Yisro: 5786 - "And Yisro heard." Rashi: "What news did he hear that he came?" They ask, isn't the reason written in the verse? Also: the connection to Yud Shvat, 'Rosh Hashanah…'

00:03 Speaker 1 Last week I didn’t get to share a dvar Torah. People contacted me on Thursday and sent messages: “What about the dvar Torah?” The truth is, I was busy in New York with a wedding and sheva brachos. But I promised them we’d make it up this week, with Hashem’s help. By the way, chassidim used to say that there’s a verse in Tehillim, “If you see a thief, you run with him”—he always has an excuse, an explanation why. But with Hashem’s help, we’re doing it today. I was there at Beis Chayeinu for Yud Shvat, which, as chassidim say, is the Rosh Hashanah for hiskashrus. The Mishnah lists four New Years, and there’s a Rosh Hashanah for Chassidus, which is 19 Kislev, and there’s also Yud Shvat, the Rosh Hashanah for hiskashrus. And it really was remarkable. So many people came for Yud Shvat despite how difficult it was, because the weather in New York was truly unbearable. It was minus twenty, with heavy snow. Yet getting into the beis midrash at 770 was almost an impossible task, because it was completely full and packed. So many people came, and you could actually see what the Mishnah says about the Beis Hamikdash: “They stood crowded together but bowed with plenty of room.” How can that be? They would explain: When people stand, each person stands in his own place, with his whole sense of self, so it’s crowded, because everyone takes up his own space. But when they bow, when each person sets himself aside, there’s room. There’s enough room for everyone, wherever each person is. Some were in the large beis midrash, some were in the Rebbe’s room, and some were at the holy Ohel. Each person found himself in the place where he felt he could connect with the Rebbe. And this connects with the weekly parsha, Parshas

02:15 Speaker 1 Yisro. Parshas Yisro begins, “And Yisro, the priest of Midian, Moshe’s father-in-law, heard.” Rashi asks there: “What did he hear that made him come?” “And Yisro heard.” People ask: What is Rashi’s question? The continuation of the verse tells us what he heard. It says explicitly that he “heard all that Hashem had done for Israel, to Egypt and to Pharaoh.” So what is the question, “What did he hear that made him come?” The explanation is that Rashi’s question is: What did he hear that made him come? What moved him? And what does Rashi answer? Rashi says he heard about the splitting of the Sea and the war with Amalek. But there were so many miracles: the Ten Plagues, the plague of the firstborn, about which it says, “I will pass through Egypt and strike every firstborn”—Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, not through an emissary or an angel. There were so many miracles. Rashi mentions only the splitting of the Sea and the war with Amalek. Why only those two things? What about all the other miracles? The point is in the words “What did he hear that made him come?” What made him leave Midian, where he was? He enjoyed tremendous honor there. He was the priest of Midian, the pope of the idolatrous world at that time. He left behind all his honor and his position and went toward Egypt, into the wilderness, where the mountain of G-d was. What made him leave his place, come to the wilderness, convert, and study Torah? That is what Rashi answers: What did he hear that made him come? What moved him to take action, come to Moshe Rabbeinu, and connect himself with Moshe Rabbeinu? He heard about the splitting of the Sea and the war with Amalek. Why did those things bring him? Regarding the splitting of the Sea, the Midrash says that it wasn’t only the Sea that split; all the waters in the world split. This led to “The mighty men of Moav were seized with trembling; all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away. Terror and dread fell upon them.” They

04:39 Speaker 1 saw all those extraordinary miracles. The sea represents alma d’iskasya, the hidden world. In other words, there were such lofty revelations of G-dliness, and they saw all those revelations. And afterward, “Amalek came and fought with Israel.” How could Amalek come and fight when there were such revelations of G-dliness? That is what brought Yisro. He understood then that it wasn’t enough for him to know, to learn, and to know the truth. He had to come to the wilderness, to Moshe Rabbeinu. Because a person can know and see all the revelations—a maidservant at the Sea saw what Yechezkel did not see in the Divine chariot—and nevertheless, “Amalek came.” Yisro understood then that it wasn’t enough to remain in Midian. He had to come and connect himself with Moshe Rabbeinu. We saw this with our own eyes on Yud Shvat. Jews came from all corners of the world to connect with the Rebbe. May we have a good week and a peaceful Shabbos, and may we soon merit the true and complete Geulah.

05:45 Speaker 2 Amen.