Miller's Musings Parshas Yisro: Let My Past Go

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לרפואת יוסף בן בריינה  לעילוי נשמת  אשר בן מאיר

ד''בס    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Yisro was undoubtedly an incredibly astute and perceptive man.  When all others hear about the wondrous nature of the Jews emancipation from Egypt, but did nothing, Yisro cast everything aside to join the Jewish people. Upon arriving he paused to praise Hashem for all He had done to the Jewish nation, but part of that tribute is seemingly redundant.  He extols Hashem for saving them “from the hand of Egypt” and then “from under the hand of Egypt”, almost exactly repeating what was just said. We may also wonder why only after Yisro arrives in the desert are we told “And Yisro rejoiced for all the good which Hashem had done”? He was aware of what had occurred long before he arrived, so why only now did he react with delight to the Jews’ salvation?

                                                             

Yisro had heard everything he needed to know, to leave his homeland behind and set off for an unforgiving wasteland such as the desert was.  He had heard of the way in which Hashem had obliterated the rules of nature for His beloved nation and wreaked vengeance upon those who had sought to destroy them.  But how would he find that nation?  They had been enslaved in the most torturous and appalling manner conceivable.  They had been imprisoned in a country whose immoral and depraved nature was in direct contradiction with everything the Jewish people stood for.  Would they be burdened by their past of captivity and be unable to live entirely as free men?  Would the stench of Egypt still cling to them and the stain still be present, unable to be cleansed?  This was perhaps the joy that Yisro experienced, only now that he was able to see the Jewish people in person. The joy of seeing that despite all they had been through, they showed no vestige of the impurities that would have surrounded them.  This was what he praised Hashem for, that not only were they saved from the hand of Egypt and its afflictions, but they were saved from being under the hand of Egypt, the influence and contamination that should have become part of them. 

                                                                     

Every person’s present is to some extent a product of their past.  There is no escaping this.  But if the Jewish people could leave behind all the pollution of Egypt, even if with Hashem’s assistance, then we too should never be bound by our past.   We can always look to blame others and the way we were treated for the mistakes that we now make.  But we must come to the realisation at some point that ultimately we decide our own destiny and the cards we have been dealt are only the starting point.  What we now do with them will determine our victory or our failure.  For some, to leave the past behind is far more difficult than for others, but for our own sake and for the sake of achieving our purpose, we must do whatever it takes so that the life we have lived does not forever define the person we become. 

*May this Shabbos darken the past and brighten the future*

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם    

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