What can we learn from the Torah? Yeah, that seems like a
bit of a trick question since the answer, from a hashgachic point of view, is
everything. The Torah teaches us mishpatim and mo’adim and chukim. The Torah
provides us with an understanding of our ancestry, our peoplehood, and our goals
as a nation. But the Torah also teaches us about people and about relationships,
and, in those relationships, there is almost always a lesson about our
relationship with HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
At the beginning of this week’s parsha, Parshas Yisro, there
is quick mention of Moshe’s wife, when it is stated that “So Jethro, Moshe’
father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moshe’ wife, after she had been sent home”
(Shemos 18:2). It’s an interesting pair of words that ends the pasuk: Achar Shiloocheyha. After he sent her away.
One could wonder at the relationship of Moshe and Tziporah. The
term has a disturbing sense of rejection to it. Of course, the Midrashim tell
us that Tzipora returned to her father’s household before Moshe entered Egypt
because Aaron pointed out that Moshe erred in bringing them into the terrible
situation of the Egyptian enslavement. Once this was pointed out, Moshe did not
hesitate to send them back to her father’s house.
The language, however, has weight to it. Why doesn’t the Torah
say that Yisro took Tziporah, Moshe’s wife who was residing with him, who had
returned to him, whom he had protected, etc. Rather, it very specifically puts
that onus of their separation on an action of Moshe’s.
Before one jumps to the conclusion that this infers
chastisement, let us read even further into this word choice. Everything in the
Torah is a metaphor for living life as part of the Jewish nation, and we often
talk about klal Yisrael as the bride of Hashem. As it says in Yeshaya 62:5: “And
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,/So will your God rejoice over you.”
It is easy, almost obvious, to think of sending someone away
as rejection – until one knows the deeper sequence of events. Moshe sent
Tziporah away to protect her, to keep her and their young sons from the many layers
of danger in Mitzrayim. We, the beloved Jewish people, have also been sent
away, and this too, while we can’t understand it, is to protect us from dangers.
In this week’s parsha, Tzipporah is reunited with her
husband just before the nation arrives at Horeb and Moshe goes up the mountain
to receive the Torah. The giving of the Torah unified the people. In the days
to come, it will be time for God’s bride to be brought back so that the Torah
can once again fill the land and our souls.
Hoping this made sense. Good Shabbas to all.
