When everybody else was busy honoring Yisro by attending the banquet, where in the world was Moshe?! * If we were talking about your average person, maybe it is reasonable to say that he was just playing it safe, ducking out from meeting with his in-laws. But it is hard to say this about Moshe Rabbeinu.

"And Aharon and all the Elders of Israel came to eat bread with Moshe’s father-in-law." All the dignitaries of the Jewish nation came out to attend a great banquet in the honor of Yisro, Moshe Rabbeinu’s father-in-law. Everyone who was anyone was there - but where in the world was Moshe? Why wasn’t he enumerated as one of the attendees?

If we were talking about your average person, maybe it is reasonable to say that he was just playing it safe, ducking out from meeting with his in-laws. But it is hard to say this about Moshe Rabbeinu, the leader of the Jewish people. Besides, the Torah has already illustrated how Moshe was devoted to Yisro, as it is written, "Moshe went and he returned to his father-in-law [to get permission (to leave Midyan and travel to Egypt) - Rashi]."

So the question stands: when everybody else was busy honoring Yisro by attending the banquet, where in the world was Moshe?!

Rashi explains that when it came to honoring his father-in-law, on the contrary, Moshe Rabbeinu pulled out all the stops, taking upon himself the role of "standing and waiting upon [Yisro and the other guests]." Now that’s silver service!

Similarly, in narrating this story, the Torah itself takes the opportunity to honor Yisro, as it is written: "Yisro, Kohen of Midyan, the father-in-law of Moshe...came to Moshe, to the desert where he was encamped by the Mountain of G-d." Not only is Yisro praised here in virtue of being the father-in-law of Moshe Rabbeinu, leader of the Jewish people, but he is also praised with greatness in his own right, honored with the title "Kohen Midyan," Minister of Midyan; the "foremost among them" (Rashi).

The Torah further commends Yisro by specifying that when he "came to Moshe," he came "to the desert where he was encamped," teaching us "the praise of Yisro, for he had been sitting in a position of honor in the world, yet his heart moved him to go out to the desert, a place of desolation, to hear words of Torah." (Rashi)

Wait a second! The term "kohen" also has a second meaning: It is true that "kohen" means minister, or ruler (as it written, "You will be to Me as a kingdom of kohanim," and as Rashi interprets, a kingdom of ministers, or rulers [sarim]), but "kohen" also means priest.

In fact, concerning Yisro, the title Kohen is not meant in the holy sense of the word - that is, the Jewish priestly class, who were chosen by G-d to serve in the Holy Temple - rather, it refers to priesthood in the ignoble sense of the word. Before he converted, Yisro was a priest of idolatry, as Rashi writes, "[Yisro] was familiar with every form of idolatry in the world; there was not a single form of idolatry that he did not worship." So what kind of praise is it to call Yisro "Priest of Midyan"?!

The Rebbe explains as follows:

The worship of idolatry originated as a flaw in reasoning, an error in the attempt to fathom the Supernal will, as Rambam writes: "[The original idolaters reasoned] that since the L-rd created the stars and constellations to conduct the world...they are, therefore, fit to be praised and exalted and honored. And this [they falsely concluded] is the will of G-d."

Although it is true that G-dly energy is channeled into the world through intermediaries, such as the stars and constellations (as the Sages say, "there is no blade of grass below that does not have a spiritual source [mazal] Above that strikes it and tells it, ‘grow!’"), nevertheless, it is forbidden to glorify them, etc. These beings have no freewill of their own. Rather, they are merely "like the ax in the hand of the ax-wielder," acting according to the will of the King, King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.

And just as there are intermediaries in the physical world, so too there are intermediary beings in the spiritual realms, as it written, "for there is a high one who watches over [another] high one, and there are yet higher ones over them."

Even with regard to entities in the highest worlds this prohibition stands; they mustn’t be worshipped, for these lofty beings are still nothing more than "the ax in the hand of the ax-wielder." In fact, at these sublime heights, the prohibition is even more pertinent, for relative to the loftiness of the intermediary beings is the temptation to err in this matter, G-d forbid, to believe that they wield power in their own right.

The Torah specifies that Yisro was the "Priest of Midyan," an idolater who was "familiar with every form of idolatry in the world" not to shame him, but actually to teach us the extent of his intellectual prowess: Yisro had an encyclopedic knowledge and understanding of all of the lofty intermediary beings, in all of the worlds, even those at the most sublime heights. Notwithstanding Yisro’s profound intelligence, which resulted in establishing a position of greatness and importance among his people, he was willing to leave everything to convert and accept the one and only G-d.

Yisro’s conversion was such a great transformation that the Torah itself was given to the Jewish people as a result of it, as the Zohar says: "Up until the time that Yisro came and praised the Holy One, blessed be He, the Torah had not been given to the Jewish people. But when Yisro came and said, ‘Blessed is G-d who saved [the Jewish people]... Now I know that G-d is greater than all the gods, etc.,’ this caused the glory of the Holy One, blessed be He, to be revealed Above and below. And then the Torah was given in its entirety."