Yitro

When Moses tells Jethro about all the adventures of the Israelites, “Jethro rejoiced [vayichad Yitro] for all the good which God did for Israel in saving them from Egypt”(18:9). Vayichad Yitro hints at the singularity of God (echad) and when, a few verses later, Jethro offers a sacrifice to the Lord, we might understand that he has converted.

And yet the Talmud paints a much more complicated picture of Jethro’s beliefs and his relationship to the destiny of Israel, offering contrasting opinions from two sages:

Rav says that Jethro passed a blade (chaddah) over his flesh, meaning he circumcised himself and became Jewish.

Shmuel says Jethro felt prickles (chidudim) in his flesh, stressing Jethro’s identification with the plight of the punished Egyptians (Sanhedrin 94a).

Between them, Rav and Shmuel paint Jethro as both a convert to monotheism and as someone who remains attached to his non-Israelite heritage, simultaneously an outsider, and also a close relative of Israel. His character harmonises the parochial and universalistic aspects of the Jewish mission.

And of course, in offering Moses sound advice about governance, he also embodies the ecumenical notion that there is wisdom among the nations.