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Yitro - Diverse & Unified

 

Parashat Yitro begins by telling us that Yitro, Moshe's father-in-law, came to join Beneh Yisrael at Mount Sinai.  Yitro converted and became a full-fledged Jew.

 

Rashi makes a famous comment explaining what drove Yitro to make this decision to join Beneh Yisrael.  He writes that Yitro heard about two events – keri'at Yam Suf (the splitting of the sea) and the war against Amalek.

 

What is it about these particular events that inspired Yitro?

 

After the miracle of the sea, the people sang the שירת הים, the song of praise to Hashem that we include in our morning prayers each day.  This song includes a description of how the entire world heard about the miracle and was overcome by fear of Beneh Yisrael.  שמעו עמים ירגזון – all the nations heard and were frightened. 

 

Yitro was struck by the fact that just several weeks later, Amalek came along and launched an attack on Beneh Yisrael, the nation that they were terrified of.  Amalek's attack showed Yitro how quickly people can change, how people can be so inspired and motivated to do the right thing, and then just a few weeks later do just the opposite.  This led Yitro to decide to join Beneh Yisrael so he would be together with good people whose influence would keep him on the right path.

 

The Gemara in Masechet Zevahim brings a second opinion as to what led Yitro to join Beneh Yisrael. 

 

This opinion says that Yitro came to Mount Sinai after Matan Torah, as it was this event – Hashem giving Beneh Yisrael the Torah – that inspired him.

 

According to this opinion, Yitro was struck by the opposite phenomenon – by how people can grow so quickly.  When Beneh Yisrael were slaves in Egypt, they had fallen to the lowest spiritual depths.  And then, just seven weeks later, they were at the level where they could behold Hashem's revelation and receive the Torah.  Yitro wanted to be part of a people that could undergo this kind of process of spiritual growth.

 

Both opinions are rooted in reality – people have the capacity to change quickly and drastically, in both directions.

 

Never has this been as true as in today's day and age.  Technology exposes people to the worst and the best that humanity has to offer.  A person can be pulled down to the lowest depths by what he sees, reads and watches online.  But he can also grow.  I have heard many stories of people who became religiously observant after being inspired by Torah material accessed online. 

 

This reality accounts for the diversity that we see in our community, even within families.  So many families today have members on drastically different levels of observance.  This is because today, more than ever, it is so easy to change in every which direction.

 

In one of the most famous passages in Rashi's commentary to the Humash, he observes that the Torah in our parashah speaks of Beneh Yisrael encamping at Mount Sinai in the singular form – ויחן שם ישראל (19:2).  Instead of saying, "They encamped" (ויחנו), the Torah says, ויחן, as though speaking of one person.  Rashi explains that the people came to Mount Sinai כאיש בלב אחד – "as one person, with one heart."  In order to receive the Torah, they needed to be unified and together.

 

The diversity in our community challenges us to find unity despite our differences.  Nobody should feel the need to change who he is or how he lives for the sake of family members or other people in the community who are very different from him.  At the same time, however, we must find a way to make it work, a way to be together כאיש אחד בלב אחד, to care for, love and respect others even though they are drastically different than us.

 

Each of us is on a journey, and no two people's journeys are identical.  When we realize this, we will find it easier to relate to and connect with people who are different – because we will see that we really aren't that different, as we're all on a journey of discovering who we want to be and determining how we want to live.

 

Let us each commit firmly to adhere to our beliefs, values and principles, without compromising at all, while committing also to love and respect those who are different, so we become a strong, unified nation that is worthy of the Torah and of Hashem's ongoing presence. - Joey Haber

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https://itorah.com/weekly-inspire/diverse-and-unified/15/30928