Yitro Heard and Came: When Inspiration Becomes Action

“And Yitro, the priest of Midian, Moshe’s father in law, heard…” (Shemot 18:1)

A Taxi Driver’s Story

“Rabbi, you have to hear a story. A true story,” said the taxi driver to Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, after the rabbi sat down in his car. “A real story. I saw it with my own eyes. Rabbi, I remember it like it was today, just as clearly as I see you now.

“It happened during the war. We were in the desert, and when the fighting ended we pitched tents for the night. Suddenly, a huge, venomous snake appeared. Venomous in the sense that if it bites you, Rabbi, you go straight to Heaven, without confession. Not you, Heaven forbid, just as an example.

“Before we could react, the snake began climbing in circles up Chaim, the medic. We shouted to him, ‘Chaim, don’t move. Breathe calmly. He’ll come down soon.’ We kept trying to calm him.

“Chaim didn’t move, and the snake kept climbing. It reached his neck, wrapped around him, and placed its face right in front of Chaim’s face. We were sure this was the end. Chaim quietly whispered, ‘Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad,’ and when he finished, the snake came down and moved away from us.

“Chaim returned to a life of Torah,” the driver concluded.

A Missed Personal Awakening

“What do you say, Rabbi? Was that not a miracle? There is a God, Rabbi. And if anyone says otherwise, send him to me, I’ll teach him.”

“And what about you?” the rabbi asked, looking directly at the driver. “Did you also return to a life of Torah?”

“What do you mean, Rabbi?” the driver replied, genuinely surprised. “That was Chaim’s miracle, not mine. The snake climbed on Chaim, not on me. My name is Shimon, Rabbi, not Chaim” (as told by Rabbi Aharon Levi).

Yitro Heard and Acted

Yitro, Moshe’s father in law, was deeply moved by the miracles and wonders that accompanied the people of Israel as they left Egypt. In truth, not only Yitro was impressed. The entire world stood astonished and amazed, as described in the Song of the Sea. Yet Yitro was different from everyone else.

He decided to act. He came to the Israelite camp in the desert and chose to convert.

The Midrash asks: “What did he hear that made him come?” The emphasis is on the words “and he came.” Everyone heard, but Yitro heard and came. The news led him to a concrete change in his life. External hearing is not enough. What is required is inner listening, followed by a firm decision to act.

From here we learn that hearing alone is insufficient. Hearing is certainly important, because without hearing there can be no coming. But the essential point is that hearing must lead to action, before the inspiration cools in the heart.

What Is the Gap Between Hearing and Doing?

Often there is a gap between hearing and doing. We hear God’s call, yet remain behind and do not come. A person may be deeply moved by a miracle that happened to him and thank God with all his heart, but the real test is whether it leads to practical change.

Does he change his path as soon as he receives a signal from the Creator, as the verse says: “Take words with you and return to the Lord” (Hoshea 14:3)?

The Kotzker Rebbe once commented on the verse later in the portion: “The people saw, and they trembled, and they stood from afar” (Shemot 20:15). A person can see, can tremble and be shaken, and still remain standing at a distance.

What Did Yitro Hear?

The verse states that Yitro came to the Israelite camp because he heard about the Exodus from Egypt: “And Yitro, the priest of Midian, Moshe’s father in law, heard all that God had done for Moshe and for Israel His people, that the Lord had taken Israel out of Egypt.”

But the Midrash sharpens the question: “What did he hear that made him come?” It points to two events: the splitting of the Red Sea and the war with Amalek.

The Hidden Message of the Splitting of the Sea

What was it about the splitting of the Red Sea that caused Yitro to abandon all his honor and status and come into the desert?

Yitro heard what happened behind the scenes of the miracle. He learned that it was not at all simple for the miracle to occur. At first, the sea refused to stop its natural flow. Even the fact that the people of Israel were destined to receive the Torah fifty days later did not persuade the sea, because many people make commitments and do not keep them.

But the moment the sea saw the coffin of Yosef, “the sea saw and fled.” It fled because of the one who fled. What did it see in Yosef that convinced it? It saw that with Yosef there was no gap between decision and action. When Yosef resolved to distance himself from sin, he acted immediately and fled, without remaining even a moment to retrieve his garment from the hand of Potiphar’s wife.

Yosef’s coffin thus served as a guarantee that the people of Israel would indeed fulfill their promise to accept the Torah.

Hearing That Leads to Action

Yitro heard all this and reached a clear conclusion: I too have heard about the Red Sea. I have heard and been shaken. But if I stop there and do not act, my hearing has no meaning.

Even the collective decision of an entire nation was not enough for the sea, until a guarantee was given by someone who both decided and acted. Therefore, Yitro arose and came to the camp of Israel, to shelter beneath the Divine Presence.

Yitro merited to come. Others heard, trembled, and were shaken, but did not come. That is why the Torah publicized him, and the great portion that includes the giving of the Torah is named after him.

“If Only They Had Come With Me”

There was once a young man from Netanya who was far from Torah and mitzvot. One Shabbat, he was invited to spend the weekend at a yeshiva in Jerusalem. He tasted the sweetness of Torah and saw how Shabbat was enriched with words of Torah and wisdom. He decided to change his life and remained in the Jerusalem yeshiva, growing in Torah and reverence.

After a year, he remembered his childhood friends who had remained behind, without Torah and without mitzvot. He traveled to them in order to inspire them to change as well. He tried to persuade them to come with him for a Shabbat at the yeshiva, to taste the sweetness of Torah. They postponed it, explaining that a major sports event was scheduled for that Shabbat.

The following week he asked again, but once more they postponed, claiming there was a friend’s birthday celebration on Saturday night that they could not miss. They promised that the following Shabbat they would come.

On the third Shabbat, yet another event appeared, a bar mitzvah celebration. This time they promised firmly that the next Shabbat they would come, no matter what. They even arranged that he would come for them on Sunday morning and travel together to Jerusalem.

When he arrived on Sunday to pick them up, he was shocked to find their parents sitting on the ground, weeping. The devastating truth soon became clear. The night before, as the young men were returning from the celebration, their car veered off the road and crashed into a utility pole. All of them were killed.

That friend mourned deeply and said, “What a tragedy. If only they had come with me to Jerusalem, they would still be alive. For great is the Torah, which gives life to those who live by it, in this world and in the World to Come.”