Yisro

“And Yisro the priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moshe heard all that Elokim had done to Moshe and to Yisroel His people, for Hashem had taken Yisroel out of Egypt.” (Shemos, 18:1)

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“And Yisro, the father-in-law of Moshe, and his, (Moshe’s) children and his wife came to Moshe, to the desert, where he had encamped at the mountain of Elokim.” (Shemos, 18:5)

Rashi writes on “And Yisro… heard”, “What did he hear to motivate him to come? The splitting of the sea and the battle with Amalek.”

This explanation of Rashi is based on the Gemoro in Zevochim, 116a: “What did Yisro hear to motivate him to come and convert? Rabbi Yehoshua says, “The battle with Amalek is what he heard that motivated him to come, etc.” Rabbi Elazar Hamodai says, “Matan Torah is what he heard that motivated him to come, (etc)” Rabbi Elazar says, “Krias Yam Suf (the splitting of the sea) is what motivated him to come, etc.”

All three of the Tanaim, quote from verses to support their opinions. (Our focus is on Rashi, therefore I havn’t quoted the whole piece).

We can see from this, that Rashi has combined the reasons of R’ Yehoshua and R’ Elazar, leaving aside the explanation of R’ Elazar Hamodai.

The Maharal writing in his commentary on Rashi, Gur Aryeh, explains that the miracle that motivated Yisro to travel to Moshe could not have been any of the ten plagues because they took place over a period of one year, he could have come several months before he did. In addition, it can’t be that only after hearing of all ten he was motivated to come, because if one was insufficient, two or more of the same magnitude of miracle would also be insufficient, (we’ll come back to this later).

The Maharal explains that Rashi doesn’t quote the opinion of R’ Elazar Hamodai because the parsha of Yisro’s arrival is related before Matan Torah. Thus his opinion is not in line with the simplest meaning of the text, (we try to keep the Torah chronological unless there is need to say that an earlier passage happened after a later one – the principle “there is no earlier and later in the Torah” is not a line of first resort, hence for example Bereishis is accepted as taking place before Shemos), Yisro couldn’t have heard about it because it hadn’t happened yet. (R’ Elazar Hamodai has reasons for moving away from the simplest meaning and invoking “there is no earlier and later in the Torah”, but Rashi focuses on the simplest meaning and explanation in his commentary).

Now we’re left with the splitting of the sea and the battle with Amalek. The battle with Amalek immediately precedes the Parsha of Yisro’s arrival and therefore is the most simple explanation contextually. However, the end of the verse, (18:1), says, “for Hashem had taken Yisroel out of Egypt”, therefore the Krias Yam Suf, the greatest of all the miracles involved in the escape from Egypt, (as Rashi says), must also be included in the reason for Yisro coming.

Therefore we can see from this that Rabbi Elazar Hamodai says that Matan Torah and Krias Yam Suf were what inspired Yisro to come, and Rabbi Yehoshua says that it was the battle with Amalek and Krias Yam Suf.

Krias Yam Suf demonstrated a total control of Hashem over the land – all of the waters in the world split to reveal dry land. During the battle with Amelek the sun stood still, demonstrating a total control of Hashem over the heavens. These were both of greater magnitude than anything which had occurred during the ten plagues. They were all localized and demonstrated control of only one aspect of creation at a time, something which idolaters also attribute to their idols, (if every polytheistic pantheon there is a god of thunder, a god of the seas etc.). Therefore in the Egyptian plagues there was no unarguable proof as to the greatness of Hashem.

However, these two miracles together demonstrated a comprehensive control over the heavens and the earth.

Therefore, Rabbi Elazar holds that the demonstration of total mastery over the earth was sufficient to inspire Yisro to join Klal Yisroel, Rabbi Yehoshua holds that only after an additional demonstration of mastery over the heaves as well was Yisro motivated to do so. (Rabbi Elazar Hamodai holds that Matan Torah, demonstrating mastery over Olam Haba and spirituality was required in addition to convince Yisro).

So, returning to Rashi, he explains that the demonstration of Hashem’s mastery over the heavens and the earth, being the two simplest ways of explaining the verse, (in addition to the most tangible – Yisro could see the land/water and sky, Torah doesn’t have a physical manifestation), together motivated Yisro to come.

We may not see open miracles in our times, but, someone sensitive to spirituality can appreciate many instances of Divine influence in our lives, in the lives of others and in the life of Klal Yisroel as a whole.

The Torah, Nevi’im and Kesuvim tell us of the open miracles that Hashem performed for our fathers.

When Yisro heard of these miracles, he left his land, religion and culture to convert, all the more so, we can leave behind the alien mindsets which we have acquired during the long torment of our exile and strengthen ourselves towards greater faith and trust in Hashem by contemplating both the miracles of the Torah and the miracles we see today.