Yitro - For the Love of Torah

B"H

As per usual, full text here. 

Sources:

1) Midrash Tanchuma Yitro, Chapter 4 (part 1)

 

וישמע יתרו. שבעה שמות יש לו. יתר, שיתר פרשה בתורה פרשת הדיינין. חובב, שחבב את התורה., כשבא לארץ, נתנו לו דושנה של יריחו, ואמר, כל עצמי לא באתי והנחתי כל מה שהיה לי אלא ללמוד תורה. ועכשיו אני זורע וקוצר, אימתי אני לומד תורה. אמרו לו, יש אדם לומד תורה בעיר, וזה המקום ציה הוא, מדבר הוא ואין שם חטים. כיון ששמעו כך, הלכו להן, שנאמר, ובני קני חותן משה עלו מעיר התמרים את בני יהודה מדבר יהודה אשר בנגב ערד וילך וישב את העם

2) Midrash Tanchuma Yitro, Chapter 4 (part 2)

הלכו ומצאו שם את יעבץ יושב בבית המדרש והכהנים והלוים והמלכים יושבים עמו וכל ישראל יושבין שם. אמרו לו, אנו גרים היאך נשב שם עם אלו. ישבו להן על שערי בית המדרש ושומעין ולומדים, שנאמר, ומשפחות סופרים יושבי יעבץ תרעתים שמעתים שוכתים המה הקינים (דה"א ב נה). מהו תרעתים, שהיו יושבין על השער. שמעתים, שהיו שומעין ולומדים. שוכתין, שהיו ישראל מסכין להם. דבר אחר, מהו תרעתים, בשעה שישראל נכנסין לצרה, מתריעין והן נשמעין

3) Midrash Tanchuma Yitro, Chapter 4 (parts 3 and 4)

ומי הם הקינים. הבאים מבני בניו של יתרו, ובני קיני חתן משה. עליהם נאמר, שלח לחמך על פני המים כי ברוב הימים תמצאנו (קהל' יא א). בשכר קראן לו ויאכל לחם ונאמר במשה כי מן המים משיתיהו, זכו בני בניו של יתרו לישב בלשכת הגזית.

אמר שלמה ושבח אני את המתים שכבר מתו (שם ד ב), וחזר ואמר כי לכלב חי הוא טוב מן האריה המת (שם ט ד). אמרו לו, שלמה, אתה חולם ואתה פותר. אמש אמרת ושבח אני את המתים, ועכשיו אתה אומר כי לכלב חי הוא טוב. אמר, אני אומר לכם, הנביא צוח העצמות היבשות שמעו דבר ה' (יחז' לז ד). והן שומעין, והנביא צווח לחיים שמעו דבר ה' בית יעקב (ירמ' ב ד), ולא שמעו ולא הטו את אזנם, ואומר, כי עם מרי המה בנים כחשים בנים לא אבו שמוע תורת ה' (ישעיה ל ט):

A strong thread seen throughout the Midrash Tanchuma for Parshat Yitro is the Rabbinic tradition that, when Yitro comes to Moshe at the start of the parsha, he in fact came to convert to Judaism. This tradition seems to be based on a few textual 'hooks' from Parshat Yitro, the main one which the Midrash Tanchuma uses being the opening phrase 'Va'yishma Yitro' which is interpreted as Yitro actively listening to and accepting the Torah upon himself , just as the B'nei Israel say 'na'aseh v'nishma' when accepting the Torah at Sinai .

One midrash on this theme which caught my eye is the fourth Chapter of this week's Midrash Tanchuma, in particular the first two parts (the whole midrash can be divided into roughly four sections, hence sources 1-3 above, which have all been taken from the same Chapter but subdivided for ease of reference). Let's take a closer look.

In source 1), after stating that Yitro had seven names the midrash focuses on one of these names - 'Chovav' - which it interprets as Yitro and his descendants showing love for the Torah. The midrash then uses a verse from Shoftim (1:16) relating how the descendants of Yitro, here known as 'Keini', went from Jericho to settle in the Negev as a 'proof-text' for the following extraordinary dialogue.

Yitro/his descendants, having been given a 'dunsha' (fertile area) of Jericho to settle in, protest that 'kol atzmi lo bati, v'hinachti kol mah she'hayah li, eleh lil'mod torah. Achshav ani zorea v'kotzer, eimatai ani lomed torah?' (My whole purpose in coming and leaving all that I had was to study Torah - now that I am planting and reaping, when will I have time to study Torah?). Their listeners respond: 'yesh adam lomed torah ba'ir' (is there one who learns Torah in the City?); 'v'zeh hamakom tziah hu, midbar hu v'ein sham chitim' (There is an arid place, a wilderness [where] there is no wheat/sin')* Following this,Yitro's descendants leave both the city and their allotted portion of fertile farmland to settle in the said midbar of the Negev, presumably to devote themselves to a life of Torah study.

It is noteworthy that the ideal environment for learning Torah appears to be neither the city nor the fertile fields, but instead the barren desert environment in which matan Torah first occurred. While providing material prosperity, the agricultural lifestyle is seen as being detrimental not only due to its reducing the time available for studying Torah, but also containing some inherent sinfulness through the double meaning of 'chitim' as both 'wheat' and 'sin' - making the infertile midbar's lack of 'chitim' a blessing in disguise. 

 

However, reading this as a giyoret I am also struck by the fact that this self-sacrificing love for the Torah - to the point of giving up material comforts to devote one's time to Torah study in the 'purity' of the midbar - is attributed not to any of the B'nei Israel but to Yitro's descendants as gerim. What is particularly interesting is that this desire to return to the simplicity of the midbar is dealt with rather more positively here than when the people later have doubts over entering Eretz Yisrael at the time of the Spies, which some commentators link to an unwillingness to leave the special Torah-focused experience of the midbar for the realities of life in the cities or farming the land. We can see this more positive attitude in the last part of the midrash (see source 3) above, which rebukes the people for being 'banim lo avu shmo'a torat Hashem' (people who are not willing to listen to Hashem's Torah/teaching - Yeshayahu 30:9). By using this at the end of the midrash, the Rabbis seem to be making a marked contrast with Yitro's descendants who were willing to 'listen' and devote their wholehearted attention to the Torah, implicitly singling out the latter's attitude for approval.

 

Let's hold onto that thought for a moment as we turn to the second part of the midrash...

In source 2), the midrash goes on to describe how the Kinim, Yitro's descendants, come and find 'Yabetz'** siting in the Beit Medrash surrounded by the Kohanim, Levi'im, kings, and all of Israel. Confronted by this scene, the Kinim say 'anu gerim - heyach neshev sham im eilu?' (we are converts/strangers***, how can we sit there with them?). So instead, the Kinim humbly seat themselves at the doors of the Beit Midrash to 'listen and learn' - which the midrash uses as their identifying features in interpreting the proof-text (Divrei Hayamim 2:55) naming the families of Kinim. 

Here, the status of Yitro's descendants and their position in society is much more ambivalent. Once again, the midrash emphasises their overriding desire to hear and learn Torah above any comforts or consideration of social status, to the point that the names of their tribal families are derived from their willingness as gerim to sit and learn Torah at the door of  the study-house. The fact that the prooftext used by the midrash describes these families as soferim - which today we would consider to be an important and spiritually elevated role - adds to this favourable view of Yitro's descendants.

Yet at the same time this family of Torah-loving gerim appear to remain permanently at the fringes of Jewish society. In this part of the midrash, the Kinim consider themselves as outsiders who are not worthy of sitting with even the ordinary B'nei Israel, instead volunatarily taking up a marginal position at the doors of the studyhouse when learning Torah. To a certain extent, the very fact that the midrash itself distinguishes the Kinim as a people while still identifying them as gerim also shows this ambivalence over whether gerim are truly part of the Jewish people in the same way as those who are Jewish by virtue of birth.

Part of this is of course down to the different understanding of personal identity in the Biblical era, where people were much more likely to be identified by their tribal or national origin regardless of their own acceptance or otherwise of the Torah (e.g. Ruth, even after the point at which she is said to have 'converted', continues to be described in Sefer Ruth as a Moabite rather than being from the nation of Israel). However even today, while for the most part a ger is to be treated in exactly the same way as any born Jew there remain certain differences both in halacha and in how gerim fit into and are accepted by wider Jewish society. This may even be inherent in the term itself used to describe converts - after all, while the word 'ger' has come to mean a convert to Judaism its literal translation is a 'stranger', making the ger a perpetual 'other' at the very same time as being part of the Jewish people through volunatary acceptance of the Torah.

So, what is the role of the ger in Jewish society? As you may have guessed, for me this is not simply an academic question. The desire of Yitro's descendants to give up material prosperity for the love of Torah is one I identify with strongly - even though it may sound surprising to born Jews, who can forget that I behave as I do not simply to 'jump through the hoops' of the Beit Din which converted me, but rather because of a deep inner drive to learn and live by the Torah. 

On the other hand, having spent years as a 'frum non-Jew' before even going to the mikveh, there have been times when I have also felt as if I should be sitting at the gates of the study-house, hearing my internal voice saying 'who are you to be teaching/asking/challenging/criticising this?'.  In fact, one of the hardest challenges I have faced has been learning how to cope with born Jews who are either indifferent or completely opposed to Torah learning and observance - their attitude is totally foreign to my way of thinking, yet at the same time I have felt (especially pre-mikveh) unworthy of criticising or judging them for this attitude given my own status. 

This feels like more of a musing than usual...however, perhaps we can all find some resolution in the midrash's alternative explanation for the name of one of the families of Kinim, the 'Tirasim'. The midrash posits that 'b'sha'ah she'Yisrael nichnasin l'tza'arah, matri'in v'hen nishma'in' (when Israel was experiencing troubles, they would sound the teruah [i.e. the shofar] and [the Kinim] would listen). While the link between the sounding of the shofar and the Jewish people being in trouble due to their sinning is established as far back as Akeidat Yitzhak (see my earlier post on Vayera), the shofar also accompanies matan Torah at Sinai. 

Given the Kinim's reputation for placing learning Torah as their highest priority, could it be that their role in 'hearing' the shofar blown by the B'nei Israel in times of crisis is to bring them back to the 'ideal' of matan Torah in the midbar - just as their ancestor Yitro 'heard' and voluntarily came to join the Jewish people out of his love for the Torah? If so, perhaps this is the role best filled by those of us who are gerim today - acting as the 'internal conscience' of the Jewish people, and guarding our connection to the Torah given in the harsh yet pure environment of the midbar.

Shavua tov

RPT

* N.B. This is my own translation as the 'official' translation from my edition of Midrash Tanchuma does not appear to fully reflect the original Hebrew. In particular, it translates the phrase 'v'ein sham chitim' as 'there is nothing growing there', which completely fails to bring out the double meaning of 'chitim'. Any mistranslations or inaccuracies are therefore my own. 

** According to my edition, 'Yabeitz' is identified by Rashi as Otniel ben Kenaz, Calev's son-in-law and one of the early shoftim post-Yehoshua, which would explain why the midrash is structured in this way as in the text of Shoftim Otniel ben Kenaz first comes to prominence just before the proof-text used for Source 1) above. However, if we start looking at all the proof-texts brought by the midrash, they do become rather confusing in terms of translations/places/chronology. The best way of approaching this particular midrash is therefore to take it on its own terms and not worry about any obvious anachronisms etc...

***again, this is a double-meaning which I have translated myself, as it is not reflected in the 'official' transation I am using!