How Could It Be that a Parasha is Named after a Gentile who Just Said a Word of

WHAT DID ALL THE NATIONS DO WHEN THEY HEARD ABOUT THE GIVING OF THE TORAH?  HOW DID BILAM COOL EVERYONE OFF?  WHAT MADE YITRO DIFFERENT FROM EVERYONE ELSE AND HOW COULD IT BE THAT A GENTILE WHO JUST SAID A WORD OF WISDOM MERITED TO HAVE A PARASHA NAMED AFTER HIM?

CHIDUSHIM ON PARASHAT YITRO BY MOREINU HARAV ELIEZER BERLAND SHLIT”A

The Zohar says that Yitro was the chief of all idol worship.  He would tell anyone who came to him precisely which idolatry to go to so that they would definitely be healed.  So the whole world knew that Yitro was the last stop, the pope of all popes.

Now Yitro is saying that everything was falsehood.  Yitro announces and says, “You are greater than all the gods.  All the idolatries are lies!  They’re mamash fooling you.  It’s all sorcery, folk remedies, and demons.  The fact is that everyone has to switch [their idolatry from generation to generation].  Whatever worked for the father already didn’t work for his son.  What worked for the son was no good for the grandson.  What comes out of this is that it’s only a folk remedy.”

So when Yitro, who had been the high priest of all desires, came and [said], “The Kadosh Baruch Hu rules over everything,” the entire world heard of His might.  Then everyone ran to Bilam.

What was the mistake?  A person hears a shiur, hears a word, then who do they go to?  They go to some wicked person!  He hears a nice lesson, a nice “chidush (insight),” he goes to a wicked person and says, “Tell me, I heard a nice chidush; what do you say about the chidush?”  So he tells him, “This isn’t a chidush, this is nothing!  This is just nonsense, just Breslov.  This guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

So the whole world ran to Bilam, and Bilam wrote off Matan Torah (the Giving of the Torah).  But Yitro ran to Moshe Rabbeinu!  This was Yitro’s wisdom, to go and ask Moshe Rabbeinu!  Not to ask Bilam what he thinks about Moshe Rabbeinu.   They went to Bilam to ask what he has to say about Moshe Rabbeinu.  “What’s your opinion about the Ten Commandments?”  They asked, “Is there going to be a flood?”

He said, “There won’t be a flood.”

“A flood of fire?”

“There won’t be a flood of fire, because Hashem won’t bring a flood onto the entire world.  You have nothing to be afraid of because of these words!”

However, after everyone saw that Yitro converted, nevertheless, the Zohar says: "And they all looked at Yitro, for he was wiser than all the sages of the world. But when he saw what had come upon him from the Kadosh Baruch Hu, [he proclaimed:] 'You are greater than all the gods in their worship…'"  The entire world abandoned idol worship.  At that moment, there was one second that everyone abandoned idolatry.  Afterwards, people little-by-little cool off.  “For the Name of the Kadosh Baruch Hu is glorified in all places.”

Therefore, it’s written: Parashat “Yitro,” which raises a question: Why Parashat “Yitro”?  Some gentile comes and says to Moshe, “Appoint leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, leaders of thousands.”  What’s the wisdom here?  Everyone knows this “wisdom.”  Moshe wanted to work a bit harder.  Yitro tells him, “Don’t work harder.”  Fine, because of this, you need to name the parashah after him?  If a Jew comes and tells him, “You’re working too hard.  Go to sleep, go rest a little bit,” do we name a parashah in the Torah after him?

So the Zohar says about this: No, we have Parashat Yitro because the entire world converted.  Therefore, we have Parashat Yitro.  This is the chidush of the Zohar.  Why do we have Parashat Yitro and write his name in the Torah?  Because in his merit, the entire world converted.  Afterwards, people cooled off and so everyone needs to come to Moshe Rabbeinu.  If a person doesn’t hear a shiur, he cools off little-by-little.  You need to come to another shiur and another shiur!!  If a person isn’t excited, he cools off little-by-little!  People entice him, so he certainly cools off!