More Braindead WNism

[muman613]

I apologize for continuing this off-topic discussion...

http://www.torah.org/advanced/shem-meshmuel/5764/yitro.html

“And Yitro heard and came”. Shall we say that only Yitro heard, when we know that the whole world heard? Yet only he heard something different than the rest of the world and therefore only he came. For Rabbi Yehoshua, what he heard was the war with Amalek, for Rabbi Eliezer HaModai it was Matan Torah and for Rabbi Elazar it was the crossing of the Red Sea”.

This divergence of opinions among the Tanaim in the Mechilta as to what Yitro heard, relates to the reason why he had not come earlier. After all Moshe had told him while still in Midian, that they would leave Egypt and then receive the Torah. Furthermore, the text tells us that Yitro heard all the great things that Hashem had done to Israel. These should have been sufficient for Yitro to come. However, they are all specific and individual particulars and Yitro was ‘clalli’, a consensus. In this respect he was like Moshe who was the embodiment of all Israel and not just an individual or a specific part of the nation. This is why only Yitro could be suitable as a father in law for Moshe, who also was clali. There were none in Israel who were as clali as was Moshe, so it was not possible for him to join them in marriage as he did with Yitro. Yitro could not be moved by particulars; it required something that embodied a complete unity, that which is clali, all embracing and fundamental, to bring him.

There are seven midot of goodness in Israel, Chassidim, Giborim, Meirei HaTorah, Chozim, Neviim, Tzaddikim, and Bnei Melakhim. It is possible for a person to corrupt these same midot and thereby create the seven midot of evil, yet the converse is also true. [Generally speaking, Chassidut sees midot as being a neutral potential, always depending on human agency to determine whether they are used for holy or unholy purposes]. This is the way the Zohar explains the ken hatzipor, that can be holy or not. Cain was ken tzipor of the klipah, that is the perversion of the midot of the righteous and therefore he embodied all these seven evil midot. The Ari taught that Yitro was from the root of Cain and we see this in the Tanakhic texts; “ Nevertheless, Cain shall be wasted” (Bamidbar, 24:22) and in Shoftim (4:11) “ Chever Hacaini, who was of the children of Chovav, father in law of Moshe, had removed himself from Cain”.
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