Parshas Yisro 5776

What Was Yisro's Job?

The Torah writes (Exodus 18:1):

Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel His people, how that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.

The Mekhilta (ibid) explains two opinions as to his title:

R. Yehoshua says: He was a priest, as in (Judges 18:30) "And Jonathan the son of Gershom the son of Menasheh — he and his sons — were Cohanim (for idolatry) to the tribe of Dan until the day the land was exiled." R. Elazar Hamodai says: He (Yithro) was an officer, as in (II Samuel 8:18) "And the sons of David were Cohanim."

Ikar Sifsei Chachamim (Genesis 47:22) explains further:

Any time it says "priest" without explaining for whom, it means a priest for divinity, and even more so if it says "priest for G-d", or "priest for idols" or stars. But priest of Midian or priest of On, when it mentions the name of a country or a city it means an officer or a prince of that place, and thus Onkelos explains it "priest of On", and "priest of Midian" as an officer of On and officer of Midian.

The Grandson of Moses

The Torah writes (Exodus 18:3):

and her two sons; of whom the name of the one was Gershom; for he said: ‘I have been a stranger in a strange land’;

Later on (Judges 18:30), we find the following regarding the idol of Michah:

And the children of Dan set up for themselves the graven image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land.

Rashi (ibid) explains based on the Talmud (Bava Bathra 109b):

the son of Menasseh: Out of respect for Moses (משֶׁה) a “nun” was inserted thereby changing the name (מְנַשֶּׁה). This letter was written suspended to indicate that it was not Menasseh but actually Moses.

Baal HaTurim (Exodus 2:16) explains why it happened:

"And to the priest of Midian" - similar language appears later on (Judges 17:10 18:19) regarding the idol of Micah. Jethro was a priest for idols and when Moses married his daughter, he required him to set aside his first born son as a priest for idols. Moses knew that his father-in-law will repent when he converts, nevertheless Moses was punished by having his grandson become a priest for idols as it says "Jonathan son of Gershom son of Menashe", and our Rabbis learn (Bava Bathra 109b) "son of Moses".

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (Exodus 4:25) writes a similar story regarding Gershom's circumcision:

And Ziporah took a knife and circumcised Gershom, her son, and threw the foreskin to the feet of the destroying angel, and said: "My groom wanted to circumcise him but his father-in-law stopped him, and this circumcision should atone for my groom

The Talmud (Bava Bathra 110a) writes that he eventually repented:

When King David saw that money was precious to him, he put him in charge of the treasuries for it says (Chronicles I 26:24): "Shebuel the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, was ruler over the treasuries." But was Shebuel his name? Wasn't Jonathan his name? Rabbi Jochanan says: for he returned to G-d with his full heart [and his name was changed)

(see further discussion by Josh Waxman in his parshablog)

Additional Topics:

(see also our earlier post about who the elders in this week's parsha were)

[Published at parshapeople.blogspot.com / Comments welcome to parsha-people@publishyoursefer.com]