Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

Our Torah reading for this week opens with this verse:

“Jethro priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel—God’s people: how the ETERNAL had brought Israel out from Egypt.” (Exodus 18:1)

This prompts the medieval commentor Rashi to wonder – what exactly did Jethro hear that caused him to leave his home and travel to the Wilderness to see Moses? He answers his own question — Jethro heard about the splitting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21-31) and the war with Amalek. (Exodus 17:8-14)  

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Hagar, who perished in the Holocaust, comments on Rashi. One must wonder, he writes, if Jethro was inspired to practice Judaism, he could have done so in the comfort of his home! Why did he need to travel to the Wilderness and join Moses? What was so important about hearing of the miracle of the Sea and the war with Amalek?

Jethro understood from these events that anything gained without effort cannot endure. Even the miracle of the Sea—when “a maidservant saw more of God than the greatest of the prophets”—did not secure lasting faith. Despite that extraordinary clarity, the people soon began to complain and fear for their survival in the wilderness, asking, “Is God in our midst or not?” (Exodus 17:7).

During the battle with Amalek, they saw that when their hearts were directed toward Heaven they prevailed, and when their faith wavered, they faltered. From this, Jethro realized that faith requires ongoing work; without continual effort, it weakens.

So he traveled to join Moses and the People of Israel. He recognized that to sustain and deepen his faith, he needed a teacher and the strength of a community.