5784 - Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld: "And Yisro heard..." Rashi: 'What report did he hear and come? The splitting of the Red Sea and the war with Amalek.' But the Torah states explicitly that Hashem took out…

00:00 Speaker 1 Narcissa.

00:02 Speaker 2 “Yisro, the priest of Midian, Moshe’s father-in-law, heard all that G-d had done for Moshe and for His people Israel.” Rashi says: “What did he hear that made him come? The splitting of the Red Sea and the war with Amalek.” There are a few questions about Rashi here that we need to understand. First of all, the verse says explicitly what he heard: all that Hashem had done for Moshe and for His people Israel, “that Hashem had taken Israel out of Egypt.” What is bothering Rashi? And then Rashi says, “What did he hear that made him come?” He heard about the splitting of the Red Sea and the war with Amalek. There were many other miracles. Why does Rashi mention only these two—the splitting of the Red Sea and the war with Amalek? Some explain that Rashi’s question, “What did he hear that made him come?” means: What prompted Yisro to decide to come into the desert? He was living in comfort and honor. What moved him to come into the desert, to Moshe Rabbeinu, to learn Torah? He could have stayed where he was. What did he hear that made him come? He understood that he had to come specifically to Moshe Rabbeinu. He heard about these two events: the splitting of the Red Sea and the war with Amalek. About the splitting of the Red Sea, we say every day in Az Yashir, “Then the chiefs of Edom were terrified; trembling seized the mighty men of Moav; all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away,” right? When the Red Sea split, all the waters in the world split. So fear fell upon all the surrounding nations. The question is: after such a revelation at the splitting of the Red Sea, how could Amalek come afterward and fight Israel? They saw such miracles that Hakadosh Boruch Hu performed for them, and this brazen Amalek comes to fight Israel. How could that be? This led Yisro to understand that one had to go into the desert to learn Torah from Moshe Rabbeinu. If the Red Sea could split, and one could see such a revelation of G-dliness, and then Amalek could come and fight Israel, that’s a sign

02:30 Speaker 2 that one must come and learn Torah from Moshe Rabbeinu. And that is what Rashi is saying.

02:36 Speaker 3 How is that funny?

02:39 Speaker 2 Because if a person can see G-dliness, can see a miracle like the splitting of the Red Sea, how can he then come and fight Israel? Hakadosh Boruch Hu is leading Israel and taking them out of Egypt, and you come to fight them? The point is, all these revelations are wonderful. But if you do not connect yourself to Moshe Rabbeinu, the leader of the generation, it’s possible to see the splitting of the Red Sea and then have the war with Amalek.

03:03 Speaker 3 It doesn’t last.

03:03 Speaker 2 So that is what Rashi is saying. “What did he hear that made him come?” What brought him? He heard about all the miracles, yes, but what brought him to Moshe Rabbeinu? The fact that the war with Amalek could happen after the splitting of the Red Sea. That’s a sign that one needs to travel to the Rebbe and connect oneself to the Rebbe.

03:19 Speaker 3 Clearly. It’s essential.