The parashah begins with Yisro having heard about the miracles that Hashem performed for the Jewish nation. He decided to uproot himself, travel to the desert, and become part of the Jewish nation. We wonder why only Yisro came. On the pasuk (Shemos 14:21) המים ויבקעו, Rashi writes, "All waters of the world split." Everyone knew that Hashem split the sea for His nation, and they probably knew about all the other miracles, just as Yisro knew. So what inspired Yisro to convert while the rest of the world remained on the sidelines?
Rebbe Dovid Lelover zt'l answered, "The entire world hatt gehert [heard about the miracles], but Yisro hatt derhert [understood]." Of course, the entire world heard about the miracles, but Yisro took it a step further. He contemplated and studied them until he concluded that his only path forward was to convert and become part of the Jewish nation.
To explain this idea, we will take a look at the miracles that are embedded in nature. Millions of miracles and wonders can be found in the nature of the world, and scientists are aware of all these miracles more than anyone else. However, many of them remain apikorsim. This is because they "hear" the miracles but don't take it a step further to "understand" what they mean.
Another example is the hashgachah pratis that is evident in the world. People see wondrous examples of Hashem's hand in their lives, but many don't draw the proper conclusions – to recognize Hashem. Similarly, at the time of kriyas Yam Suf, the entire world heard about the miracles, but only Yisro thought about it and understood what it meant, and that compelled him to take action.
There was another factor that brought Yisro to recognize Hashem in a world where most people failed. It states (18:1) ...יתרו וישמע עמו ולישראל למשה אלקים עשה אשר כל את, "Yisro heard...everything that Hashem did to Moshe and to Yisrael, His nation." The key words are אלקים עשה אשר כל, "everything that Hashem did." When looking at an isolated miraculous detail, one might rationalize and think it occurred by chance. But when one looks at the whole picture – the many miracles that happened- he realizes without doubt that Hashem performed them. This applies to the miracles we find in nature, the wonders of hashgachah pratis, and the miracles that occurred by yetzias Mitzrayim. Hashem took the Yidden out of Mitzrayim with many miracles.
עשה אשר כל את ...יתרו וישמע אלקים, Yisro paid attention to the many miracles, which brought him to recognize Hashem and join the Jewish nation.
Seeing the Full Picture
But the people who heard the entire pasuk had no questions. The Chofetz Chaim explained that people question Hashem’s ways because they only see half of the story. For example, they ask, "Why do resha'im prosper, and why do tzaddikim suffer?" But if you looked at the full picture, including what will be in the end, they wouldn't have any questions.
The Chofetz Chaim told the following mashal: Someone complained to the gabbai of a shul, "I came to your shul for the first time today, and I am unimpressed by how it is run. You distributed the aliyos in an unfair manner. You chose randomly, without an order, from all sides of the beis medresh! And a young child received maftir! Why don't you make an order? Are you helping your friends while ignoring others?"
The gabbai explained to him that there was, in fact, an order. "The first aliyah goes to a kohen, and there is only one kohen in the beis medresh. The second aliyah goes to a levi, and maftir was given to the young boy because he is bar mitzvah this week. Every aliyah has a reason why it was given to that specific individual. You only came one week, so you think there is no order, but those who come every week know that everything is distributed in an organized manner." Similarly, when we look at half the picture, we think that things aren't right, but when we take into account 'ה עשה אשר כל, that Hashem does everything, we understand that there is an order, and everything is correct and just.
The community of Slonim hired the best chazanim to lead the tefillos on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The problem was that people in other towns knew that Slonim had the best chazanim, and they would find out who had davened in Slonim that year and offer those chazanim more money, and the chazan would go to those communities. Thus, every year, the community of Slonim would have to find a new chazan.
One year, all good chazanim were taken. The community of Slonim settled on an old chazan who knew the tunes correctly but had a weak voice. That was the best they could do that year. They decided that this time they would be smart – they would make a condition with the chazan that he couldn't leave them for ten years.
Reb Isaac Charif zt'l, the rav of Slonim, laughed when he heard the community leaders make this condition. He told them the following story:
A city designated a new plot of land for a cemetery, but very few people agreed to go there; everyone wanted to be buried in the more populated cemetery. Therefore, the chevra kadisha offered a thousand rubles to the first ten families who agreed to bury their loved ones in the new cemetery.
A poor person told his wife, "I found a solution to obtain all our Pesach needs, but you must help me. I will pretend that I died, and you will cry before my bed like a young widow. The chevra kadisha will arrive and offer you the thousand rubles to agree to have me buried in the new cemetery. Tell them you agree, but only if they give you the money upfront, before the levayah begins. We will receive a thousand rubles, and I will find a way to escape from the chevra kadisha."
"Are you crazy?" his wife asked. "I refuse to participate in this plot." But some days passed; it was the thirteenth of Nissan, and they still didn't have money for Pesach. Without a choice, she agreed to her husband’s idea. The husband lay in bed, the wife cried near him, and the community was speaking about the great tragedy. A young man was niftar.
The chevra kadisha arrived and made their offer. As per their plan, she agreed but demanded she get paid upfront. The chevra kadisha raised the money, gave it to the wife, and carried her husband towards the new cemetery. The cemetery was quite far away, and the chevra kadisha members stopped at a tavern to buy some food and drink, and they left the body outside. This was his opportunity. He jumped out of the coffin and ran away.
Soon afterwards, another person was niftar. This time, it was real. This family also agreed that their niftar be buried in the new cemetery if they received the money upfront. Once again, the chevra kadisha worked hard, raised the money, and gave it to the widow. But they were afraid they would be tricked again, so when they came to a tavern, they tied the niftar down so he wouldn’t escape. A wise person commented, "You should have tied down the last guy, but this person is dead; he isn't going anywhere."
Reb Isaac Charif told the community leaders, "When you had good chazanim, you should have tied them down with a contract. But this chazan isn't going anywhere. There is no reason to tie him down."
When it comes to parnassah, people make all kinds of hishtadlus and try to “tie down” their parnassah to guarantee that their parnassah won't leave them. We tell them, instead, they should tie down their connection with Hashem. Your parnassah can’t run away and doesn't need to be tied down. Hashem gives us parnassah, not our hishtadlus.
