Pursuit of Truth
There are few who seek absolute truth. There are fewer who will be prepared to give up everything they stood for when the reality of absolute truth hits them. That was Yisro. When he arrived, G-d gave us the Torah; the embodiment of absolute objective truth. PARSHAS YISRO PARSHAS YISRO
Who was Yisro?
Yisro, Moses’ father-in-law was Judaism’s first convert. While it is true, as our sages tell us, that all Jews were converted at Mount Sinai when they received the Torah, yet Yisro was the first person who left his family, nation and religion to become part of the Jewish people.
The greatest tribute that can be given to him is that the Torah portion that contains the single most important event - the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai - is named after him - Yisro. Yisro was also credited by the Torah as having counseled Moses how to judge the Jewish people. The A-mighty Himself agreed with him. And even before he made his contributions to the judicial system, PARSHAS YISRO the Torah relates how Moses and all the other Jewish people went out to greet him. No such honors were ever accorded to any other individual.
And this is where the question arises. Who was Yisro? What did he do before coming to join the Jewish people? And why was he accorded so much honor?
Midianite Priest
The answer to this question is provided for in the Torah’s description of Yisro as the “priest of Midyan.” In other words, as our sages point out, he was the leading idolater in the land of Midyan.
Rashi further observes, that when Yisro said that he recognized that G-d was greater than all other g-ds, he meant to say that he actually worshipped every deity. He was not only an ordinary idol-worshipper; he worshipped and was a priest for every idol, until he came to the recognition that there was only one G-d, the G-d of Israel.
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Profound Philosopher
Chassidic thought adds a deeper dimension to the fact that Yisro worshipped and then abandoned all the idols of the world. Yisro was a profound philosopher, who probed all the different aspects of theology and philosophy. When he worshipped an idol, he was not simply bestowing divinity on a statue of wood or stone. Rather he looked at the icons as representations of the natural and spiritual forces within the universe.
In his pursuit of the truth, however, unlike other philosophers and idolaters, he did not stop at a point where he was impressed with the power and depth of the spiritual force. He came to the realization that there must be an even more sublime source of the spiritual force with which he was already impressed to the point of worshipping it.
When he came to the realization that there is something higher, he dropped the previous deity and started to worship the more exalted force. He continued in his quest for truth, until he recognized that there is one absolute PARSHAS YISRO G-d, who is responsible for all the other forces in the world. He also realized that these forces have no power of their own; they are only G-d’s instruments and they should not be worshipped.
Most people, when they find something that impresses, inspires and commands their allegiance, are not capable of looking beyond that which they discovered in the pursuit of truth. People rarely care about absolute truth. They are fine with relative truth, which is not truth at all.
No Compromising Truth!
Yisro, was different. Notwithstanding the deep awareness and appreciation he had for his spiritual attainments, with all the attendant physical rewards and honors, Yisro was able to abandon his former level because he knew that the truth resided elsewhere.
There are some people who might be prepared to swallow their pride in the pursuit of truth. But, rarely, if ever, did we find a person who was prepared to do it PARSHAS YISRO repeatedly, rejecting all one’s life’s beliefs and ideals, because of the truth.. His passion for the truth was unparalleled.
Furthermore, when someone has the true belief in one G-d because that was the belief he was introduced to, it cannot compare with the level of light and enlightenment that one discovers when one finds the light after being in the dark.
Yisro thus epitomizes the incredible increase (indeed, “increase” is one of the translations of the name Yisro) of light that is generated when it comes out of the darkness.
Naming Rights
We can now understand why Yisro was given the distinct honor of having the Torah portion containing the narrative of the Ten Commandments, named after him. Yisro’s pursuit of truth and his ability to discover the light going through all the different levels of darkness represents the greatest ideal of Torah.
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The lesson for our times is clear. Our existence in exile that is likened to darkness and is punctuated with inconsistencies, will lead imminently to the redemption that is likened to light and ultimate truth. Had we not been exposed to the darkness we would not have the ability to reach the highest level of G-dly light was its brightest when G-d gave the Torah at Sinai after Yisro arrived and declared, “Now I know that G-d is greater than all the g-d’s.”
Light After Exile
If the light that followed Yisro’s arrival was so powerful, we have to imagine how bright the light will be in the Messianic Age that followed nearly 2,00 of dismal exile darkness!
Our generation can be labeled the Yisro generation because of the light that we have seen coming out of the darkness of exile.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Yisro by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
