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Harav Hagaon Yosef Elefant Shlita

Driven by Truth
Parashas Yisro
Harav Hagaon Yosef Elefant Shlita

Why was the parashah of Yisro’s arrival chosen as the introduction to Mattan Torah? We know that Yisro was zocheh to a parashah in the Torah, but the fact that his arrival is deemed worthy of serving as the opening stage for Mattan Torah certainly needs our attention.

Regarding the words וַיִּשְׁמַע יִתְרוֹ, Rashi comments: מה שמועה שמע ובא קריעת ים סוף ומלחמת עמלק. The question of what Yisro heard seems out of place, as the Torah states clearly that he heard about Yetzias Mitzrayim and about all that Hakadosh Baruch Hu had done for Klal Yisrael. Why ask what he heard? Furthermore, if the passuk says that he heard about Yetzias Mitzrayim, why do Rashi, and Chazal, answer that he heard about something else — Krias Yam Suf and Milchemes Amalek?

The meforshim note that Rashi’s question is מה שמועה שמע ובא — what did Yisro hear that made him come? The entire world heard about Yetzias Mitzrayim and Krias Yam Suf, as the passuk says: שָׁמְעוּ עַמִּים יִרְגָּזוּן חִיל אָחַז יֹשְׁבֵי פְּלָשֶׁת. אָז נִבְהֲלוּ אַלּוּפֵי אֱדוֹם אֵילֵי מוֹאָב יֹאחֲזֵמוֹ רָעַד נָמֹגוּ כֹּל יֹשְׁבֵי כְנָעַן. When, then, was Yisro the only one who came? What triggered him to pick himself up and leave, when no one else in the world did that?

Chazal answer that he heard about Krias Yam Suf and Milchemes Amalek. Yisro, perhaps like the rest of the world, heard about Yetzias Mitzrayim and was amazed, and maybe even inspired to emunah. But then he noted an interesting phenomenon: He saw that after Krias Yam Suf, there could be a Milchemes Amalek immediately.

The power of Amalek is אֲשֶׁר קָרְךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ — he jumps into the hot bath and cools it off. Yisro saw that a person could experience a tremendous spiritual hisorerus, and be spurred to emunah, yet that inspiration could fade dramatically, as evidenced by the juxtaposition of Krias Yam Suf and Milchemes Amalek.
In last week’s parashah, this phenomenon is evident as well. At the beginning of Parashas Beshalach, Klal Yisrael reached incredible heights of emunah, to the point that they declared: זֶה קֵלִי וְאַנְוֵהוּ, and even a maidservant beheld visions that Yechezkel Hanavi was not privy to. Yet by the end of the parashah, Klal Yisrael are already questioning: הֲיֵשׁ ה’ בְּקִרְבֵּנוּ אִם אָיִן. Rashi cites the famous mashal of the child riding on his father’s shoulders and calling out, “Did you see my father?” The polar opposites of the parashah are very striking.

The baalei mussar observe that such is the nature of bechirah. If a person’s emunah would remain a straight line, without wavering, then the person would not have bechirah; he would always do the right thing. Therefore, it’s possible to go within a short time from זֶה קֵלִי וְאַנְוֵהוּ to הֲיֵשׁ ה’ בְּקִרְבֵּנוּ אִם אָיִן. And when a person cools off, that’s when Amalek comes.

Yisro witnessed this regression and noted that a person can experience a hisorerus and then rapidly lose that hisorerus. He then concluded that if he didn’t come now, the effect of his inspiration would fade, and he would never come. That is the meaning of the question: מה שמועה שמע ובא — what did he hear that prompted him to come immediately, when no one else did? And Chazal explain that the specific trigger of his arrival was his observation that Krias Yam Suf could be followed by Milchemes Amalek.

Yet the question remains: Why was he the only one who made this calculation and decided to come?

The Endless Quest for Truth
Chazal make several interesting observations about Yisro. One of them, cited by Rashi, is that there was no avodah zarah in the world that he did not worship. Similarly, the Ramban (Shemos 6:23), notes that Putiel, whom the Torah names as the maternal grandfather of Pinchas, is identified by Chazal as either Yosef — שֶׁפִּטְפֵּט בְּיִצְרוֹ, or as Yisro — שֶׁפִּיטֵּם עֲגָלִים לַעֲבוֹדָה זָרָה, and that his name is included as a shevach.

What kind of praise is it that Yisro fattened calves for idolatry? That’s a yichus?

The answer is that Yisro was an ish emes. He was looking for the truth, and therefore he worshipped every avodah zarah in the world. Imagine that a person would go through town after town in India and Africa and worship every last idol. That was Yisro.

His quest for truth was manifest in two ways. One was his worship of every single deity. The second was his ability to identify what is sheker and what is emes. His search was unending. Most people would give up after encountering a couple of false gods, but Yisro kept on searching, rejecting one deity after another. Finally, when he heard about Klal Yisrael and Yetzias Mitzrayim, he came.

Yisro’s fattening calves for idolatry reflected his search for emes. Whatever he did, he did right, investing his full heart into it because at that time he believed this was the truth — and if it’s the truth, you have to go all the way with it, with no ifs, ands, or buts. That’s why his fattening calves for avodah zarah is viewed as admirable.

This same quest for truth was evident right after he joined Klal Yisrael, when he gave Moshe Rabbeinu mussar. To him, emes was emes, and the truth needed to be spoken.

His descendant, Pinchas, was reviled by the shevatim because he descended from Yisro, who fattened calves for avodah zarah, but in truth, he was motivated by the same yearning for emes as his grandfather Yisro. What Pinchas did was neither comfortable nor pleasant, but he learned from the Zeide Yisro to do what’s right, not what’s pleasant.

We can now understand why Yisro was the only one spurred to join Klal Yisrael after hearing the same reports that the rest of the world heard. He heard the emes, and he also saw how quickly recognition of the emes could fade — so he picked himself up and came. Having heard about Krias Yam Suf, and having identified the emes, he would not take a chance of losing that hisorerus, as he learned from Milchemes Amalek. That’s why he came, while the rest of the world stayed home. They, too, experienced a hisorerus, but the emes they saw was not that important to them.

A Receptacle for Torah
This also explains why Yisro’s arrival serves as the introduction to Mattan Torah. What creates the receptable for Mattan Torah is a person’s dedication to seeking the truth, and the willingness to be moser nefesh for that truth. Hashem gave us Toras emes, and the precondition to receiving that Torah is the quest for emes that Yisro personified. When he heard the truth, he came running, refusing to let the inspiration fade.

Similarly, the Gemara in Yoma teaches that a talmid chacham must be tocho k’baro, the same inside and out, like the aron, because you can’t absorb the Torah, which is emes, unless you yourself are emes inside and out. Therefore, Yaakov Avinu, whose middah was emes, was the ultimate yoshev ohalim. A person who is driven not by emes, but by other agendas, is not a receptacle to internalize Torah, and a person must therefore constantly ask himself, “Am I driven by emes? is that what characterizes my life, my actions, my aspirations?”

Gut Shabbos.

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