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Why does the Torah (תורה) emphasize Yisro as "chosen Moshe" (father-in-law) repeatedly when conversion severs family ties? The shiur develops the idea that relationships built on commitment—not blood—survive conversion and define true closeness. Yisro, who built Moshe up from nothing, models the commitment that underlies kabbalas haTorah itself: we become "one" with Hashem (ה׳) not through law acceptance but through devoted relationship.
Rabbi Zweig begins by examining Yisro's counsel to Moshe regarding establishing a judicial system and teaching the Jewish people "the path they should walk" and "the actions they should do." The Gemara (גמרא) identifies "walking" with bikur cholim (visiting the sick), which raises two questions: why does the Torah (תורה) use walking to describe bikur cholim, and why does Yisro, rather than Moshe, give this moral instruction to the Jewish people? The parsha is named Yisro despite being about receiving the Torah, and the text repeatedly refers to him as "chosen Moshe" (Moshe's father-in-law)—at least six times. This repetition is puzzling because after conversion, halachically, a convert has no familial ties to pre-conversion relatives. A father is no longer a father, a mother no longer a mother. So why does the Torah insist on calling him Moshe's father-in-law when that relationship should no longer exist?
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Shemos 18:20, Parshas Yisro
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