Parshas Yisro - Loud Music and Boiling Frogs

Parshas Yisro

Loud Music and Boiling Frogs

By: Daniel Listhaus

וַיִּשְׁמַע יִתְרוֹ כֹהֵן מִדְיָן חֹתֵן משֶׁה אֵת כָּל אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה אֱלֹקים לְמשֶׁה וּלְיִשְׂרָאֵל עַמּוֹ כִּי הוֹצִיא ה' אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרָיִם

“And the father-in-law of Moshe, Yisro, the priest of Midyan, heard all that G-d had done for Moshe and for [B'nei] Yisroel, His people, that Hashem had taken [B'nei] Yisroel out of Mitzrayim.”

-Yisro 18:1

וַיְהִי קוֹל הַשֹּׁפָר הוֹלֵךְ וְחָזֵק מְאֹד משֶׁה יְדַבֵּר וְהָאֱלֹקים יַעֲנֶנּוּ בְקוֹל

“And the sound of the shofar grew increasingly stronger; Moshe would speak and G-d would answer him with a voice.”

-Yisro 19:19

Rashi¹ on this passuk (verse) brings a Gemara² which is bothered what was it that Yisro heard that inspired him to convert and join B'nei Yisroel in the midbar (desert)? Rashi answers by bringing two of the three suggestions offered in the Gemara writes that Yisro heard about the war B'nei Yisroel fought with Amalek and he also heard about the miraculous event of kriyas Yam Suf (splitting of the Red Sea).

This Rashi, and really the Gemara itself, is very difficult to understand. The answer to why Yisro chose to join with B'nei Yisroel in the midbar could not simply be that he had heard about the war with Amalek and kriyas Yam Suf. The entire world had known about these events and so whatever Yisro heard was heard by all. Yet, he was the only one who actually allowed himself to be inspired enough to come. So what was it really that Yisro heard which caused him to come and how are Rashi and the Gemara addressing this issue?

At this point in our history, the B'nei Yisroel found themselves at Har Sinai experiencing something truly out of this world. The magical combination of thunder, lightning, shofar blasts, clouds, fire, smoke, and water was extraordinary in the full sense of the word, and certainly served as a perfect summary of Hashem's complete control over the world, which was displayed during the makkos (plagues) and kriyas Yam Suf (splitting of the Red Sea). The Torah³ describes that the sound of a shofar could be heard growing increasingly louder. The Ibn Ezra⁴ comments that usually when someone blows a shofar, it starts out loud with power and then, as one is trying to keep his breath flowing, the sound grows softer until it gradually dies out. However, this particular shofar blast started soft and grew increasingly louder. The reason for this, the Ibn Ezra writes, was in order not to scare the B'nei Yisroel with starting with such a loud sound.

There is no doubt that this grand shofar blowing was indeed incredibly loud and quite scary – especially considering the setting on Har Sinai – if so, what did it help to have the shofar grow louder and louder? If at some decibel the sound was unbearable or too intense, all that slowly raising the volume should accomplish is a delay until it reaches that point. However, once that degree is attained, shouldn't it be just as frightening?

Conceptually, this argument makes a lot of sense. After all, why should gradually reaching a certain volume be any different than starting at that point? If it is too loud, then it should be deemed as such regardless, and if not then it should not be necessary to reach the volume gradually. However, the reality is that by reaching a certain volume, or anything for that matter, gradually, one could achieve any feat, which without doing so would be deemed impossible.

This idea is often expressed as the Sorites Paradox. The Sorites Paradox states that there is no such thing as a heap of grain. After all, imagine a single grain on a table, certainly no one would argue that that would be called a heap. Now imagine that someone puts one more grain next to it – still no heap. As one continues to add grain upon grain, there is really no point that one could clearly point at and say that there is now a heap, because why should adding one more grain make the collection any more a heap than it was a moment ago with one less grain?

In 1872, Heinzmann, a German scientist, demonstrated in an experiment that a normal frog placed in a pot of water being gradually heated, would not jump out. In his project, Heinzman raised the temperature from lukewarm to hot at a rate of less than 0.2 degrees Celsius per minute. After about two and a half hours, the frog was found dead in the very hot water. Yet, frogs placed directly into such hot water, would immediately jump out.

The Sorites Paradox is something that confronts us every day. We are often surprised when we look back at pictures of people who we see every day and notice how different they look and yet we never realized. It seems funny how such things go unnoticed. The scary part, though, is trying to think about all the other times that this idea may effect us and we have yet to realize; because the truth is that just as our ears easily adjust to slight increases in volume, and frogs get used to the gradual change in temperature, we as individuals too become comfortable with the slightly different person we become at the end of each day. Although many of us rarely view it this way, the reality is that at the end of every single day, the decisions we made, the attitudes we allowed to prevail, the thoughts that went through our heads, and our reactions to scenarios we found ourselves in all change us ever so slightly that it is hard to notice these small daily tweaks. The danger comes when we find ourselves over time with a personality, attitude or perspective that we would have never jumped into originally, but somehow became acceptable over the passing of time and gradually attaining such a level.

The only way to circumvent this risk is to introspect and program oneself to lead a life with certain guidelines to help define the way one acts each day. This will ensure that the small changes of our daily lives are in sync with what we really want of ourselves, and we will not be surprised later when we look back and wonder how we got to where we are.

Another aspect to this is the idea that big achievements are attained by taking small steps – one at a time. Adding even one grain at a time at some point does in fact become a heap. Similarly, directing our focus to make positive small tweaks each day to gradually grow spiritually will glean tremendous effects.

Perhaps with this we could better understand the first Rashi in the parsha. One could imagine that although everyone had heard about the events of milchemes Amalek (war with Amalek) and Kriyas Yam Suf, because they had followed after so many mirraculous events of all the plagues in Mitzrayim, seeing miracles become the norm in the world's eyes. Yisro, however, listened and watched these evens attentively and appreciated them for what they inherently were and trying to demonstrate, instead of allowing the recent progression of miracles water-down the experience. This is exactly what the Gemara and Rashi are trying to convey. What did Yisro hear that caused him to convert and come? He heard milchemes Amalek and kriyas Yam Suf. These were indeed things which only Yisro heard because everyone else got used to the boiling water and the gradual increase in volume to the point that miracles ceased to faze them.

May Hashem help us realize who we are and who we want to be in order that we not fall subject to the Sorites Paradox and end up being someone we would have never thought of becoming. Rather, we should keep in mind this power of gradual change and use it to our advantage to achieve great heights.

1Shemos 18:1

2Zevachim 116a. The Third opinion brought in the Gemara is that he heard about the giving of the Torah on Har Sinai

3Shemos 19:19

4Ibid.  
Photo Credit: and  http://www.stufffundieslike.com/2009/05/illustrations-the-boiled-frog/ and http://en.wikinoticia.com/lifestyle/psychology/40403-loud-music-increases-alcohol-consumption