This is a free translation of a talk from the Rebbe of parashat Yitro, 1965. Printed in Likkutei Sichot, vol. 11, p. 74.

1.

Regarding what is written in our Torah portion: “And Jethro said: Blessed be the L-rd who has delivered you” — our Sages of blessed memory said: “It is a disgrace for Moses and the six hundred thousand [Israelites] that they did not say ‘Blessed’ until Jethro came and said: ‘Blessed be the L-rd.’”

This requires understanding: what is the meaning of “that they did not say ‘Blessed,’ etc.”? After all, Moses and the Children of Israel sang a song to the L-rd after the miracle of the Splitting of the Sea!

And it cannot be explained that the disgrace was that they did not say “Blessed” regarding the Exodus from Egypt (but only regarding the Splitting of the Sea), for if so, “the main point is missing from the text.”

This can be understood by prefacing what is written in the Zohar: that until Jethro came and acknowledged the Holy One, blessed be He, the Torah was not given to Israel. And when Jethro came and said, “Blessed be the L-rd who has delivered you, etc.; now I know that the L-rd is greater than all the G-ds, etc.,” through this he effected that “the Holy One, blessed be He, was exalted above and below, and afterward He gave the Torah in completeness.”

Apparently, this is difficult to understand: how is it possible that all the great spiritual stature of Moses and Aaron and the six hundred thousand of Israel — before Jethro came — was still not sufficient for the Torah to be given to Israel, and that they merited it only after Jethro also acknowledged the Holy One, blessed be He, and said, “that the L-rd is greater than all the G-ds”?

2.

All the above will be understood by first introducing the following question:

At the beginning of the portion it is written, “And Jethro, priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard all that G-d had done.” One must understand: what is the verse teaching us here by emphasizing that he was a “priest of Midian”? Seemingly, it would have sufficed to inform us briefly: “And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, heard.”

Moreover, regarding “priest of Midian,” there are two interpretations:

According to the second interpretation — that he was a priest of idolatry — this is most puzzling: does the Torah come here to relate something derogatory about Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law? Especially when from the content of our portion it appears that the intention is the opposite — to recount Jethro’s praise.

The explanation is as follows: in truth, the verse does not use the title “priest of Midian” to diminish Jethro’s importance, but on the contrary, to describe his former greatness and honor (in the land of Midian), through which his virtue is emphasized even more when he came to convert — to the extent that “his heart motivated him to go out to the wilderness, a place of desolation, to hear words of Torah.”

For even according to the second interpretation of “priest of Midian” (that he was a priest of idolatry), this indicates Jethro’s greatness in terms of knowledge and intellectual grasp. For the root of the error of those who went astray and were drawn after idolatry came (primarily) through intellectual understanding and reasoning. As Maimonides writes: “They said: Since G-d created these stars and spheres to govern the world, etc., they are worthy of praise and glorification and of being accorded honor. And this is the will of G-d, etc.”

That is to say: although it is indeed true that the flow of Divine vitality is drawn down into this physical world through the stars and constellations — as our Sages said, “There is not a blade of gra