In the beginning of Parshas Yisro, it says that after Yisro heard all about the miracles that Hashem did to the Bnei Yisrael, so the pasuk says in קפיטל י״ח, פסוק י׳, ויאמר יתרו, so Yisro said, ״ברוך השם,״ blessed is השם, ״אשר הציל אתכם,״ that He saved you. So the Gemara says in Sanhedrin דף צ״ד עמוד א׳, and also brought down in the Mechilta on the pasuk, that גנאי הוא למשה וששים ריבוא, it's an embarrassment for Moshe Rabbeinu and the 600,000 Jews, שלא אמרו ברוך, that they didn't say ברוך, עד שבא יתרו ואמר ברוך השם, till Yisro came and he said, ״ברוך השם.״ So lichorah we have to understand what does the Gemara mean that they didn't say baruch, that Moshe and the Bnei Yisrael didn't say baruch, which seems to be saying that they didn't thank Hashem? Didn't Moshe and the Bnei Yisrael say the whole shirah after קריעת ים סוף? And even though they did not use the term baruch, but what is so special about using the expression baruch? So they used other expressions to show their thanks to Hashem. We cannot say that they only said shirah for קריעת ים סוף, and not for Yetzias Mitzrayim, and that's what the Gemara means, that it's an embarrassment for them that they did not thank Hashem for Yetzias Mitzrayim till Yisro came, and he thanked Hashem for Yetzias Mitzrayim, because if this is what the Gemara meant, then havi ikar chaser min hasefer, the main part is missing. Then it shouldn't have said that it's a genai for Moshe and the Bnei Yisrael that they didn't say ברוך עד שבא יתרו ואמר ברוך השם, till Yisro came and said, ״ברוך השם.״ It should have said that it's a genai for Moshe and the ששים ריבוא that they didn't thank Hashem for Yetziat Mitzrayim till Yisro came. But that is not mentioned at all in this maamar Chazal. Obviously this is not what Chazal mean. So the question is, what do Chazal mean when they said that it's an embarrassment for Moshe and the ששים ריבוא that they didn't say baruch till Yisro came and he said, ״ברוך השם״?

To understand the pshat in this Chazal, we first have to bring in what it says in the Zohar, in the second חלק, דף ס״ז עמוד ב׳, and also דף ס״ח עמוד א׳, that till Yisro came and he thanked Hashem, the Torah couldn't have been given. Only after Yisro came and he said, ״ברוך השם אשר הציל אתכם,״ thank Hashem that He saved you, and then he continued and he said, ״עתה ידעתי כי גדול השם מכל האלהים,״ that now I see that Hashem is greater than all the gods, only that caused, as the expression of the Zohar is, that דאיסתלק קודשא בריך הוא ביקריה, that there was the revelation of the glory of השם, עילא ותתא, up and down, ולבתר יהיב אורייתא בשלימו, and only then He gave the Torah completely. So it comes out from the Zohar that if not for Yisro thanking Hashem, and not for Yisro saying that now I see Hashem is greater than all the gods, the Torah wouldn't have been given. So lichorah we have to understand what does the Zohar mean? How can we say that the great madregah of Moshe and Aharon and all other ששים ריבוא מישראל before Yisro came was not enough that the Torah should be given? Only after Yisro came and he admitted and thanked Hashem, and he said, ״כי גדול השם מכל האלהים,״ only then Hashem gave the Torah. What is the peshat? What is the great maalah that Yisro said that?

The answer to this is that we know that Yisro was from the greatest chachamim in his time, the greatest scholar in his time. When it says that Yisro said now I know that Hashem is greater than all the gods, and the peshat is that he was מכיר כל עבודה זרה שבעולם, as Rashi brings down, that he recognized, he knew every עבודה זרה in the world, it doesn't mean just that he worshipped every עבודה זרה, he tried it, but that means he understood the philosophy of every עבודה זרה in the world. Because every עבודה זרה had its own philosophy, and he understood all the philosophies of all the עבודה זרות, because he was a great chacham. This is the reason why the Torah starts off, ״וישמע יתרו כהן מדין חותן משה את כל אשר עשה אלקים,״ that Yisro, the kohen, the priest of Midyan, who was the father-in-law of Moshe, heard everything that Hashem did. And the question that comes up right away: why does the Torah have to say כהן מדין? We know already that Yisro was the כהן מדין. One reason is, because as Rashi says, that the Torah wants to tell us that even though Yisro was so rich and he lived בכבודו של עולם, in the honor of the world, nevertheless, he gave it all up to come to the desert to learn Torah. And that's why the Torah stresses that Yisro, who was a כהן מדין, nevertheless, he came to the desert. But this only fits if we say that the word כהן מדין means that he was the sar, he was the prince of Midyan, because the Mechilta learns that peshat in the word כהן מדין, similar to what Rashi says in פרשת ויגש, קפיטל מ״ז, פסוק כ״ב. and in שמות, קפיטל ב׳, פסוק ט״ז. But there's another pshat in kohen. Kohen could mean a priest to עבודה זרה, as it says in the Mekhilta in the beginning of Parashat Yitro. Now according to that pshat, then the word כהן מדין doesn't bring out that he was rich or that he lived בכבודו של עולם. It just says that he was a komer, a priest to עבודה זרה. Now according to that pshat, why does the Torah mention כהן מדין? Does the Torah want to embarrass him? Does the Torah have to stress the point that he used to be a komer, that he used to be a priest for עבודה זרה? We know that the Torah is always careful not to embarrass anybody. As the Gemara says, that אפילו בגנות בהמה טמאה לא דיבר הכתוב. Even in the embarrassment of an unkosher behemah, the Torah doesn't speak about unless it's needed, as the Gemara says in בבא בתרא דף קכ״ג עמוד א׳. Now certainly the Torah wouldn't be interested in embarrassing Yitro. So why does the Torah have to mention that he was a כהן מדין, especially that we know already from before that he was a כהן מדין? But the pshat is that even according to this pshat, the Torah also tells us the greatness of Yitro. Because when Yitro was the komer, the priest to עבודה זרה, it doesn't just mean that he did physical acts of worship to עבודה זרה. This shows how smart he was. He understood the philosophy of the עבודה זרה. And he wasn't just a komer to one עבודה זרה, but he understood, as we said before, the philosophy of all עבודה זרות. As the Rambam explains in the beginning of Hilchot Avodah Zarah, what is the philosophy of עבודה זרה? The philosophy of עבודה זרה is that they used to believe that Hashem gave over certain powers to the stars, to the moon, to the sun, to the different constellations, and that's why they used to worship it. They believed, for instance, that the heat comes from the sun, and the sun has its own power whether to give it or not. They believed that even though Hashem created the sun, and Hashem gave the sun the power to give light and heat, etc., but then Hashem dropped it, so to speak, and gave over the power to the sun that now it's completely in the control of the sun. And therefore, when you want the sun to give you heat or give you light, you have to pray to the sun. The truth is, we know that it's only כגרזן ביד החוצב בו, which means that the sun is only like an ax in the hand of the chopper. When a person chops down a tree, he uses an ax. So the ax is only a kli, but it would make no sense to ask the ax to chop off your tree or to thank the ax for doing it, because the ax was just a kli in the hand of the person. So you have to ask the person to do it. The same here. The sun gives us heat, but it's in the hands of Hashem. The sun is only the tool the way Hashem gives us the heat or the light, and the same with the moon and the stars, whatever they give us. So it makes no sense to daven to the sun. You have to daven to Hashem that He should use the sun to give us light, to give us heat. But this was the mistake of the עובדי עבודה זרה. That means that the עובדי עבודה זרה thought that there is a concept of a ממוצע, of a level in between Hashem and us, and that level has its own power. But this is עבודה זרה. And the truth is, just like we have things in this physical world that are tools used by Hashem to give us our needs, that we are not allowed to, chas v'shalom, to think of them as a separate entity, but only as tools to Hashem, and עבודה זרה means that they do think that they have their own power. Similar to that is also in the spiritual worlds. In the spiritual worlds there are also levels through which the light, the glory, the hashpaah of Hashem goes through till it comes down to a lower world, and from there to a lower world, till it comes to this physical world. And all these levels are only tools in the hands of Hashem to bring down the hashpaah into the lower worlds. The philosophers of the עבודה זרה, some of them even had an understanding in the spiritual worlds, and there, too, they felt, they thought by mistake, that these levels that Hashem uses as a ממוצע to bring down his hashpaah have its own power. So when it says that Yitro recognized כל עבודה זרה שבעולם, it doesn't just mean that he worshipped every עבודה זרה, or he understood the philosophy of every עבודה זרה in the world, but it also means more than that. That in the spiritual worlds, he had an understanding in these different levels that Hashem uses to bring down the hashpaah from one level to the other, and that, too, to him was a form of עבודה זרה. He thought that they have their own power, and he had an understanding in all these high levels. And therefore, when he said that now he recognizes כי גדול ה׳ מכל אלקים, that means that he recognizes that all these high spiritual levels, they are not really a separate entity and they have their own powers, but they are only כגרזן ביד החוצב, they are only like the ax in the hand of the chopper, that they are only tools that Hashem uses. But all this brings out that Yitro was a great chacham. Chacham, he had an understanding in the deepest philosophies of the עבודה זרה's. So now we understand how, why the Torah mentions that Yitro was the כהן מדין, even according to the peshat that it meant that he was a priest of עבודה זרה. Cause the question we had before is why does the Torah have to mention it? Mila if the peshat is that he was the prince of Midyan, that shows that he was rich, and he lived a כבוד של עולם, and nevertheless he came to the desert, that shows his greatness. But according to peshat that he was a priest of avodah zarah, what is the Torah trying to tell us? But now we understand, the Torah is trying to tell us that even though he was such a great philosopher and he knew the deepest inyanim of the philosophy of the avodah zarah's, nevertheless he too recognized the greatness of Hashem. And this is what the Torah is trying to bring out, that even though he was the כהן מדין, which means he was the greatest philosopher in his time, nevertheless he recognized that all his philosophy is false, and all is only in the hands of Hashem.

Now that we understand that, we'll understand what the Zohar means that only after Yisro came and he said, \"כי גדול השם מכל אלקים\", only then Hashem was able to give the Torah. And this is based on a different Zohar. It says in the Zohar, in the third חלק, דף ס\"ז עמוד ב', where he quotes the pasuk from קהלת, קפיטל ב' פסוק י\"ג, where it says, \"וראיתי אני שיש יתרון לחכמה מן הסכלות\", and I saw that there is a specialty in chochmah, in wisdom, over סכלות, which means stupidity. Now the question is, who has to tell us that, that chochmah has more than סכלות, than stupidity? Everyone understands that chochmah is greater than סכלות. But the peshat the Zohar says here is, סכלות doesn't mean simple stupidity. סכלות refers to chochmah of לעומת זה, חכמה of the סטרא אחרא, חכמה of avodah zarah, etc., chochmah of the other side of the world, which means chochmah of the evil side of the world. But even that the pasuk doesn't have to tell us, that chochmah which is kedushah, chochmah of Torah, is greater than the chochmah of לעומת זה, the חכמות חיצוניות, the חכמה of the world. That also is self-understood. What the pasuk is really telling us, the Zohar says, that when is the expression of חכמה דקדושה in its greatest, when it comes after סכלות. When the חכמה of the sitra achra is bent, is destroyed, and then you reach the חכמה of קדושה, so then the חכמה דקדושה is much stronger. Similar to what the pasuk continues there and says, just like there is the יתרון האור מן החושך, that there is a specialty, a maalah in light over darkness. That, too, everyone understands that there is a maalah in light over darkness. Why does the pasuk have to tell us that? But the peshat is that the pasuk is telling us that not only is light better than darkness, but when is the light stronger? When it comes after darkness. When a person is in a dark room and then he goes out into a light room, then the light is much stronger to him. And the same is here, concerning חכמה and סכלות. That when is the expression of the חכמה דקדושה in its greatest, when it comes after סכלות. When first there is סכלות חכמה of the sitra achra, and that חכמה is bent and that חכמה is changed, so then we reveal the true essence of the חכמה דקדושה. But if the חכמה דקדושה doesn't come after the חכמה of לעומת זה, then we don't feel the greatness and the revelation of חכמה דקדושה. So it comes out that being that Yitro, he represented the חכמה of the sitra achra, he was the one that was מכיר, he recognized כל עבודה זרה שבעולם, which we said before means he understood the philosophy of all avodah zarah's. So he was the epitome of חכמה of the sitra achra. So when he came and he said, \"כי גדול השם מכל אלקים\", he said that all the חכמה of the avodah zarah, the deepest philosophy of avodah zarah is all false, because the only Being is Hashem and He is the one who controls everything. So then there was able to be the expression and the revelation of חכמה דקדושה. As we said before, that only after חכמה of the sitra achra, only when that is bent, that's when the true revelation of חכמה דקדושה comes. And this is what the Zohar means, that before Yitro came and he said, \"כי גדול השם מכל אלקים\", there couldn't be Matan Torah. Which means that there couldn't have been the great revelation of חכמה דקדושה, which came by Matan Torah, because there was no סכלות that was bent yet. But when Yitro came and he represented the סכלות, the chochmah of the סטרא אחרא, and when he bent the chochmah of the סטרא אחרא, that brought about the greatest revelation of חכמה דקדושה, which came by Matan Torah. So this answers the question, how is it possible that the greatness of Moshe Rabbeinu, and Aharon, and Miriam, and all the Bnei Yisrael was not enough to bring Matan Torah, but only when Yitro came, that's when Hashem Hashem revealed the Torah, it is because, as we said before, they had no connection to סכלות. Moshe and Aharon, etc., etc., had no connection to the chochmah of the סטרא אחרא. But when Yitro came, and he represented the chochmah of the סטרא אחרא, and he admitted to Hashem, so then we had the יתרון החכמה מן הסכלות, so that's when there was this great revelation of חכמה דקדושה, which was Matan Torah.

This also will explain the מאמר חז״ל that we said in the beginning, that it says that גנאי הוא למשה ולששים ריבוא, it was an embarrassment for Moshe and the Bnei Yisrael, that no one said baruch till Yitro came and he said Baruch Hashem. And we asked the question, but didn't they say shirah? What the Chazal mean is, the word baruch, as we know, has another meaning. It doesn't only mean thanking, or blessing, or praising. Baruch also means bringing down, as the lashon of the Chazal in Kilayim, the beginning of פרק ז, המבריך את הגפן, when you bring down the vine. Or the lashon in Chumash we find ויברך את הגמלים, that means he made them bend down. So the word ברוך means to bring down. When he said Baruch Hashem, what really happened was, he brought down Hashem into this world. As we said before, he was the one that caused that Hashem should come down to this world and give us the Torah. If not for him, this wouldn't have happened. If not for him, there wasn't no יתרון החכמה מן הסכלות, and therefore, as the Zohar says, there wouldn't be מתן תורה. So he brought down the true revelation of חכמה דקדושה. So the Chazal don't only mean the expression that he said Baruch, Baruch Hashem, but it means what he accomplished was greater than what Moshe Rabbeinu and Aharon and the ששים ריבוא מישראל accomplished. It was only Yitro who accomplished this inyan of Baruch Hashem, of bringing down Hashem into this world. And this is what the Chazal mean, that it's like an embarrassment almost for Moshe and the ששים ריבוא, that till Yitro came, no one said Baruch Hashem. That means that till Yitro came, there couldn't have been Baruch Hashem, there couldn't have been the true bringing down of Hashem into this world, to מתן תורה. But only when Yitro came, and he said כי גדול השם מכל אלהים, and Yitro said Baruch Hashem, but not only that he said Baruch Hashem, but he accomplished the Baruch Hashem. He accomplished the inyan of bringing down Hashem. So it was only he that did it, and therefore it's almost like a גנאי to Moshe. It doesn't mean chas veshalom it's a גנאי because it wasn't their fault. They had no connection to סכלות, they had no connection to the חכמה of the sitra achra. But nevertheless, being that they didn't accomplish it, and Yitro did accomplish it, we refer to it as a genai. But what the Chazal mean is, that the ששים ריבוא of Bnei Yisrael and Moshe Rabbeinu could not accomplish the ברוך. It doesn't mean that they did not thank Hashem, they thanked Him by the שירה, but they didn't accomplish the bringing down of Hashem, but Yisro did accomplish the Baruch Hashem.