Parasha: Behaalotcha · Aliyah: Fourth (Netzach)

בשנה השנית בחדש השני, in the second year in the second month, etc. In this instance the reason the Torah mentions the year before mentioning the month of the year was in order to establish a linkage between the paragraph describing the cloud lifting to the exact date on which this event occurred, i.e. on the twentieth of the month. [According to our author this is the preferred manner in which such matters are to be described. Ed.]

נסעים אנחנו, "we are about to commence our journey, etc." Why did Moses use this introduction? Yitro knew that the Israelites were about to journey towards the land of Canaan! The Sifri on our verse, apparently aware of this question, says that Moses meant to emphasise that a single journey would suffice to bring the Israelites to their ultimate destination. We may see confirmation of this in Moses using the word אותו, "it," when referring to the place the journey would lead to. This word was quite unnecessary. Moses clearly referred only to to the land of Canaan seeing that G'd had never promised the patriarchs that the Israelites would inherit the lands of Sichon and Og. He meant to stress that there would be only that one journey. Another meaning of what Moses might have referred to was that the words אתן לכם referred to the lands of Sichon and Og which G'd would give to the Israelites of the present generation without having already allocated it to the patriarchs (compare what we wrote on Numbers 7,42). Seeing that at that time the Israelites were on the way to Canaan via the lands of Sichon and Og, Moses did not mention the land of Canaan by name but spoke vaguely about the land that G'd said He would give to the Israelites although he had not promised this to their forefathers. He had prophetic knowledge of this although G'd had not yet mentioned any of this to the people. This in spite of Sifri 2,289 describing those lands as having been appropriated by the Israelites themselves. The fact is that G'd approved of that conquest as a land the Israelites settled in after the event.

Still another thought that Moses may have had in mind when he said the words אותו אתן לכם is that they were a hint that Moses personally would capture those lands and allow the two and a half tribes to inherit them. The singular אותו was an allusion to the fact that Moses would not conquer the land of Canaan on the West bank of the Jordan, but that G'd would give it to Joshua.

לכה אתנו והטבנו לך. "come with us and we will treat you well." According to Sifri 1,132 Moses indicated that the land of Canaan would only be shared out amongst the ancestral tribes, excluding proselytes. A a result he could not promise his father-in-law a share in that distribution except as a gift rather than as an ancestral possession for all times. This is the reason Moses phrased his promise carefully, saying והטבנו לך, "we will do good for you." The implication was that the Israelites would donate some of their land to Yitro. Moses was afraid that there were five kinds of objections Yitro could raise, all of which would cause him to decline Moses' offer. As a result of Moses' concern for his father-in-law's sensitivities he tried to anticipate them when he made his offer. The five considerations Yitro could have were the following: 1) A recipient of a gift feels embarassed vis-a-vis the donor as we know from the Jerusalem Talmud Orlah 1,3 where this principle is applied to people eating food which is not their own. 2) The recipient feels that if he were to accept the gift his image would henceforth be reduced in the eyes of the donor. 3) Seeing that people of stature feel they demean themselves by accepting relatively small gifts, Yitro might prefer to do without the gift rather than to lose "face" by accepting something not commensurate with his image of himself as an important personage. The remaining 2 reservations Yitro might have had to do with the nature of the promise. Moses might reconsider his promise at some future date prior to it having been fulfilled. This could be due either to 4) Moses changing his mind due to envy or due to miserliness or because the fondness he entertained for Yitro at this time might undergo a change. 5) A time would come when Moses would simply not be able to make good on his promise. Considering all these reservations Yitro might entertain Moses addressed all of them in the way he phrased his offer.

When Moses invited Yitro to journey with the Israelites as a prelude to his receiving the gift of part of the land of Canaan, he wanted to make him feel that as a result of his travelling with the Israelites he would have some kind of claim on being compensated. He did not need to look at the gift as something undeserved. There was no call for him to feel in the least embarassed about accepting a piece of land in the land of Canaan. He would also not have to feel that he would lose face in the eyes of the donor as he would receive only what he deserved. Neither would he have to worry about the promise being reneged on seeing that he was not abandoning his country and travelling with the Jewish people except on condition that they would keep their promise to him. When Moses chose the expression והטבנו לך, he stressed that the size of the gift would be commensurate with a personage of his eminence and accepting it would in no way demean him or his children. In fact the piece of land Moses had in mind to grant to Yitro and his family would be qualitatively superior to that of the tribes. Our sages say that the Israelites gave Yitro and family the most fertile land around Jericho (compare Sifri on our verse).

When Moses added: "for G'd has spoken good concerning Israel," he addressed the two remaining concerns Yitro might have entertained. He implied that since the promise was made with the consent of G'd, Yitro did not have to fear that G'd would be unable to keep His promise. Moreover, he did not have to fear that the value of the gift would be such that the recipient's dignity would suffer for having accepted a gift not worthy of his stature. Seeing that G'd was not in the habit of reneging on a promise, he did not have to worry on that score either. In the few instances where G'd is reported as having changed His mind (Exodus 32,14), He only reconsidered something evil He had considered doing to people. He never went back on a promise to do good for people.

כי אם אל ארצי…אלך, "but I will rather go to my own country." Why did Yitro have to say אלך, seeing he had already said that he would not go with the Israelites? Perhaps this can be explained on the basis of Mechilta in Exodus 18,27 where Moses let his father-in-law depart. Rabbi Joshua said that Moses allowed Yitro to depart from the most honoured place in the world [from the Presence of the Lord as displayed in the Tabernacle. Ed]. Rabbi Eliezer the Modai claimed that before he departed Yitro said to Moses: "light is effective only in a place of darkness." He meant that amongst the Israelites he was not needed to provide enlightenment seeing Israel basked in the light of G'd. In his own country, however, his new found enlightenment could be of benefit to his countrymen. There he might succeed in converting his countrymen to monotheism and then he would bring them to study Torah. In the event we might think that Yitro went home and did not convert his countrymen, look at what is written in the Book of Judges 1,16, where the members of the Kenite (Yitro's clan) are reported as haying come from the city of Jericho to join the tribe of Yehudah to live in the neighbourhood of Arad, part of the desert of Yehudah. It appears from the wording of the Mechilta that Rabbi Joshua was of the opinion that Yitro did not convert and that this was the reason Moses consented that he would leave the כבודו של עולם, the environment in which G'd's Presence predominated. On the other hand, Rabbi Eliezer the Modai believed that Yitro did indeed convert to Judaism. The extraneous word אלך can be explained satisfactorily according to either of these two views. According to Rabbi Joshua Yitro told Moses: "I will not go but I will go to my country; should you think this is only because I prefer my country over the land of Canaan, this is not so; even granted that what you have to offer me is attractive, nonetheless I will go (back to my country)." According to Rabbi Eliezer we must read Yitro's remark as follows: "I will not go (at this stage) but will return to my country (in order to convert my countrymen). At a later stage אלך, I will go (and join you) as per the report in the Book of Judges." The reason that Yitro mentioned both "my country and my birthplace" is that he implied that if he failed to convert all his countrymen to Judaism at least he was certain he could convert all the people in his hometown. [Our version has a different text entirely, such as that Moses showered his father-in-law with gifts. Ed.]

אל נא תעזב אותנו, "please do not abandon us, etc." According to Rabbi Eliezer Hamodai we must understand this verse as Moses asking Yitro not even to leave the Jewish people's camp temporarily. He alluded to this with the word נא. Regarding Yitro's argument that a light is quite superfluous during the time the sun shines, Moses did not accept that argument. He pointed out that Yitro's contribution to the Jewish people had already demonstrated that his presence was invaluable to them, i.e. ידעת חנותנו במדבר, i.e. when he told Moses to select heads of tens, etc. to help him judge the people he had proven that he had analysed the Israelites' problems in the desert correctly. Moses had demonstrated at that time that he accepted Yitro's advice thereby proving that Yitro's "light" could shine even while the moon or the sun were shining, i.e. while they enjoyed the Presence of the שכינה in their midst (Exodus 18,13-27).

According to the view of Rabbi Joshua we must explain this verse as follows: The words אל נא תעזב mean that at this stage it was not appropriate for Yitro to depart. The reason it was inappropriate was that inasmuch as he was already familiar with the Jewish people's camp seeing their encampment was protected by G'd's cloud-and no one else knew their precise whereabouts-his knowledge was a security risk (compare Bamidbar Rabbah 19,20 in connection with Numbers 20,29 that Aaron had died). If he had never come to visit and had familiarised himself with the camp of the Israelites, Moses would not have minded his return to his homeland. According to the Midrash we referred to the whereabouts of the location of the camp of the Israelites remained a secret until the death of Aaron when the cloud enveloping the entire camp disappeared. Now that Yitro had been taken into G'd's confidence disappeared. Now that Yitro had been taken into G'd's confidence by knowing the whereabouts of the camp he should not depart. Another reason he should not leave was the fact that G'd had approved of the advice he had given to Moses and it had become part of the jurisprudence of the people. This is what he meant by describing Yitro as having become "the eyes of the Jewish people." If Yitro were to leave the Israelites after all this, this would be a desecration of the name of G'd. The Israelites would say that if a man who had participated in all their supernatural experiences and whom they had considered as on a high spiritual level could leave this could only prove that he had not been worthy to experience these miracles in the first place. Seeing that Yitro refused to remain, Moses expelled him from the proximity of the שכינה.

והיה כי תלך עמנו, "It will be when you come with us, etc." Why did the Torah repeat the word והיה before coming to the principal message in the verse? Besides, the entire verse seems superfluous as it contains essentially what Moses had offered Yitro already in verse 29? We will try and explain the verse both according to the view of Rabbi Eliezer Hamadoi and the view of Rabbi Joshua. According to the view of Rabbi Eliezer we must look at the word והיה as being simply a continuation of Moses' offer in verse 29 as follows: "Seeing that you have already become "our eyes," you will continue to be so when you decide to remain with us. You will most certainly not be viewed as a proselyte whose new-found enlightenment can hardly be expected to illuminate at a time when the sun of enlightenment shines all around, etc." According to the view of Rabbi Joshua, Moses merely urged Yitro to retain the stature he had acquired while on visit with the Jewish people.

According to Rabbi Eliezer the words והיה הטוב ההוא אשר ייטיב השם "the good G'd will perform with the Jewish people, etc." mean that Moses urged Yitro not to leave and to return at a later date seeing that Moses was interested that Yitro should share in the land at the time Israel would reach the land of Canaan. If he were present at that time it would be easy to grant him some of the most fertile land of that region. This could not be guaranteed if he would not be present at the time of the distribution. Actually, Yitro was persuaded by Moses argument and agreed to remain. When he found out later that the Israelites' entry into the Holy land had been postponed for 40 years, he decided to sit out this waiting period in his own country rather than in the desert. He used the interval to convert his countrymen and eventually returned to join the Jewish people and took them up on their offer. According to Rabbi Joshua our verse is also meant to tell Yitro not to view himself as inferior because he was "only" a proselyte. This is why Moses assured him that he would receive a full share of all the good G'd had in store for the Jewish people when the time came. Not only that, but he would receive of the most fertile soil that the land of Canaan had to offer.