Why does Yitro go home?  Why doesn’t he stay with the Jewish people?

For those of you keeping score, Yitro is Moses’ Father-in-Law.  He hears the news that the Israelites have left Egypt.  Ecstatic, he rushes out to reunite with Moses, bringing his wife and children with him.  He gives Moses some good advice.  He is present when the Israelites receive the Torah on Mount Sinai.  Moses begs him to stay.  Yitro tells him he wants to go back to his homeland. Bamidbar is ambiguous, but Shemot tells us that ultimately he goes home.

Some might argue that Yitro went back to Midian because he had an important role to play in his community.  He was High Priest.  He had a community and a life of his own.  Rashi argues that now that he saw the light, he went home to spread the Israelite gospel to others.

I have a different theory that comes from the parasha, but also from real-life experience.

When I first moved to Atlanta, it was amazing how many of my relatives made the effort to visit us in our first or second year living here.  Most of my aunts and uncles came for my installation, including my grandparents.  Yet except for my parents, and the occasional passer-through, none have come back.

Years later now, it has since dawned on me that there was great significance to those initial visits.  My family wanted to make sure the kids were alright.

I still recall how many comments I heard from my family about how much they loved the synagogue community.  First walking into our house, I remember how much my grandparents were enamored with the high ceilings, a rare commodity in central New Jersey real estate.  Some family members wanted to run out and get groceries, or go purchase things to make sure we had everything we needed.

Immediately preceding Yitro’s leaving the Israelites, we are told that the cloud of God filled the newly completed mishkan.  The Israelites had laws.  They had a spiritual home.  Moses, Tzipporah, and their family had everything they needed.

Yitro loved his children very much.  But he also knew it was time to go.  It wasn’t just that thing about relatives and fish.  He goes home because he knew that the kids were going to be all right.

– Rabbi Dan Dorsch

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