Yitro – “I Am Your Brother!”

“Yitro said to Moses, 'I am your father-in-law Yitro, come out and greet me'...”

We can ask, if Yitro is talking to Moses face to face, why does he need to say, “I am your father-in-law?” Moses can see who he is! In the words “I am your father-in-law”, in Hebrew “ani chotencha” the first letters constitute “ach” - “brother”. Yitro was a reincarnation of Cain, and Moses was a reincarnation of Abel, and Yitro was telling to Moses “I am your brother!”

In his previous life, Cain denied logic and judgment, when he said “Am I my brother's keeper?” In this life as Yitro he came to correct this, and this is why he said, “Come out and greet me” - to fix my previous lifetime. Fittingly, his contribution was to teach Moses about judgment, when he taught Moses how to select and appoint judges. The words “Cain” and “Din” – judgment – are also hinted to in the title Yitro, “Priest of Midian” - “Kohen MiDin.”

Soul's travels are more complex than the pattern of death and re-birth. A soul may be taken away from one and given over to another. The soul of a righteous may come and join one who is trying to do good. That is the meaning of the words “One who is trying to purify himself is being helped from Heaven.” Cain later came back as Korach. That is the meaning of the words “And Korach took.” What did he take? A bad purchase – the soul of Cain. That is why he “rose up against Moses” - just like he rose up against Abel in his previous life, and that is why he descended alive to Gehennom, from where he is brought up monthly to proclaim, “Moses is right, and his Torah is true, and we are deceivers.”

Art: Johann Anton Alban Ramboux - The Eberhard Brothers