Shabbat Parashat Yitro - 5781

Shabbat Parashat Yitro - 5781

Rabbi Hal Miller

Moshe sent his father-in-law, and he went off to his land. [Shemot 18:27]

The commentators argue all over the Torah as to whether the events portrayed

were all in chronological order or not. Our verse has been read as proof for

both sides of that debate. But either way, it seems odd that Moshe would send

Yitro away at any time. What was going on here?

Rashi, based on Mechilta, gives us a simple answer. Yitro wanted to get to work

converting the rest of his family to the Torah way of life. Moshe then was merely

sending him off with his blessing. But our verse seems to imply that this was

Moshe's doing, not Yitro's.

Assuming that it was Yitro's decision to leave, Sforno explains that he may have

felt too old to join the Jewish people in their fight with the Canaanites, but rather

joined them later on.

Ibn Ezra looks at the grammatical form of the words va'yishalach (and sent) and

va'yeilech (and went). These can be read that Moshe went with Yitro for at least

part of his journey, from which we learn the practice we have of escorting our

Shabbat guests out the door and beginning their walk home after the meal.

Rav Hirsch translates this verse as, "And Moshe let his father-in-law depart and

he went his way into his own land." This supports the idea that it was Yitro, not

Moshe, who chose the departure.

Ramban has a slightly different understanding of the text, which leads to an

interesting question. He writes: "Moshe sent off his father-in-law and he went to

his land." While at first glance, one might wonder, what is the difference, there is

a subtle change, which in English moves the word 'off' from the going-to-the-land,

to the sending-Yitro. What could Ramban have been saying to us? Everyone else

has read the verse to mean that it was Yitro who "went to his land", but here, we

see it could actually be referring to Moshe! Although "father-in-law" is the

potential subject of the last clause due to being close, by shifting the word off

(which does not appear in Hebrew either way) the verse ties Moshe to this last

clause. Perhaps our verse refers to Moshe starting now on the actual journey to

the land of Israel, that what came before was wandering more or less without

direction while the people were learning something about God.