I find it tremendously interesting that a convert looms nearly larger than life in a prominent place in the Torah.  The weekly portion known by his name, Yitro, begins with the prominent role of this convert and ends with the Revelation at Sinai.  Surely, not a coincidence.

Who is Yitro?  Our sages tell us his title, Cohen Midyan, may be an indication of his religious path.  Yitro was a truth-seeker; a God seeker.  Yitro examined every idolatrous path known before arriving at the truth about God.  Yitro had a prominent role in his society and was a religious leader, but relinquished it to be an outcast who sought God when all around him did not.  Sounds rather Abrahamic, doesn’t it?  The N’tziv says this is why Yitro’s daughters were oppressed when Moshe met them at the well.  Yitro had taken his family from a role of religious and societal prominence to being outcasts, for the sake of his rejection of idolatry.  Moreover, commentators like Rashi and later the N’tziv describe a picture of Moshe seeking both spiritual inspiration and social justice during his times herding his father in law’s flocks in the wilderness.  It seems easy to me to conclude that Yitro facilitated this; maybe even mentored Moshe in some way.

Our sedra opens with the words “Yitro Cohen Midyan, Moshe’s father in law, heard all that Hashem did for Moshe and Israel His people; that God took Israel out of Egypt.”  The g’mara in Z’vahim asks concerning “Yitro...heard”, “what did he hear that compelled him to come and convert?”  Rabi Yehoshua says he heard about the war with Amalek.  Rabi Eliezer Hamodai says he heard about the giving of Torah.  Rabi Eliezer says he heard about the splitting of the Sea of Reeds.

Although each of these sages seems to emphasize a particular bit of news that inspired and compelled Yitro; I would like to read them as one piece.  What does each of these three contribute to a whole and holistic perception of God in His world?

The battle with Amalek was an expression of Hashem’s involvement in history and human affairs; the most seemingly mundane and profane affairs.  Even in the arena of politics and war, maybe especially there, God is present and involved.  How so?  The struggles between cultures and societies are an evolutionary process of slowly, painfully moving towards a unified, clarified human understanding.  Most important within that understanding will be the knowledge and recognition and worship of God.  It is a process of pain and struggle, yet one that actually moves us closer to God.

The giving of Torah at Sinai is the clear moment of God’s will revealed in prophecy.  There is no greater prophecy than that of our master Moshe.  God revealing His will through Torah is a glimpse of the transcendant truth that penetrates all worlds, all planes of existence.

The splitting of the Sea of Reeds is a revelation of God as the master of nature; the God of Creation.

Note that all of these areas - History, Prophecy, Nature - overlap in these events.  God is one, and His will is one throughout all of existence in all manners that it is experienced and perceived.  Yitro saw this, and came to be a part of that revelation by being a part of Israel through whom these truths are revealed.  This was the end of Yitro’s search.

Judaism becomes formalized at Sinai.  In a sense, we were all converts as we entered a national covenant with God.  Yitro, the righteous convert, was a model for the great encompassing and transcendent perspective of God that we all need to approach His Torah in truth.  May we all be blessed with the will for the relentless pursuit of truth through Hashem’s Torah.