Jewish Recovery Thought - Yisro

"...Now I know that G-d is greater than all gods...."
Exodus 18:11

As the Children of Israel were encamped at Mount Sinai anticipating the giving of the Ten Commandments, Moses' father-in-law, the Midianite Priest, Jethro arrives. Giving reason for his joining the Israelites, he proclaims, "Now I know that G-d is greater than all gods." The fact that Jethro testifies, "Now I know," indicates that he had come to this realization only after much trial and error. As tradition relates, he had full knowledge of every idol in the world and had worshiped them all.

What is remarkable is that the central text of kabalism, the Zohar, states that G-d's word could not have been given at Sinai until Jethro, the great priest of polytheism, was present. How is it possible that the presence of Moses, Aaron and the entire nation of Israel was insufficient to set the scene for the revelation at Sinai and that it was Jethro's arrival that tipped the scales?

The verse states (Ecclesiastes 2:13), "I have beheld the superiority of wisdom over [in Hebrew, literally, "from"] foolishness." The superiority of "wisdom," that is wisdom in its most exalted form, is revealed from foolishness, that is through the refinement and elevation of "foolishness" into wisdom. In other words, knowledge of holiness in its most supreme state is the product of the transmutation of the knowledge of unholiness. When Jethro, the expert and scholar of unholy wisdom, arrived and declared his faith in G-d, this constituted the ultimate refinement of unholy wisdom and its final metamorphosis into holiness. It was this unique contribution which brought about the additional degree of sanctity -- holiness that had been co-opted and transformed from unholiness -- that resulted in the revelation of G-d's wisdom in this world.

The alcoholic in recovery can easily understand the dynamics of such a phenomenon. There is a certain "superiority of wisdom" that comes about only after all else has failed. Our spiritual consciousness now is not a last resort for staying sober; it is the culmination of all of our past, foolish notions finally being seen for what they are by one who knows all too well exactly why they don't work. We were intimately familiar with almost every false god known to man. When drinking, even if we had faith in G-d, we still couldn't shake the feeling that somehow other forces also needed to be appeased. We lived in awe and dread of them and we payed them tribute with the greatest of sacrifices. But there came a time, when we had admitted our powerlessness and turned to G-d to care for our lives, that we were finally able to smash our idols with the confidence, and more poignantly, the wisdom, of one who has come to truth by learning the hard way.