these foreign cultures, Yisro thought. What happened later did not concern him.
A Mistake
According to the Midrash, Moses acceptance of this condition was a mistake. Although Gershom did not become an idolater, a descendent of his did become a priest for idol worship. In the final analysis, Moses’ agreement to Yisro’s condition was not the ideal and it actually planted a seed of idolatry that would materialize in the future.
What emerges from this analysis is that there are two approaches towards discovering truth:
The first is to carefully examine all the different religions, isms and cultures and methodically go through the process of elimination until one reaches the ultimate PARSHAS YISRO realization that there is one G-d and that He transmitted His message to us at Sinai etc.
The second approach is to begin at the end. Spare the children the ordeal of having to struggle with finding the truth. Give the children the luxury of growing up in a pure, stress-free environment where the truth of Judaism is not challenged. Provide our youth with the pride of being Jewish without compelling them to “graze in foreign pastures,” or as Moses put it: “I was a stranger in a foreign land.” This doesn’t mean that a Jew cannot be familiar with the outside world—“foreign land”—it does mean that we should view everything else through the prism of Judaism.
To be sure there are the Yisros of today whose journey to Judaism took them through many winding paths—and more power to them. Yisro is never criticized for his approach of searching for the truth. On the contrary, our Sages tell us that G-d would not give the Torah until Yisro joined the Jewish people. Moreover, Yisro’s suggestion to Moses was accepted by G-d and incorporated PARSHAS YISRO into the very body of the Bible—an honor accorded to no one else. Indeed, the entire section of the Torah that describes the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai—the most important historical event—is named Yisro.
But Yisro—the historical and the modern day ones—were, by Divine Providence, raised in these “foreign lands.” It is to their immense credit that they possessed the intellectual curiosity and integrity to let their search take them wherever it would take them.
But, when we are presented with a challenge how to approach the new generation that grows up in a Jewish environment, the second approach is by far the more desirable one. We ought to provide our youth with a pure Jewish attitude to everything from which all other areas of life will be informed.
In practical terms this means that rather than telling the child what others think and then present the Jewish approach, the child should use the Jewish approach as his/her foundation for all other knowledge and experience.
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Open Your Eyes!
Unfortunately, we are not always in control of the influences that reach us and our youth. We are still in Galus/exile, which is not just a geographic phenomenon, but also a state of alienation from our own culture and identity. We are still in a “foreign land” in more ways than one. Considering where we are, we must not allow the well intentioned Yisros to get us more deeply into exile and its mentality. We must muster all the energy we have to liberate us from our own internal exile—our submission and surrender to the way of thinking of the “foreign land.”
This is what the Messianic Age is all about. At that time we will see and appreciate things in their purist state and see existence from a clear Torah lens without any intrusion of the secular mindset, which fails to see the inner dimension of everything.
Today, as we are still in exile, are challenge is to try to see reality from Torah’s perspective. This is what the Rebbe meant when he said that our mission today is to “open our eyes.”
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Never before have we been so close to getting in touch with reality as we are now. It will take only a small effort to see things clearly since we are on the very cusp of the Messianic Age of Redemption.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Yisro by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
