Transcript
Okay, good morning. We have the privilege this morning of studying פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro together. A phenomenal פרשה parsha, as every פרשה parsha in the תורה Torah is, significant, of course, because the עשרת הדברות Aseres HaDibros, the Decalogue, the giving of the תורה Torah itself. So let's do as we always do, brief overview of the פרשה parsha and then we'll delve into some specific פסוקים psukim that I want to look at together. Our פרשה parsha begins somewhat out of order. There's a big question we know, we spoken about often, about the debate whether the תורה Torah is written chronologically or thematically, the תורה Torah written in historical order, or is the תורה Torah written in a way to communicate or to convey certain themes. So here is a perfect, perfect example of it. Because the תורה Torah here describes יתרו Yisro's arriving and joining the Jewish people. And it says right afterwards that he gives this advice to משה Mosha and it's ויהי ממחרת va'yihi mi'macharas. And רש\"י Rashi says ממחרת הר סיני mi'macharas Har Sinai, משה Mosha coming down from הר סיני Har Sinai, but yet we've not yet encountered הר סיני Har Sinai. So it seems the section, at least according to רש\"י Rashi, is written out of chronological order. So יתרו Yisro comes, וישמע va'yishma, he hears. I think I've shared with you before, יתרו Yisro is the paradigmatic listener. He is a phenomenal listener, he teaches us the art, the skill of listening. In particular, he teaches his son-in-law the skill of listening, which is unfortunately a increasingly lost one. So יתרו Yisro is a listener. He listens. Everyone else hears what happened to the Jewish people, ten plagues, splitting of the sea, and the war with עמלק Amalek, the defeat of עמלק Amalek. Everyone else hears, it goes one year in one ear and out the other. יתרו Yisro hears and he is moved. He's moved to action. As רש\"י Rashi quotes מה שמועה שמע ובא ma shmua shama u'va? What did יתרו Yisro hear, ובא u'va? The key word in that question is not מה שמועה שמע ma shmua shama, what did he hear, but מה שמועה שמע ובא ma shmua shama u'va, what did he hear that moved him to action? A lot of people hear a lot of things all the time. The to listen in a way that translates into action, into a call for action, that's a different side type of, that's a different type of listening. So יתרו Yisro hears. I think we discussed last year or two years ago, what does it mean מלחמת עמלק milchemes Amalek? The גמרא Gemara here is quoting, the רש\"י Rashi here is quoting the גמרא Gemara in זבחים Zvachim. The גמרא Gemara in זבחים Zvachim records the debate, what is it that moved יתרו Yisro? Was יתרו Yisro moved by hearing about splitting of the sea? Was יתרו Yisro moved by hearing about the תורה Torah? What was he hear? Or one possibility is עמלק Amalek. So we asked last year or two years ago, what do you mean? The war with עמלק Amalek? Big deal. Throughout human history there have been wars. So big deal the Jewish people defeated עמלק Amalek. So if you notice, the Jewish people did not defeat עמלק Amalek. At the end of last week's פרשה parsha, the war never ended. And the תורה Torah records there was no triumph, there was no victory. Jewish people did not defeat עמלק Amalek. Which makes the question all the more compelling. Why was יתרו Yisro so inspired, so moved, so motivated by a war with עמלק Amalek when the Jewish people were not even victorious, when we weren't even triumphant. So last year we developed the idea that when the epitome of evil, of wickedness, identifies and targets an enemy, that can sometimes reveal that the enemy is the epitome of good. Right, today in our time, the fact that America is the great Satan and Israel is the little Satan from Islamic fundamentalists and from our generation's wicked, evil עמלק Amalek, I think reflects well on America and Israel and their values. If a wicked nation identifies and targets a particular people, one can see that as a positive reflection of that targeted people, because why would evil target them if they didn't feel threatened by the values, the good values that they represent. So maybe יתרו Yisro was moved. Here you have עמלק Amalek, notoriously nefarious, wicked, evil people. And who does עמלק Amalek feel threatened by and who do they want to eliminate? This fledgling adolescent nation, this new group, the Jews, there must be something special about the Jews for me to go check out. So יתרו Yisro, so יתרו Yisro comes. What's lost from the conversation is that maybe יתרו Yisro came because he's משה Mosha's father-in-law. In other words, he's not a complete stranger from the Jewish people and the Jewish experience. He's not a complete, it's not something entirely new to him. But that's a conversation, a question for another time. So יתרו Yisro arrives. We're going to delve into these פסוקים psukim that he brings משה Mosha's wife, צפורה Tzipora, and משה Mosha's two sons, גרשום Gershom and אליעזר Eliezer, and brings them back. Where were they, רש\"י Rashi's bothered by? What do you mean יתרו Yisro brings them? Where were they? So משה Mosha had begun to bring them back down to Egypt when he was returning from מדין Midyan to which אהרן Aaron replied, do we not have enough people suffering in Egypt that you're bringing us more? What are you crazy? You're going to bring them into the heart of where you're trying to liberate us from? Leave them, send them back. Which משה Mosha listen, listened to, and so only now יתרו Yisro is bringing משה Mosha's wife צפורה Tzipora and גרשום Gershom and אליעזר Eliezer. We'll go back to these פסוקים psukim. יתרו Yisro rejoices, ויחד יתרו על כל הטובה vayichad Yisro al kol hatova. ויחד Vayichad is לשון חדוה lashon chedvah. חדוה Chedvah, שמחה simcha, joy. Or רש\"י Rashi quotes חידודין chidudin. He got goosebumps. חד Chad means sharp. He got goosebumps. He was so excited, he was so overjoyed of all that God did for the Jewish people, אשר הצילם מיד מצרים asher hitzilam miyad Mitzrayim, that we were saved from Egypt, which is significant as well, we'll see. Out of nowhere, it doesn't take יתרו Yisro long, after all he is a father-in-law, to give unsolicited advice to his son-in-law. And he tells משה Mosha, there's no way that you can maintain this schedule. There's no way that you'll be able to take care of all the needs of the Jewish people single-handedly. You're hearing all their problems, you're adjudicating all their disputes. It's impossible. You need to come up with a hierarchy. You need to delegate, to learn the delegate. And יתרו Yisro suggests a list of requirements of the candidates to whom you should delegate. And what is it? They should be אנשי חיל anshei chayil, men of valor, יראי אלקים yirei Elokim, God-fearing, אנשי אמת anshei emes, they should be truthful, have integrity, שונאי בצע sonei batza, hate, hate money, because you don't want them to be vulnerable, susceptible to bribes. And delegate to them. And in fact, what happens? משה Mosha listens. משה Mosha listens. Next thing you know, we have the arriving at in the מדבר סיני Midbar Sinai, God makes the proposal, they're preparing for the תורה Torah, the days of separation where they're purifying themselves and elevating themselves in anticipation of receiving the תורה Torah. We have the description of the day of revelation itself, the sounds and the sights and how incredible it was. We have the giving of the תורה Torah, the ten commandments, עשרת הדברות Aseres HaDibros, or what the תורה Torah describes as actually the עשרת הדברים aseres hadvarim, and so on. I've shared before, I think that perhaps the reason, because whenever the תורה Torah is taken out of chronological order, even if you assume it's to be written thematically, you have to ask yourself, why? What's the message? What's the lesson? Why not follow the chronological order? If you deviate from the chronological order, it must be to communicate something. So if יתרו Yisro in truth arrived after קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah, after the Jews received the תורה Torah, what was to be learned from cutting and pasting, editing, and placing his arrival before they received the תורה Torah? And I'd like to humbly suggest to you this morning that perhaps what there is to be learned is the concept of listening. וישמע יתרו Vayishma Yisro, the opening words of our פרשה parsha. יתרו Yisro is a listener. He has the capacity to not only listen, but to hear. He has the capacity to shut down his output and to allow only for input and to register what is happening around him. Perhaps that's the advice he gives משה Mosha. משה Mosha, if you're sitting and there's a million people in a line to talk to you, you're not listening to any of them. If you need give three minutes to each person, you're just trying to solve their problem, boom, boom, boom, move on, there's no way you can be a listener. Listening requires peacefulness, serenity. Listening requires presence. It requires mindfulness. Listening requires not being frazzled and fragmented and divided between a million worries and tasks that you have to do. משה Mosha, you can't really be listening. And so יתרו Yisro successfully communicates to משה Mosha the importance and the need to listen. And what does משה Mosha do in turn? If you look, משה Mosha in turn communicates that to the people. And he tells them, it's in פרק י\"ט perek yud tes, chapter 19, verse five, we're not going to study this, but ועתה אם שמוע תשמעו בקולי ושמרתם את בריתי והייתם לי סגולה מכל העמים כי לי כל הארץ ve'ata im shamoa tishme'u be'koli u'shmartem es brisi, v'heyisem li sgula mikol ha'amim ki li kol ha'aretz. אם שמוע תשמעו Im shamoa tishme'u. משה Mosha now brings that lesson to the people. If you learn how to listen. Whenever we find that language all the time, the second paragraph of שמע Shma, והיה אם שמוע תשמעו v'haya im shamoa tishme'u. What is אם שמוע תשמעו im shamoa tishme'u? Why the double language? אם שמוע Im shamoa, if you listen. So what do מפרשים meforshim say? No, אם שמוע im shamoa, if you have the real skill of listening, then תשמעו tishme'u, then you'll hear the message. אם שמוע Im shamoa, but only if you're really listening, תשמעו tishme'u, are you going to hear. Listening doesn't just mean I'm quiet while you talk. I might be thinking about what I'm going to reply. I might be thinking about why you're wrong. I might be thinking about did I leave the the stove on. I might be thinking about a million and one other things. I'm not actively listening. That's passive listening. והיה אם שמוע תשמעו Ve'haya im shamoa tishme'u is if you're actively listening, תשמעו tishme'u, then you will hear. Only then will you hear. If you look at the מ\"ח mem ches, the משנה Mishna in פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos says 48 ways that the תורה Torah is received, 48 ways of wisdom. So one of the מ\"ח mem ches, one of the 48 ways the תורה Torah is received is the כח השמיעה koach hashmi'a, the capacity to listen. So perhaps that's why the תורה Torah takes it out of order and places the arrival of יתרו Yisro before קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah, to remind us that if we are to receive the תורה Torah daily, if we are to receive the message of the תורה Torah, then we need to hone our skill of listening. We have to be active listeners. We have to listen to what the תורה Torah is telling us, not superimpose what we believe and what we want to tell to the תורה Torah. We need to listen to the תורה Torah, not ask the תורה Torah to listen to us. So יתרו Yisro arrives, why? וישמע יתרו Vayishma Yisro, because he's a good listener. And what's the first thing he notice? משה Mosha's not listening well. So he says to him, משה Mosha, you need to delegate. You need to offload some of the responsibility so that you can be a good listener. משה Mosha says, you're right. Then משה Mosha turns to the people and says, now we're ready for the תורה Torah, but only first, what's the prerequisite? אם שמוע תשמעו Im shamoa tishme'u, if you become a nation of good listeners. So I would say the theme of פרשת יתרו Parshas Yisro is the skill of listening. There's a lot more to be said. We could talk for hours about what is active listening versus passive listening, what are the challenges or obstacles to being a good listener, what are the benefits and results of being a good listener, how and why to be a good listener, but we don't have the time. What I want to do is go into some פסוקים psukim. And I gave you a handout today. If you're listening online, the handout should be available at the link where you're listening as well. And I want to go through the פסוקים psukim, פרק י\"ח perek yud ches, chapter 18, verse two. Chapter 18, actually from the beginning of the פרשה parsha. Let's read the פסוקים psukim from the very beginning of the פרשה parsha. וישמע יתרו כהן מדין Vayishma Yisro kohen Midyan, it's in the handout I gave you or you could look in the חומש Chumash itself. וישמע יתרו כהן מדין חותן משה את כל אשר עשה אלקים למשה ולישראל עמו Vayishma Yisro kohen Midyan chosain Mosha eis kol asher asa Elokim le'Mosha u'le'Yisrael amo. יתרו Yisro, the priest of מדין Midyan, the father-in-law of משה Mosha, heard all that God did for משה Mosha, ולישראל עמו u'le'Yisrael amo. רש\"י Rashi already points out, what do you mean משה ולישראל עמו Mosha u'le'Yisrael amo? Well, isn't משה Mosha included in ישראל עמו Yisrael amo? So what does רש\"י Rashi answer? שקול משה כנגד כל ישראל Sh'kol Mosha k'neged kol Yisrael. The fact that the תורה Torah pulls out משה Mosha from the greater, broader כל ישראל עמו kol Yisrael amo, teaches משה Mosha is equal to the entire Jewish people. That's the greatness of משה Mosha. The תורה Torah seeks to communicate in a nuanced way the greatness of משה Mosha. So יתרו Yisro heard all that God did for משה Mosha and the Jewish people, כי הוציא ה' את ישראל ממצרים ki hotzi Hashem es Yisrael mi'Mitzrayim, that God took us out of Egypt. ויקח יתרו חותן משה Vayikach Yisro chosein Mosha, and who did יתרו Yisro bring with him? צפורה Tzipora, משה Mosha's wife, אשת משה eishes Mosha, אחר שילוחיה achar shiluheha, after she was sent away. Now, immediately you could recoil, sent away. That's reminiscent of what's going to happen later, when משה Mosha withdraws from her because he thinks that he's holy in order to have access to God and to prophecy, he has to separate. And who speaks ill about him because of it? מרים Miriam. If you recall, and מרים Miriam and that's the whole, she struck with leprosy, and outside the camp, and so on and so forth. So, but that's not what it means here. As I shared with you earlier, רש\"י Rashi tells us what it means here, שילוחיה shiluheha, not in an exiling way, but שילוחיה shiluheha in a protective way. משה Mosha was trying to protect her. Said, you know what, go back to מדין Midyan, go back to your father's home where it's safe. I've got business to take care of in מצרים Mitzrayim, but it's no place for a nice Jewish girl and her two boys. So now, was she Jewish? Well, she was as Jewish as משה Mosha was. Yeah, that's true, because there was no, there was no, when did we become Jewish? I've shared this with you before also. The whole question of when did we become Jewish. I'll tell you a little secret. People don't like to think of it this way. The ספר פרשת דרכים Sefer Parshas Drachim says, אברהם יצחק ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov were not Jewish. They were Hebrews, they were עברים Ivrim, but they were not Jewish. Well, what does it mean to be Jewish? And how could you suggest that אברהם יצחק ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov were not Jewish? The answer is what it means to be Jewish is what's called קדושת ישראל Kedushas Yisrael. And קדושת ישראל Kedushas Yisrael, the sanctity of a Jew, is the result of one thing and one thing only. We actually, we discussed this in the people of the book two weeks ago, the כוזרי Kuzari. Tonight I'm teaching the people of the book, the תניא Tanya. And the בעל התניא Baal HaTanya and the כוזרי Kuzari actually have this in common to the exception of many or almost all others, including the רמב\"ם Rambam, they see the Jew as being intrinsically superior to the soul of a non-Jew, the כוזרי Kuzari and the תניא Tanya. But that's, leave that aside for a moment, because that's a difficult and a longer discussion. But we believe that the Jew is not intrinsically, inherently superior in any sense, intellectually, certainly not athletically, or any other. What does it mean, what way is a Jew distinguished or distinct from a non-Jew? Where does the קדושת ישראל Kedushas Yisrael, the sanctity of the Jewish soul emanate from? From one place and one place only. And that is, being obligated in מצוות mitzvos. God saying, I'm charging you with this mission, I'm giving you this mandate, I'm obligating you in this lifestyle, is what distinguishes us. Nothing intrinsic or inherent, but it's God superimposing the obligation of מצוות mitzvos. This is perhaps how you could understand כל ישראל יש להם חלק לעולם הבא Kol Yisrael yesh lahem chelek le'olam haba, the concept that every Jew has a portion in the world to come, no matter what. Even if you're, the מהר\"ל Maharal talks about this, a baby dies a day after they're born, they haven't done anything. By what merit do they have to have a portion in the world to come? What does it mean? מהר\"ל Maharal says, because just being obligated in מצוות mitzvos elevates you. Even before you have fulfilled any one of them, just the obligation itself. You know, at work, if the boss calls you in and distinguishes you and says, I have an important project for you to work on, I want you to head this division. Before you ever did one thing, you've already received this elevated status. So when the boss says, I have 613 things for you, I want you to teach the world, that elevated status is there even before the fulfillment of one thing. That's what it means, says the מהר\"ל Maharal, רצה הקדוש ברוך הוא לזכות את ישראל לפיכך הרבה להם תורה ומצוות rotza Hakadosh Baruch Hu lezakkos es Yisrael, lefichach hirba lahem Torah u'mitzvos. God wanted to create a זכות zchus for the Jewish people, so therefore he increased the תורה Torah and the מצוות mitzvos we have. We might argue, what do you mean he increased? That's, that's a good thing for us? Take some מצוות mitzvos away, they're burdensome, they're restrictive, they're constrictive, they're impeding on our lifestyles. Take a few away. What does it mean? How is this a great זכות zchus? So the רמב\"ן Ramban, the רמב\"ם Rambam, the מהר\"ל Maharal, they all weigh in. Some suggest, you know how it was a great זכות zchus? There is an, this is the origin of what, when I was younger, they used to have in the inner city, midnight basketball leagues. What were midnight basketball leagues? Basically, if you had people who had a propensity for crime, and you create a midnight basketball league that keeps everybody busy till the sun comes up, then you're going to eliminate crime, you're going to eliminate the temptation for crime because you don't have the time to get into trouble, you're enjoying basketball, the midnight basketball league. So רמב\"ם Rambam says midnight basketball, not רמב\"ם Rambam, the רמב\"ן Ramban says the midnight basketball league, that's תורה ומצוות Torah and mitzvos for the Jew. You're so busy running around doing מצוות mitzvos, who has time to sin? You got שחרית מנחה וערבית Shacharis, Mincha, and Maariv. You got to make sure your food has a הכשר hechsher, that it's כשר kosher. You got to learn the פרשה parsha, you got to do שנים מקרא ואחד תרגום shnayim mikra v'echad targum. You got, you got to take the לולב lulav, you got to hear the שופר shofar, you got to get the חנוכה Chanukah. It's time for פסח Pesach, it's almost time for פורים Purim. Who has time to sin? So לפיכך הרבה להם תורה ומצוות lefichach hirba lahem Torah u'mitzvos, God wanted to be לזכות את ישראל mezake es Yisrael, so he gave us תורה ומצוות Torah u'mitzvos. But the מהר\"ל Maharal gives a different answer. The מהר\"ל Maharal says, no. You know what the, the זכות zchus is, the זכות zchus of being הרבה תורה ומצוות hirba Torah u'mitzvos is, just the mandate, the mission, the obligation, the charge to to fulfill מצוות mitzvos elevates you even before you've kept one. How in the world did I get on this? Oh, so אברהם יצחק ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. So אברהם יצחק ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, were they Jewish? Says the פרשת דרכים Parshas Drachim, so if when did the Jewish people, when were they born? When began the concept of a Jew? קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah. Only at הר סיני Har Sinai. From הר סיני Har Sinai on, there was a concept of קדושת ישראל Kedushas Yisrael. Only from הר סיני Har Sinai on do we have a concept of the sanctity of a Jew, of a soul. אברהם יצחק ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov are our progenitors. They are our forefathers, our patriarchs and matriarchs. They were Hebrews, they were עברים Ivrim, that's to be an עברי Ivri means to live מעבר mei'ever, they were on the other side of the world in terms of their value system. And they volunteered תורה ומצוות Torah and mitzvos. We have a tradition they volunteered, including even עירוב תבשילין Eruv Tavshilin. They volunteered תורה ומצוות Torah and mitzvos, but they weren't obligated. So says the פרשת דרכים Parshas Drachim, קדושת ישראל Kedushas Yisrael, a Jew begins only הר סיני Har Sinai and on. אברהם יצחק ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov were not Jewish. So at this time, משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu is not Jewish, so to say. Actually, this is exactly what we're going to talk about right now, that there was a mass conversion that took place at הר סיני Har Sinai. That was the transformation to becoming a Jew. So at this time, משה Mosha is not Jewish, צפורה Tzipora is not Jewish. What is a Jew? What does it mean to be a Jew? Yes. I think I asked that who has not been before and I don't remember the answer. If we're assuming that יתרו Yisro came after מתן תורה Matan Torah, Right. that therefore means that צפורה Tzipora was not at הר סיני Har Sinai. Oh, you did ask that last year. And I don't remember the answer. I don't remember. So how do you how does it? You probably don't remember because I probably didn't give you a good one. Yeah. If יתרו Yisro really came after מתן תורה Matan Torah, that suggests that צפורה Tzipora wasn't there. Then she's not Jewish either, because she wasn't, it was the time of מתן תורה Matan Torah, but she wasn't there. Well, but so I'll tell you what I answer. Because there there is actually a discussion about this. And there's a discussion about how it haunted גרשום ואליעזר Gershom and Eliezer. A fascinating topic to research, which I haven't done yet, but and to give another time is to trace to to study גרשום ואליעזר Gershom and Eliezer's personalities. I mean, you talk about the ultimate children of rabbis. They are the ultimate rabbi's children. And if you look, it's actually very sad. There's a there's a beautiful, I think it's a משך חכמה Meshech Chochma about אהרן Aaron not wanting to go into leadership because he sees what happens to משה Mosha's children. And the משך חכמה Meshech Chochma says, it doesn't have to happen, because משה Mosha's children are no names. משה Mosha's children become anonymous on the landscape of Jewish history. And you think about, and we've had this a number of times. עלי Eli's sons versus שמואל Shmuel. You see this, you see this a number of times. So it's it's worthwhile study, who were גרשום ואליעזר Gershom and Eliezer? Whatever happened to them? Were they haunted maybe by not being at הר סיני Har Sinai? But the question doesn't bother me for the following reason, you didn't have to be at הר סיני Har Sinai geographically in order to become obligated in תורה ומצוות Torah and mitzvos. If you were alive when as as of when תורה Torah was mandated, then you become part of קדושת ישראל Kedushas Yisrael. Because I'll tell you a little secret, you and I weren't there either. Now yes, the מדרש Midrash says our souls were there, every soul, I understand, saw you at Sinai. I got you, we're all we were all there. And there's actually a זוהר Zohar. The זוהר Zohar says explicitly that every convert that was destined to convert, their soul was present at הר סיני Har Sinai too. It's a beautiful זוהר Zohar, particularly I think for converts. So, but we weren't, I mean, I don't personally have memories of being there. But but anyone who lives subsequent to הר סיני Har Sinai becomes obligated in קדושת ישראל Kedushas Yisrael. So coming back to our, because I want to get through these פסוקים psukim. So יתרו Yisro arrives with צפורה Tzipora and with the two sons. Continuing, ג' gimmel. ושני בניה Ve'shnei baneha, and her two sons, it's an interesting way of describing it, her two sons, אשר שם האחד גרשום כי אמר גר הייתי בארץ נכריה asher shem ha'echad Gershom ki amar, ger hayisi b'eretz nochriya. ושם האחד אליעזר כי אלקי אבי בעזרי ויצילני מחרב פרעה ve'shem ha'echad Eliezer ki Elokei avi be'ezri va'yatzileini mi'cherev Paro. גרשום Gershom was named such, why? גרשום Gershom comes from I was a גר ger. I was a stranger in a strange land. And the other's name is אליעזר Eliezer, meaning what? בעזרי Be'ezri, the God of my father came to my aid and he saved me from the sword of פרעה Paro. Now, Not translate though. אלקי אבי Elokei avi. The God of my father. אלי E-li is not אלקי אבי Elokei avi. Oh, אליעזר Eliezer you're saying. Right. Well, like קל Kel, like קל Kel is God's name. אלי Eli. God's God, oh but my God, you're saying, that's not God of my father. Yeah. Okay, so you have to get a little creative. אליעזר אלקי אבי בעזרי ויצלני מחרב פרעה Eliezer, Elokei avi be'ezri, va'yatzileini mi'cherev Paro. So I have two questions here, and that's what we're going to study for our time this morning. Number one, hinted to by my underline, כי אמר ki amar. These two are named גרשום Gershom, כי אמר ki amar, for he said. Who said? Who's the כי אמר ki amar? It's an ambiguous pronoun. Who's the כי אמר ki amar? משה Mosha. משה Mosha. Is it? Well, what are the choices that we have here? Is it משה Mosha, when he originally named them? Is it יתרו Yisro? כי אמר Ki amar, יתרו Yisro's coming with these two boys, כי אמר ki amar, they're named this, why? כי אמר Ki amar because יתרו Yisro said this is why. Maybe it's גרשום ואליעזר Gershom and Eliezer themselves. Maybe it's גרשום Gershom. Who says this כי אמר ki amar? And moreover, look at source number two. We already know about these two individuals. ויואל משה לשבת את האיש ויתן את צפורה בתו למשה Vayyoel Mosha lasheves es ha'ish vayeitain es Tzipora bito le'Mosha. When משה Mosha, in פרק ב' perek beis, chapter two of Exodus, when משה Mosha meets צפורה Tzipora, by the way, where did he meet her? At the well. Where else would Jews meet each other? At the well, which we also talked about at length. He meets צפורה Tzipora, the daughter of יתרו Yisro. ותלד בן ויקרא שמו גרשום כי אמר גר הייתי בארץ נכריה Va'teiled bein, va'yikra shemo Gershom ki amar ger hayisi be'eretz nochriya. So we already know his name and the etymology of his name. Why is the תורה Torah repeating itself? Why are we given the etymology of their names again here? And who is כי אמר ki amar, for he said, who is the כי אמר ki amar? So, so that that's those are the two questions that I want to analyze. But אליעזר Eliezer was not mentioned the name before. True. True, but גרשום Gershom we already know. But גרשום Gershom we already know. So source number three. רש\"י Rashi tells us on the opening פסוק pasuk, יתרו Yisro, who is יתרו Yisro? שבע שמות נקראו לו Shiva sheimos nikru lo. יתרו Yisro had seven names. רעואל יתר יתרו חובב חבר קני פוטיאל Reuel, Yeser, Yisro, Chovav, Chever, Keini, and Putiel. יתר שם שייתר פרשה אחת בתורה Yeser, shem she'yiter parsha achas ba'Torah. The name יתרו Yisro comes from יתר Yeser, which means extra. He caused another פרשה parsha to be written in the תורה Torah, namely the פרשה parsha of יתרו Yisro. ואתה תחזה Ve'ata techeze. יתרו לכשנתגייר וקיים המצוות הוסיפו לו אות אחת על שמו Yisro, l'chsh'nisgayer ve'kiyem ha'mitzvos hosifu lo os achas al shmo. So when did he go from יתר Yeser to יתרו Yisro? When he converted to Judaism and he fulfilled the commandments, they added a letter to the to his name, יתר Yeser. And it became from יתר Yeser to יתרו Yisro. חובב שחיבב את התורה Chovav she'chivev es ha'Torah. He's called חובב Chovav, which means like, affection. He has an affection, a love for the תורה Torah. חובב הוא יתרו שנאמר מבני חובב חותן משה Chovav hu Yisro, sh'ne'emar mi'bnei Chovav chosein Mosha. ויש אומרים רעואל אבי של יתרו Ve'yesh omrim Reuel avi shel Yisro. Some say רעואל Reuel was not an alternative name for יתרו Yisro himself, it was יתרו Yisro's father's name. Okay, but in any case, what do you see from here? יתרו Yisro converts. יתרו Yisro converts. So maybe, maybe these names are given here, גרשום ואליעזר Gershom and Eliezer, as a function of יתרו Yisro's application to convert. Maybe it's part of יתרו Yisro's application to convert. By the way, is it a coincidence that יתרו Yisro has seven names? And look at source number four. ושבע שמות הן Ve'shiva sheimos heim, who else has seven names? ה' Hashem, ה' ha'niktav yud kei vav, הוא השם המפורש who ha'shem ha'meforash, or ה' ha'niktav אדני alef dalet nun yud. קל אלוה אלוקים אלקיך שקי צבקות Kel, Eloka, Elokim, Elokecha, Shakai, Tzivakos. כל המוחק אפילו אות אחת משבע אלו לוקה Kol ha'mocheik afilu os achas mi'sheva eilu lo'ke. So who else had seven names? Has seven names? The Almighty himself, הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam. This is in הלכות יסודי התורה Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah where the רמב\"ם Rambam is describing the prohibition of erasing God's name, which of God's names are we prohibited to erase? The answer is he has seven names. These are the seven core names of ה' Hashem. So the מדרש Medrash in fact says in ויקרא רבה Vayikra Rabbah, I'm sorry the, the מדרש Medrash says that משה Mosha, that יתרו Yisro came and had seven names because he accepted God who had seven names. It was a function of יתרו Yisro's conversion. יתרו Yisro's conversion, יתרו Yisro had seven names because he accepted God who had seven names. Okay, so maybe this naming, why are we revisiting the naming of גרשום ואליעזר Gershom and Eliezer? Because maybe here we're hung up with names. יתרו Yisro has seven names, God has seven names. The conversion is an acceptance of God's seven names. Maybe it's somehow connected to names. So let's see. Who is the one, the כי אמר ki amar in our פסוק pasuk? So, I'm going to suggest to you today three suggestions, who is the speaker. The first suggestion is משה Mosha, second suggestion is יתרו Yisro, and the third suggestion, maybe most interesting, is גרשום Gershom himself. So let's see the first suggestion, משה Mosha. Says the רמב\"ן Ramban, Nachmanides. The speaker is of course משה Mosha, because after all, משה Mosha is the one who named him thus earlier. Says the רמב\"ן Ramban, אף על פי שאין זה מקום לולדתן af al pi she'ein zeh makom luladasan. Even though this is not the appropriate place to mention their having been born, it's not relevant, nevertheless יפרש שמה בנם כי לא היה יכול להזכיר שם אליעזר בולדותו כאשר פירשתי בסדר אלה שמות yefareish shema bonom, ki lo haya machol le'hazkir shem Eliezer b'validoso k'asher pirashi b'seder Eileh Shmos. Because אליעזר Eliezer's name and his etymology of his name was not mentioned earlier. True, we're repeating גרשום Gershom, but as someone here pointed out, אליעזר Eliezer's new. ובכאן רצה להזכיר החסד שעשה הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה שהיה גר בארץ נכריה ונוסף בן שיודה על שם שהצילו מחרב פרעה ובורח דעת ומלך על ישראל והדביע פרעה ועמו בים U've'cha'an ratza le'hazkir ha'chesed she'asa Hakadosh Baruch Hu le'Mosha she'haya ger b'eretz nochriya, v'yosei ben she'yodeh al shem she'hitzilo mi'cherev Paro u'borcho dat u'melech al Yisrael, v'hidbi'a Paro v'amo ba'yam. וטעם כי אמר V'ta'am ki amar, and what about the words כי אמר ki amar in our פסוק pasuk, for he said? Explains the רמב\"ן Ramban, נמשך למשה הנזכר בפסוק הראשון nimshach le'Mosha ha'nizkar ba'pasuk ha'rishon. Who is the כי אמר ki amar, for he said, who's the he? It goes back to משה Mosha who's in the opening פסוק pasuk. So it says וישמע יתרו כהן מדין חותן משה vayishma Yisro kohen Midyan chosein Mosha, the father-in-law of משה Mosha heard everything God did למשה limoshe, for משה Mosha. Then it talks about יתרו Yisro came and he brought צפורה Tzipora and he brought the two sons, and the name גרשום Gershom, כי אמר ki amar, for he, who's the he? The he is משה Mosha says the רמב\"ן Ramban. וכן שם האחד אליעזר כי אלקי אבי בעזרי נמשך על כי אמר לכן רבים Ve'chein shem ha'echad Eliezer ki Elokei avi be'ezri, nimshach al ki amar l'chein rabbim. So the כי אמר ki amar for the רמב\"ן Ramban is משה Mosha, after all, he was named earlier. Good. Says the משך חכמה Meshech Chochma, why did משה Mosha name his son גרשום Gershom? Why did he name him גרשום Gershom? Says the משך חכמה Meshech Chochma, רבי מאיר שמחה מדבינסק Rebbe Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, source number six. לסבמעלות משה איך היה קשור אהבת עמו Lisbema'alos Mosha eicha haya kashur ahavas amo. משה Mosha, this is describing the greatness of משה Mosha who was so tied, so connected with the love of his people. אשר אם לא הכירם כל כך כי נתגדל בבית פרעה ויחוסן יתרו כהן מדין ואמר מושקעים בטית וחומר Asher im lo hikiram so ki nisgadel b'veis Paro, v'yachusain Yisro kohen Midyan, ve'amar mashukaim b'tzis v'chomer. Here he is, he doesn't really know them. I think we shared this two weeks ago. Why אהרן Aaron had to give the message to the people, because משה Mosha really is a foreigner to them. And משה Mosha gives the message to פרעה Paro, because אהרן Aaron's a foreigner. משה Mosha was more comfortable in the palace, and אהרן Aaron's more comfortable with the people. So here the משך חכמה Meshech Chochma says, משה Mosha's got a problem, because משה Mosha really is not one of them, he's not part of עם am. עמך amcha. He grew up in the luxury of the palace. And then when he graduated the palace, he fled to Midian. While the people are suffering making bricks and building back-breaking labor. ובכל זאת היה נחשב בעיני עצמו לגר בארץ נכריה Vechol zos hayah nechshav b'einei atzmo l'ger b'eretz nochriyah ולא חושב את ארץ מצרים v'lo choshev es eretz Mitzrayim אשר שם עמו asher sham amo לארץ אחוזתו l'eretz achuzaso, וצער הזה היה גדול עד כי הרגיש בצערו וקראו אותו על שם v'tza'ar hazeh hayah gadol ad ki hirgish b'tza'aro v'koro oso al shem שאזרו ועצלו מחרב פרעה she'ezro v'etzlo me'cherev Par'o. So it says the משך חכמה Meshech Chochma, משה Mosha felt a stranger in a foreign country, separated from the Jewish people and its suffering. כי גר בארץ נכריה Ki ger b'eretz nochriya. He was so connected to his people that even though he's in Midian, naming his son Gershom, he says, I am a stranger in a foreign land. The name גרשם Gershom itself has within it the concept of משה Mosha feeling alone, feeling separated from the Jewish people and from its suffering. Only later when he calls his second son אליעזר Eliezer, he's thanking השם Hashem for his own miracles, for escaping. Why? Because only after the first son, גרשם Gershom, where he says, I am a גר ger, this is not my land, my people are in Egypt, I belong with them. Only the second son, says the משך חכמה Meshech Chochma, can he name אליעזר Eliezer, that God saved me. He can't think about himself and his personal journey until he sees himself as part of a collective whole, as part of the national Jewish destiny. So both names indicate, according to the משך חכמה Meshech Chochma, both names indicate identification with the Jewish people. Jewishness entails suffering with the community. Jewishness by definition entails not being apart and distinct, but seeing oneself as part of a community, sharing their destiny for good and for bad. What's an example of sharing that destiny for good and for bad? See the גמרא Gemara in יבמות Yevamos, source seven. Says the גמרא יבמות Gemara Yevamos, source, דף מ\"ז עמוד א' daf mem zayin amud aleph, I'm sorry.And again, what I'm trying to share with you today is that all of this becomes the paradigm for conversion. משה Mosha bringing יתרו Yisro, משה's Mosha's experience, the stranger in the foreign land, the משה Mosha himself is a concept, the Jewish people at this moment are going to convert, all of this becomes the paradigm. Says the גמרא Gemara in יבמות Yevamos, גר שבא להתגייר בזמן הזה ger sheba l'hisgayer b'zman hazeh. A prospective candidate comes to convert today. אומרים לו Omrim lo, we say, מה ראית שבאת להתגייר ma ra'isa shebasa l'hisgayer? Are you out of your mind? You can go to the beach on Saturdays, you can eat cheeseburgers, you can relax. There aren't people who want to see you dead. אי אתה יודע שישראל בזמן הזה דוויים דחופים סחופים ומטורפים E ata yodea she'Yisrael b'zman hazeh dvuyim, dchufim, schufim, u'meturafim? Don't you know the Jewish people are afflicted, oppressed, downtrodden, harassed, oppressed, persecuted, annihilated, exterminated? ויסורים באים עליהם V'yisurim ba'in aleihem, hardships frequently visit upon them. What's the matter with you? Don't you know there are rockets raining down on Jews in Israel? They want buses to explode. The Jew in France is killed with his son, with his children, the Jew in India, in Mumbai. What's the matter with you? Why would you want to link yourself with this people? אם אמר יודע אני ואיני כדאי Im omar yodea ani v'eini kedai, if they say, I know, I know, I understand the suffering and I'm not even worthy. מקבלין אותו מיד Mekablin oso miyad. We accept him. ומודיעין אותו מקצת מצוות קלות U'modiin oso miktzas mitzvos kalos, and then we expose him to some of mitzvos, and so on and so forth. So I have to tell you this is codified in שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch. שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch quotes this, and indeed it's exactly what we do. We have a בית דין beis din here in South Florida, the South Florida בית דין beis din for גרות geirus. I happen to be the מנהל menahal of the בית דין beis din. And we meet monthly and we supervise many conversions a year. And every convert, part of the conversation in the initial take, intake, is, are you out of your mind? Why would you want to join this people? You know, you want to find God, you could be, love God and not be Jewish. You could lead a meaningful virtuous life and not be Jewish. Why be Jewish? And it's detective work to explore and to understand, to find out why the person wants to be Jewish. But then we ask this question, don't you know the suffering it entails? Are you familiar with the crusades and the Inquisition and the Holocaust? Are you familiar with terrorist events in Israel today? And one of the questions we ask when the candidates in the מקוה mikvah, standing in the מקוה mikvah about to immerse. And in a very modest fashion, we ask a number of questions and one of them is, don't you know what we go through? Why? Are you crazy? So, understand that that's what's happening here. Part of what it means to be a Jew is to identify with the Jewish people. You can't say I want to be a Jew, but I'm going to go live on some deserted island. And what happens to you and your destiny is good, I'm just going to be a Jew. I'll go live off on a deserted island. I'll keep all of תורה Torah and מצוות mitzvos perfectly. I'll daven with incredible כוונה kavanah. I'll do everything. I just don't have to link myself as part of the Jewish people. You know what the רמב\"ם Rambam says about such a person? אין לו חלק לעולם הבא Ein lo chelek l'olam haba. הפורש מן הציבור Haporesh min hatzibur, somebody who sees themselves apart from the community, has no portion in the world to come. Ah, but they're keeping תורה Torah and מצוות mitzvos perfectly. Doesn't matter. Because the super-value, the meta-value of what it means to be a Jew is to be connected with the Jewish people. So משה Mosha names his two sons, גרשם Gershom, אני גר בארץ נכריה ani ger b'eretz nochriya. I'm a stranger here in Midian, I belong in Egypt with my people. And only then אליעזר Eliezer, thanking God.So according to the רמב\"ן Ramban, משה Mosha is talking, and perhaps the תורה Torah puts it before as part of יתרו's Yisro's conversion process. Why are we recalling the name גרשם Gershom and אליעזר Eliezer? Because יתרו Yisro is coming right now, and יתרו Yisro is joining the Jewish people right now. And it's a reminder for יתרו Yisro, for us, that part of the process of joining the Jewish people is this duality, the גרשם אליעזר Gershom Eliezer duality, what those two names represent and what it means to be part of the Jewish people. That's suggestion number one. Okay? Again, what the word כי אמר ki amar, for he said גר הייתי ger hayisi, I was a stranger in a foreign land.Suggestion number two. תרגום יונתן בן עוזיאל Targum Yonasan ben Uziel. Says the תרגום יונתן Targum Yonasan, source number eight. אמר למשה אנא חמוך יתרו Omar l'Moshe ana chamuch Yisro, I, your father-in-law Yisro, אתי למסב לאתגיירא asei l'meisav l'isgayra. Says the תרגום יונתן Targum Yonasan, what does it mean? I came לאתגיירא l'isgayra to? To convert. To convert. So he says, look later the פסק pasuk says יתרו's Yisro's agenda was to convert. Perhaps he is the speaker of the words, I was a stranger in a foreign land. Right? כי אמר Ki amar, so what he's saying is, I've brought your two sons, אשר שם האחד גרשם asher shem ha'echad Gershom. כי אמר Ki amar and יתרו Yisro throws in, גר הייתי בארץ נכריה ger hayisi b'eretz nochriya. I was a stranger in a foreign land. What? In response. What? He's coming from Midian. Understand, but he's coming to convert. And that's what he means. I'm converting. I want my destiny is wrapped up with yours. In response, משה Mosha told him the troubles that the Jewish people have found. Right? That's what if you continue, if you go back to the פסוקים psukim, go back to, if you go back, משה Mosha says, וישאלו איש לרעהו לשלום vayishalu ish l'rei'ehu l'shalom. Each one asks how they're doing. And it continues, ויספר משה לחותנו vayisaper Moshe l'chosno, פסק ח' pasuk ches, משה Mosha tells his father-in-law, את כל אשר עשה ה' לפרעה ולמצרים על אודות ישראל es kol asher asah Hashem l'Par'o ul'Mitzrayim al odos Yisrael, את כל התלאה אשר מצאתם בדרך ויצילם ה' es kol hatla'ah asher metza'asam baderech vayatzilem Hashem. What does משה Mosha... יתרו Yisro comes and he says, כי אמר ki amar, גר הייתי ger hayisi, I was a stranger, I want to convert. What does משה Mosha tell him? You know what we went through. You know how hard it was in Egypt. You know what it means to be a Jew. Again, exactly following the model, consistent with the הלכה halacha, of what we have to tell the גר ger. The גמרא Gemara in סנהדרין Sanhedrin teaches that when it says ויחד יתרו vayichad Yisro, look look at source 10. ויחד יתרו Vayichad Yisro, יתרו Yisro hears everything that God did after hearing משה's Mosha's response, ויחד vayichad. So ויחד vayichad, our translation is מלשון חדוה milashon chedva, joy, happiness, fulfillment, meaning. Or alternatively, חד chad means sharp, he got goosebumps. But says the גמרא Gemara in סנהדרין Sanhedrin a third interpretation. רב אמר שהעביר חרב חדה על בשרו Rav omar shehe'evir cherev chada al b'saro. חד Chad sharp means he passed a sharp instrument over his flesh, namely a ברית מילה bris milah. שמואל אמר שנעשה חידודין חידודין כל בשרו Shmuel omar shena'aseh chidudim chidudim kol b'saro. שמואל Shmuel says he got goosebumps. Or חד chad means חדוה chedva, ויחד vayichad, he got, he was overjoyed. But רב Rav says he gave himself a ברית מילה bris milah. He converted. יתרו Yisro converts. And what does he do next? After he converts, יתרו Yisro offers קרבנות karbanos. Says רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya, source 11. עם חותן משה לפני האלקים Im chosen Moshe lifnei haElokim, לפני משכן האלקים lifnei mishkan haElokim. הוא הר סיני והמדבר אשר שם משכן האלקים Hu har Sinai v'hamidbar asher sham mishkan haElokim. וסעודה זו עשו לכבוד יתרו U'se'udah zu asu l'chvod Yisro שנתגייר במילה וטבילה במים shenisgayer b'milah utvilah b'mayim. כדין הגר הבא לחסות תחת כנפי השכינה k'din hager haba lachos b'tachas kanfei haShechinah. There's a הלכה halacha that a convert has to bring a sacrifice, a קרבן karban. There's a קרבן karban of the גר ger. That's another question we ask. When the candidate is standing in the מקוה mikvah, do you know that when the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash will be rebuilt, you'll have to bring a קרבן karban? Are you okay with that? So here רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya says the end of our section before מתן תורה Matan Torah in the פרשה parsha, יתרו Yisro, משה Mosha brings a קרבן karban. Why do we have this קרבן karban and מזבח mizbeach? Where is this coming from out of nowhere? Says רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya, I'll explain to you where it's coming from, it's the קרבן הגר karban hager. This is the קרבן karban corresponding with the fact that יתרו Yisro has converted. כדין הגר הבא לחסות תחת כנפי השכינה K'din hager haba lachos tachas kanfei haShechinah. ואין ספק כי סעודה זו לאהרון ולזקני ישראל סעודת המינויים שהתמנו ליצחק אבינו, כוונה אחת להם. כדי שתחולל שמחה בנפש האוכל ותשרה עליו רוח הקודש kedei shetecholel simcha b'nefesh ha'ochel, v'tishra alav ruach hakodesh. We celebrate spiritual accomplishment with physical indulgence. Which is again a topic for another time, but we have the concept of when we make a סיום siyum, we do it over a meal. גמרא Gemara says particularly with שבועות Shavuos. One of the אמוראים Amoraim, רב יוסף Rav Yosef, says, איגלא תלתא igla tlisa, when I study Torah, when I celebrate קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah on שבועות Shavuos, I get a third-born calf and make a festive meal with delicacies. What's the correlation between food and spiritual accomplishment? So here רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya says when you satisfy the body, then the soul can be open to experiencing its joy. Which is actually a theme in תניא Tanya. We'll talk about a little bit tonight also. A little bit in the in the תניא Tanya, that they're not in conflict. You can satisfy the physical and that in itself can work to benefit and to promote the spiritual. Yes. After all of that, he will leave them and go back to his land. We don't know if he does or doesn't. It's left ambiguous. The פסק pasuk, משה Mosha invites him to remain with them. The Torah never tells us whether he goes or does not go.Now, we learn all the הלכות halachos of conversion, we actually learn converts, יתרו Yisro here is the archetypal, he's the paradigmatic convert. And if you look at the process יתרו Yisro goes through, it parallels exactly the process of מתן תורה Matan Torah itself. It parallels the process of מתן תורה Matan Torah itself. Look at the זוהר Zohar, source 12. בא יתרו, כומר עליון וגדול Ba Yisro, komer elyon v'gadol. יתרו Yisro comes, a priest. שם המונה של כל עלילי עמים אחרים Sam hamunah shel kol elilei amim acherim. Can you imagine? He had experimented with every other religion. He had experimented with every other religion in the world. And now he comes והודה להקדוש ברוך הוא v'hodah l'Hakadosh Baruch Hu. ואמר עתה ידעתי כי גדול ה' מכל האלקים v'amar ata yodati ki gadol Hashem mikol ha'elokim. אז נתעלה ונתייקר הקדוש ברוך הוא בייקרו מעלה ומטה Az nis'aleh v'nisyakar Hakadosh Baruch Hu b'yekaro ma'alah u'matah. ואחר כך נתן תורה בשלמות שתשלוט על הכל v'acharei kach nasan Torah b'shleimus she'tishlot al hakol. So the זוהר's Zohar's tradition is it's when יתרו Yisro abandons every other religion with which he had experimented and embraces Jewish Judaism as the authentic one, now God's ready to share his תורה Torah. If you look in the left-hand column it says: ציב לאותו ורישו, כיוון שבא יתרו וקיבל הקדוש ברוך הוא וקרב לעבודתו, ומשם נתקבלו כל אלו הגרים תחת כנפי השכינה Tziv l'oso v'risho, keivan she'ba Yisro v'kibel Hakadosh Baruch Hu v'karav l'avodaso, u'misham niskablu kol elu hagereim tachas kanfei haShechinah. All of converts follow the path that is set forth by יתרו Yisro. So converts today are following in יתרו's Yisro's footsteps. What are the parallels? So here, this is this is magnificent. And if you try to hold the pages next to one another to be able to follow this best, you'll see I provided letters to correspond with the פסוקים psukim of מתן תורה Matan Torah later and when יתרו Yisro comes. The first half the פרשה parsha versus the second half the פרשה parsha. So for example, look at, look at source 14. ויאמר ה' אל משה הנה אנכי בא אליך בעב הענן Vayomer Hashem el Moshe hinei anochi ba eilecha b'av he'anan. God says to משה Mosha, I'm coming to you in the thickness of a cloud so that you'll hear me. What happens with משה Mosha? ויאמר משה חותן יתרו בא אליך Vayomer Moshe chosain Yisro bo eilecha. The concept of בא אליך bo eilecha. Source 15, B. ויוצא משה את העם לקראת האלקים מן המחנה Vayotzei Moshe es ha'am likras ha'Elokim min hamachaneh. משה Mosha and the people go out to to greet God, ויתיצבו בתחתית ההר vayisyatzvu b'sachtis hahar. Look at B. ויצא משה לקראת חותנו Vayeitzei Moshe likras chosno. משה Mosha goes out to greet יתרו Yisro. C. Source 17. ויבא משה בתוך הענן ויעל אל ההר Vayavo Moshe b'soch he'anan vaya'al el hahar. משה Mosha goes into the cloud, climbs the mountain, ויהי משה בהר ארבעים יום וארבעים לילה vayihi Moshe bahar arbaim yom v'arbaim lailah. And look at יתרו Yisro. ויבא יתרו חותן משה Vayavo Yisro chosen Moshe, ויבא vayavo. The same concept of ויבא vayavo. D. ויבא משה ויספר לעם את כל דברי ה' ואת כל המשפטים Vayavo Moshe vayisaper la'am es kol divrei Hashem v'es kol hamishpatim. So where you have ויספר משה לחותנו את כל אשר עשה ה' לפרעה vayisaper Moshe l'chosno es kol asher asah Hashem l'Par'o. E. וישלח את נערי בני ישראל ויעלו עולות Vayishlach es na'arei Bnei Yisrael vaya'alu olos. ויקח יתרו חותן משה עולה וזבחים לאלקים Vayikach Yisro chosen Moshe olah u'zvachim l'Elokim. So you see A, B, C, D, E, five parallels with the same verbiage, the same words are used to describe יתרו's Yisro's experience when he arrives at the Jewish people and the Jewish people's experience when they are going to convert. So you see יתרו Yisro becomes the paradigmatic example of a convert. The people, the Jewish people themselves follow יתרו's Yisro's footsteps. When the Jewish people undergo the conversion at at הר סיני Har Sinai. So according to תרגום יונתן Targum Yonasan then, משה Mosha took on יתרו Yisro, looks at, I'm sorry, משה Mosha looks at יתרו Yisro through the clouds, just as משה Mosha came into the cloud to receive the תורה Torah. And with that understanding, יתרו Yisro is the one who said the words describing himself as a stranger in a foreign land, aided by the Lord of my father. Who is the Lord of my father that יתרו Yisro is that יתרו Yisro is acknowledging? So the רמב\"ם Rambam writes that everyone is the son of אברהם Avraham. אב Av, אברהם Avraham stands for אב המון גוים Av Hamon Goyim. So perhaps the כי אמר ki amar, for he said, both for גרשם Gershom and אליעזר Eliezer, is יתרו Yisro himself. The reason these names are repeated is because יתרו Yisro is identifying with the names גרשם Gershom and אליעזר Eliezer. יתרו Yisro is coming to convert, and he says, I've brought your son גרשם Gershom. כי אמר Ki amar, for I said, I felt like a foreigner, a stranger in a foreign land. And the other is אליעזר Eliezer because the God of my father has helped me. Who's the God of my father? יתרו Yisro is now identifying with אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu, because אברהם Avraham is the אב המון גוים Av Hamon Goyim, even the convert, the גר ger, identifies with אברהם Avraham as a patriarch. That is suggestion number two. Suggestion number three. The final suggestion. Is that גרשם Gershom and אליעזר Eliezer speak for themselves. Their names are not יתרו's Yisro's resolution but his question. See, יתרו Yisro and the kids are coming to the desert from Midian. Midian is very close to סיני Sinai. Right? So what happens here? Source 18. What's the opening of the עשרת הדברות Aseres HaDibros? וידבר אלקים את כל הדברים האלה לאמר Vayidaber Elokim es kol hadevarim ha'eleh leimor, אנכי ה' אלקיך אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים מבית עבדים Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeisicha me'eretz Mitzrayim mi'beis avadim. How does God introduce himself to us at הר סיני Har Sinai? How does God introduce himself? How does he identify himself? I am the Lord your God, not who created the world. I'm the Lord your God who took you out of Egypt. And perhaps, perhaps what's going on here is a question. Is it really possible to go directly to מתן תורה Matan Torah without first leaving מצרים Mitzrayim? Is the exodus a prerequisite for receiving the תורה Torah? Could you really receive the תורה Torah? Could you really connect with and be part of the experience of receiving the תורה Torah when you skipped, when you were on the sidelines, when you were a spectator to יציאת מצרים Yetziyas Mitzrayim? So this connects to your question. See, Cipora, Leah, גרשם Gershom and אליעזר Eliezer are spectators to the Exodus. And they only either arrive at the scene for מתן תורה Matan Torah, maybe even come after מתן תורה Matan Torah. And the question is, how do they feel connected to the Jewish destiny when they weren't part of where we came from? How do you experience where you're going if you're not part and you're not connected to where you come from? The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, the final source here, I shared this אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra with you for those who had The People of the Book, the talk on the כוזרי Kuzari, רבי יהודה הלוי Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi. רבי יהודה הלוי Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi and the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra had a very close relationship. There's a big question, was the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra married to רבי יהודה הלוי's Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi's daughter? Or were they first cousins? Maybe both. But they were certainly some element of חברותא chavrusas. And how do you know that? Because the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra often quotes רבי יהודה הלוי Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi. Here's an example in our פרשה parsha. שאלני רבי יהודה הלוי, מנוחתו כבוד Sha'alani Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi, menuchaso kavod. And you also know that רבי יהודה הלוי Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi, the כוזרי Kuzari died before the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra. We discussed at length how did he die. For many years, there was the legend that the כוזרי Kuzari finally made his way to Israel and when he knelt on the ground to kiss the ground, he was trampled by an Arab horseman who killed him. And then we questioned, is that accurate, not accurate? Did he actually live in Israel or not? That class we we talked at length about the real way the רבי יהודה הלוי Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi, the כוזרי Kuzari died. But here the כוזרי Kuzari, the רבי יהודה הלוי Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi had passed away before the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, and we know that because the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra references מנוחתו כבוד menuchaso kavod. And he quotes that רבי יהודה הלוי Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi, the כוזרי Kuzari asked him a question. And the question is, why did God introduce himself as the God of the Exodus and not the God of creation? It's much more impressive to create ex nihilo, something from nothing. Why didn't God introduce himself as the God of creation? Why does he introduce himself as the God of the Exodus? And he says, the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, the כוזרי Kuzari has his answer. The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra and the כוזרי Kuzari gives his answer in כוזרי Kuzari, in ספר הכוזרי Sefer HaKuzari. And the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra has his answer. The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra says, I am the Lord your God who took you out, who created the world, that's for philosophers. But I am the Lord your God who took you out of Egypt, that's for you. In other words, God is saying to this people at הר סיני Har Sinai, lest you think that I created a world and moved on. Lest you think that I'm, you know, theologically, philosophically, that I am ephemeral, I'm I'm so I'm so distant and distinct and apart, I have no relationship with you. Lest you think that, no, אנכי ה' אלקיך אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeisicha me'eretz Mitzrayim. I'm your father, I love you. I took you out of Egypt. But how does that leave the, how does that leave the person who didn't go through Egypt feeling? If the way we know that God loves us is he took us out of Egypt, what happens for the person who didn't come out of Egypt because they weren't in Egypt? So, perhaps that's what יתרו Yisro is feeling, as every convert who doesn't share the Jewish people's past but wants to share in her future. Maybe that's what יתרו Yisro is feeling. Maybe that's what גרשם Gershom and אליעזר Eliezer are feeling. If you look, נחמה ליבוביץ Nechama Leibowitz points out in our פרשה parsha, יתרו Yisro mentions השם's Hashem's name five times saving Israel. No less than five times יתרו Yisro says, ה' אשר הציל את ישראל Hashem asher hitzil es Yisrael. Five times he references Hashem saving Israel. In his conversion, God appears five times also. Right? Look at פסק א pasuk aleph. אשר עשה אלקים למשה asher asah Elokim l'Moshe, כי הוציא ה' את ישראל ki hotzi Hashem es Yisrael. And then in פסק ד' pasuk dalet and ה' hey. אלקים... ה'... ויבא יתרו חותן משה ומשה... הר האלקים Har haElokim. I'm sorry. The the the God appeared, the name of God appears five times. So after גרשם Gershom was birth, the Torah makes five references to how God remembers suffering, how they remember suffering. Five mentions of work at the beginning of power subjugation and five and five afterwards. So the last suggestion is that maybe it's גרשם Gershom and אליעזר Eliezer who are coming now to הר סיני Har Sinai and they're saying, what's our name? כי אמר Ki amar, for גרשם Gershom said, גר הייתי בארץ נכריה ger hayisi b'eretz nochriya. So that it's not משה Mosha saying it, referencing back to when the names were first given, and it's not יתרו Yisro saying it, part of his collective experience, but maybe it's גרשם Gershom and אליעזר Eliezer who are trying to fit in, who themselves feel apart from the experience the Jews had in Egypt. And now in anticipation, in feeling connected to and linked with what they're about to feel at הר סיני Har Sinai, they revisit, כי אמר ki amar, גרשם Gershom is saying, גר הייתי ger hayisi, I felt like a stranger to this whole experience. And but אליעזר's Eliezer's name is, אלקי אבי בעזרי Elokei avi b'ezri, no, because through my father I'm connected to this national destiny and I connect with everyone else. So what we saw three interpretations of what כי אמר ki amar means. But in any case, יתרו Yisro becomes the paradigm, the model of conversion, the importance of seeing oneself as part of the collective Jewish people, whether one's a convert or born a Jew, but the necessity and the need to never be פורש מן הציבור poresh min hatzibur, to not separate from the community, but to see oneself as part of the community. Thank you.
