Yisro: the man who heard and fled

וישמע יתרו.

"And Yisro heard" (Shemos 18:1).

The Sefas Emes begins with the opening words of the parshah — Yisro's "hearing" that drew him to join Bnei Yisrael.

זכה יתרו לשמוע דבר ה' ע"י שלא שמע לעצת בלעם כמ"ש ז"ל ג' היו באותה עצה.

Yisro merited to hear the word of Hashem because he did not listen to the counsel of Bilaam, as Chazal said: three were party to that counsel.

Because Yisro refused to take part in Pharaoh's plot against Yisrael (the scheme in which Bilaam advised), he earned the privilege of "hearing" the word of Hashem. Chazal name three advisers to Pharaoh: Bilaam, Iyov, and Yisro.

יתרו שמע וברח.

Yisro heard and fled.

Of the three, Yisro alone heard the wicked plan and fled rather than participate — an act of active refusal.

ועליו יש לדרוש הפסוק אשרי האיש.

And about him one may expound the verse "Fortunate is the man…" (Tehillim 1:1).

The Sefas Emes applies the opening psalm of Tehillim to Yisro, reading it as a portrait of his path.

יתרו נק' איש.

Yisro is called "ish" (a man).

Yisro merits the title "ish," the very word the verse uses for the praiseworthy man.

כדכ' לשבת את האיש.

As it is written, "to dwell with the man (ha'ish)" (Shemos 2:21).

Scripture itself refers to Yisro as "the man," supporting the application of "ashrei ha'ish" to him.

לא הלך בעצת רשעים פרעה ובלעם.

"He did not walk in the counsel of the wicked" — [namely] Pharaoh and Bilaam.

The verse's first praise — not walking in the counsel of the wicked — fits Yisro, who rejected the advice of Pharaoh and Bilaam.

ולא עמד כמו איוב ששתק.

"Nor stood" — unlike Iyov, who remained silent.

The verse's next phrase, "nor stood in the way of sinners," corresponds to Yisro surpassing Iyov: Iyov merely "stood" by passively keeping silent in the face of the plot, whereas Yisro did more.

רק ברח.

Rather, he fled.

Yisro did not merely stay silent like Iyov; he actively fled from the evil, a higher level of separation.

ובתורת ה' חפצו כמ"ש שנדבו לבו ללכת למקום תהו לשמוע התורה.

"But his desire is in the Torah of Hashem" — as it is said, that his heart moved him generously to go to a desolate place in order to hear the Torah.

The verse's praise, "his desire is in the Torah of Hashem," describes Yisro's wholehearted readiness to abandon his honored position and travel into the wilderness purely to hear Torah.

והי' כעץ שתול על פלגי מים שזכה להתדבק במשה רבינו ע"ה שר התורה.

And he was "like a tree planted by streams of water," for he merited to cling (deveikus) to Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, the prince of the Torah.

The "tree planted by streams of water" is Yisro, who attached himself to Moshe Rabbeinu — the very source and "officer" of Torah — drawing life from that connection.

פריו יתן בעתו זו צפורה.

"It gives its fruit in its season" — this is Tziporah.

The "fruit in its season" refers to Yisro's daughter Tziporah, who married Moshe — the worthy fruit of Yisro's righteousness.

ועלהו לא יבול בניו שזכו להיות גדולים בתורה תרעתים שמעתים סכתים.

"And its leaf does not wither" — his descendants, who merited to be great in Torah: "Tiratim, Shimatim, Suchatim" (Divrei HaYamim I 2:55).

The undying "leaf" is Yisro's descendants, the families of Torah scholars who issued from him and never withered away.

וכל אשר יעשה יצליח שנתן העצה על השופטים והצליח.

"And all that he does prospers" — for he gave the counsel concerning [appointing] judges, and it succeeded.

The verse's final blessing, that all he does prospers, is fulfilled in Yisro's advice to set up a system of judges, which Moshe accepted and which flourished.

כמ"ש וישמע משה לקול חותנו.

As it is written, "And Moshe listened to the voice of his father-in-law" (Shemos 18:24).

Moshe's heeding of Yisro's counsel proves how Yisro's deeds "prospered."

ע"י שכ' וישמע יתרו זכה לוישמע משה כדכ' במדרש אם שמוע תשמע.

Because it is written "And Yisro heard," he merited [that it be said] "And Moshe heard [his voice]," as the Midrash states on "If you will surely listen (im shamoa tishma)" (Shemos 15:26).

Measure for measure: because Yisro "heard" and acted, he was rewarded that Moshe in turn "heard" and accepted his counsel — the principle hinted in "im shamoa tishma."

אם אתה שומע.

"If you listen…"

The Midrash reads the doubled language: if you make yourself one who listens to Hashem…

ישמעו אחרים לך:

others will listen to you.

One who truly "hears" — who heeds Hashem and the truth — earns that others will heed him in turn. Yisro's attentive hearing made him a man whose voice was heard.

Summary: Yisro merited to "hear" the word of Hashem because, unlike Bilaam and the silent Iyov, he actively fled from Pharaoh's wicked counsel. The Sefas Emes reads "Ashrei ha'ish" of Tehillim as Yisro's portrait: he did not walk in the counsel of the wicked, did not merely stand silent but fled, and yearned for Torah — traveling to a desolate place to hear it and clinging to Moshe Rabbeinu, the prince of Torah. His "fruit" was Tziporah, his enduring "leaf" his Torah-great descendants, and his prospering deed the counsel of the judges. Measure for measure: because Yisro "heard," Moshe heard him — for one who listens to Hashem earns that others listen to him.