Yitro, יִתְרוֹ  "Jethro"  Exodus 18:1 - 20:22

Poem of Yitro

Poetic notes on the Parashat Yitro*

The Hand of the Eternal

was carrying Israel through the wilderness...

Carefully and tenderly, the Eternal had lifted Israel up

out of the soul-constricting dungeon,

out of the demonic fortress of Egypt

and had brought Israel into the open wilderness

There, journeying in the wilderness,

Israel would pass by many dry twigs and branches

of the tree of Adam

These dry branches of Adam were sticks that could burn

in fires of good and evil

Yitro was one such branch, one dry stick

Amalek was another

Yitro had sometimes been near to fire

He was a smouldering torch, singed on one end,

still red from idolatry, 

his dry soul now longed for a different, holy fire

He was silently praying, waiting to be lit into blue flame

His color, though, was black and fading orange

Amalek was a dead bone stick in the desert, a grey twig 

Amalek was barely kindling, barely more than paper,

attracting every passing spark

The word of Hashem is a mighty Hand of light,

crushing Egypt into darkness,

hammering out sparks of holiness,

forging sparks of light from the fristborn of Egypt

Sparks of fire were carried far into the wilderness

Egypt’s spirit was a crawling serpent,

a staff of dark idolatry and magic

It was a bone-dry stick in the dust,

having no spark of holiness to keep it from turning to ash

It was a slithering staff clinging to the ground

in the whirlwind heatwaves of the fires of good and evil

The root of the stick of Amalek was a shoot of Egypt

The staff of Egypt sidled out into the desert

to speak with a serpent's tongue to Yitro

"You see Hashem,”

the serpentine staff said with cunning

"You know that, at best,

Hashem is only first among equals

He is a powerful god among many gods

Today one is on top, tomorrow another

You know that all gods are proud 

to display their power

You have seen Hashem in Egypt

All you saw there is a rivalry of gods”

Yitro did not reply

He would not answer the serpentine stick

In truth, Yitro had heard

the news about Hashem in Egypt

When he had heard, he had prayed with fear, 

his hollow soul longing to know Hashem

Being a dry stick himself,

he had flickered from the blue spark of truth

Holiness had touched him

and kindled little flames in his soul

But he had not yet fully sparked into flame

Yitro’s ears had already been cultivated

like fields plowed and ready to be planted

They had been turned and furrowed,

by the voice of Moses singing in his tent

Yet Yitro had always breathed the spiritual smog 

that filled wandering Adam’s earth,

an atmosphere filled with the low lying fog of arrogance

And his lungs had not yet breathed

the purifying spirit of Hashem’s humility

His understanding was not yet healed

by the oxygen of Hashem's revelation

He had always worshipped and served any and every god

Now, he was weakened with shame

The songs that Moses had sung in his tent

still rung in Yitro’s ears

But now the whispers of the Egyptian serpentine staff

were slowly filling his ears like water

The stick crawling on its belly out of Egypt had survived 

because it had grown on the swampy bank of a river

It was like one wet stick in a bundle

The argument of this serpent 

dampened and thickened the arrogance all around it

The swampy dampness of serpentine servitude

filled Yitro's ears, weakened Yitro’s prayers

Then All Israel came near to where Yitro was praying

Israel came and the Red Sea trembled

Yitro heard the waters of the sea tremble

He heard how Hashem walked with Israel

Then Israel’s powerful feet of faith

conquered the sea

When the rod of Moshe

split the waters of the sea like an arrow splits the heart of the prey,

it split even the waters above the world

Even the slithering, swampy stick of Egypt was split and shattered

Still, it left splinters whispering in Yitro's ears,

"You see how Hashem dominates his people!”

the whispers of the serpentine splinters said

Slithering words slipped in and out of Yitro’s ears

“He makes them work like little servant angels,

His purpose is to show off among the gods”

But Yitro's ears still defended themselves with prayer

The voice of Moses was in his heart

Holy sparks were kindled in the soul of the stick of Yitro

Instead of growing colder, his heart grew steadily warmer

But still his heart was damp with doubt

and did not yet burst into flame

Then Amalek,

that ancient serpent's seed itself,

came like heavy smog rolling darkly out of the bad lands

Egypt’s stick was from the south

Amalek’s stick was from north of Egypt

They sounded different when they lied

The accent of their lies was different

Egypt's pride seemed to come from the earth's core

Amalek's pride came from above the mountains

Though from the same father,

they were from a different mothers

Yitro knew it was the same root by a different name

from which the stick of Egypt and the stick of Amalek came

Then it was that Yitro’s world changed

A spark of truth fell into his ear

and his fire would ignite and forever remain

When Yitro heard

about Israel's war with Amalek,

how Moses had fought with his hands of faith,

it was then that his blue fire burst into flame

He then understood

that Israel was going to the mountain

to receive the Torah

The serpentine Amalek then exclaimed,

“How can Yitro become an ever-burning flame?”

What standing does Yitro have at Sinai?

By what right will he go to the holy burning mountain?

Then Yitro asked himself:

What standing do I have at the Giving of the holy Torah,

seeing that I myself am but a dry stick in the desert sand?

I have no feet with which to stand before Hashem

Still, though he was a cripple and had no feet,

Yitro’s irrepressibly kindled heart raised his head

and he rejoiced with Israel, the people of God!

For he said, "Now I know that Hashem is God!

He is the One and Only One in heaven and earth"

Yitro saw that in a world of trouble, Israel the slave

had become a strong man, a strong woman,

even while, in faith, Israel was still a child

Having been a slave to seeking false gods all his life,

Yitro knew that the true slavery was of the spirit,

It all began with the slavery of false pride

He knew that Hashem had redeemed Israel physically,

But hadn’t seen convincing evidence 

that All Israel would be redeemed spiritually 

Now he saw that evidence

"Now I see", said Yitro,

"that Hashem put all his revelation at risk,

the revelation of his goodness and glory

All confidence he placed in the faith of a child

Though they could only wield their faith

through their sword,

and not yet through their word,

Hashem risked all for Israel

Though he had openly revealed his power in the world

in the realm of material kingdoms,

he restrained the revelation of his power in the world 

in the realm of all spiritual kingdoms

Hashem entrusted the faith of his children to

silence forever the voice of the serpentine stick,

He trusted them to stand with Him unto the end,

to wage war against the serpentine stick of  Amalek

All nations, all generations

had seen Israel crossing the sea

"They’re invincible and untouchable!"

said many of those gathered round

"No!" Said Amalek

his arrogance exploding,

his hatred smouldering

“I will drink their water!

I will steal their fire!

I will show you that they are completely touchable!"

"He will crush your head,”

thundered back Hashem against the serpent,

“and you will strike his heel!"

Yitro heard what the children of Israel did,

how even the lame defeated Amalek through faith

And burning brightly like a flame he said,

"I will go to serve Hashem with them!

For now I understand

That when their faith was young 

it needed to lean upon a sword 

But when their faith has grown 

its only weapon will be in the blue fire of their mouths 

and their armoury will be the tablets

carved by the Finger of God

Hashem invested all his revelation

in the obedience and learning of his children

who revere and love him,

who lift their hands like birds,

who fly like lowly Yitro, up through the clouds,

to reach, to touch, the Cloud of Glory!"

Then Yitro rose up aflame with many sparks

Like a dry stick burning and never consumed,

flying out of the desert of Midian,

taking his daughter, the wife of Moses,

to go to Mount Sinai 

to listen to Moses sing