Commentaire de citation sur L’Exode 2:20

For after many days you will find it. Days will yet come, and you will receive your recompense.³Alternatively, for you will find its reward in the World to Come. (Targum) Look what is stated about Yisro, “Call him and let him eat bread,”⁴Shemos 2:20. and he thought that he [Moshe] was an Egyptian and that he would never see him again. What was the end? He became his son-in-law and reigned over Yisroel and [Moshe] brought him under the wings of the Divine Presence, and his sons and grandsons merited to sit in the Chamber of Hewn Stone.

For his benefit. Since it is written לקרא ["to call"] why is it necessary to say לו ["to him"]? Surely afterwards it is written (v.6) “please come…” meaning that he should go with the messengers. Rather [“to him” must come] for us to expound [that the invitation was for his benefit]. Furthermore, one can say that since his intention was to [have Bil'am] curse [Yisroel], why did Balak call him to come to him? Why not have Bil'am curse them from where he was? Rather it is certain that the calling was for his benefit, and to make a money arrangement. With this we can answer the question of Re’m who writes: I do not know from where Rashi expounds this, for there is apparent superfluous wording here as [there is] in פסל לך ["carve for yourself"] (Shemos 34:1), עשה לך ["make for yourself"] (Bamidbar 10:2) or שלח לך ["send for yourself"] (Bamidbar 13:2). But לו ["to him"] is necessary here for it is in place of אותו ["him"] as in קראן לו ויאכל לחם ["call to him and let him eat bread"] (Shemos 2:20), where the word לו is in place of אותו.

ולא ידע אתו מאומה, “and he did not share any knowledge with him,” the only matters concerning which Joseph bothered to consult his master Potiphar was the menu to be served at meal-time, as the Torah said: “except for the bread he would eat.” The word לחם also included his wife; we know that wives are sometimes referred to as לחם, from Exodus 2,2 קראן לו ויאכל לחם, “call him so that he can take a wife.” We also find the word אכל, “ate,” in that sense in Proverbs 30,2 אכלה ומחתה פיה, “she ate and wiped her mouth.” The verse speaks about the harlot indulging in her trade and acting as if she had done no wrong. We encounter the same meaning of that word again in verse nine: “except for you inasmuch as you are his wife.”

To all the Bnei Yisroel. Who partook from his [Yisro's] meal, Moshe, Aharon and all the elders of Yisroel.¹²See Shemos 18:12. It is considered as though he acted kindly with all the Bnei Yisroel.¹³It may also refer to Yisro’s hospitality of welcoming Moshe into his home when he escaped from Paroh [Shemos 2:20-21]. Based on this event R. Nechemyah in Maseches Berachos 63b states ‘how great is the reward for one who invites a Torah scholar into his house, gives him to eat and drink, and shares his possessions with him.’ Others believe that the act of kindness with all the Bnei Yisroel refers to the good advice that Yisro gave to Moshe with regard to setting up a system of judges [Shemos 18:14-26], because this benefitted the entire nation.

כי אם הלחם SAVE THE BREAD — this means his wife, but Scripture uses here a euphemism (Genesis Rabbah 86:6) (cf. Joseph’s own words in Genesis 39:9).