Yitro 2022
1Who was this person Yitro? Did he convert to Judaism as Rashi suggests? Or did he return to Midyan to serve as their religious leader? The concluding section of this week’s Parsha has Moshe sending Yitro back home. “And Moses sent his father-in-law and he went for his self to his land.” (18:27). Rashi, quoting the Midrash, says that Yitro went home to convert his family. The Sforno suggests that he went home because of old age. The challenges of a trip through the desert were too harsh for a man his age. Yitro, under the name Chovav son of Re-u-ale, shows up again in Behaalotcha where Moshe states, “We are traveling to the place where God has told us that he would give us. Come with us and we will treat you well because God has said good thing about Israel.” Chovav responds, “I will not go there but will go only to my land and my birthplace.” The story there ends with Moshe further imploring Chovav to join him in the march into the land of Israel; “And he (Moses) said, Please do not abandon us (alternatively leave us) for you have known our encampments in the desert and you can be a visionary for us. And it shall come to pass when you go with us, and it will come to pass that the good that God will bestow upon us, and we will bestow that good upon you.” There Chovav does not respond either in the negative or the affirmative. Some suggest that he acquiesced to Moses’ request and some suggest that he did not. Some say that the conclusion in our Parsha was just temporary and that Yitro returned to travel alongside his daughter and son-in-law and his grandchildren. The problem with that analysis is that if he was a proselyte as suggested why would he again want to leave and return home? Why would Moses need to convince him to stay? On the other hand, if these two sections are really one story, they actually contradict one another. In our Parsha Moses sends Yitro away while in Behaalotcha he begs him to stay!
2I would suggest that Yitro senior in our Parsha was Moses’ father-in-law. He was an elderly gentleman and garnered respect for his wisdom. After having benefited from this wisdom Moses did not wish to have the Torah and its implementation subject to his father-in-law’s scrutiny and input. He, therefor in preparation for Matan Torah sent him home. Chovav in Behaalotcha was Yitro’s son or Moses’ brother-in-law. The Chovav in Behaalotcha wished to return to his land and place of birth. In our Parsha Yitro is sent to his homeland but his birth place isn’t mentioned. Possibly Yitro was born elsewhere. It is Chovav who was born in Midyan and was therefore drawn back to his home because he found out that he would not have a portion in the new land. This is most likely to be a problem for a younger person as he is attempting to set up his family on his own plot of land!
3The problem with this analysis as Sifsei Chachamim points out, is the Pasuk in Joshua. There it says that Chovav was Moshe’s father-in-law and not his brother-in-law. I would suggest that the name Chovav is more of a description as Rashi himself say’s. “He was called Chovav for he loved God”. In that regard both father and son loved God and were both referred to in that way as “Chovav, lovers of God.
4The remaining open point has to do with Yitro’s sheep. We first met Yitro’s daughters guarding their father’s flock. If there was a brother, where was he and why was he not on the job? That argues for an absence of any male offspring. In fact, when Moses married Zipporah, he became the family shepherd. The only way out of this difficulty is to suggest that Chovav was a “Ben Zekunim” a son of Yitro’s old age. He was therefor not old enough to guard the family sheep. One is still left wondering why Moses implored the much younger Chovav to remain as a visionary! In the end we know very little as to the true nature of Yitro a truly enigmatic figure.
5Dedicated to the memory of Joel Shulman A’H