According to Rashi, Yitro's coming to the camp was so unique that it demanded further clarification. Rashi says that he heard about the dividing of the Sea and the war of Amalek.

These were clearly great miracles but it remains unclear why these miracles had a profound effect on Yitro, and brought him to the camp of Israel. Rashi notes that there is a further phrase in the first verse which reads "all that G-d did for them". This time Rashi mentions the Manna and the well from which they drank and the war with Amalek.

The war with Amalek is listed twice but the difference between the two lists is clear. The first contains only one time special "miracles"; the second list refers us to the sustenance over time which was granted the people of Israel. The manna and the well represent a different type of miracle. A miracle which did not reverberate in the halls of the nations, but which indicated ongoing concern of heaven for the people.

The war with Amalek was noted by Yitro as a great miracle and brought him to the camp, but this war also represented responsibility of Yisrael for divine demands; and ongoing obligation to accept the directive of heaven.

For Rashi it is clear that the same event is viewed differently by different people. Amalek meant that Hashem established power in the world to Yitro but to the people the war meant responsibility to the divine directive.

Verse 8. "Moshe told his father-in-law………..all the difficulties that they had endured…." Rashi reports the difficulties: "The sea (the implied danger of the moment), and the Amalek war.

Rashi teaches that Moshe started to speak to Yitro about those things that he already knew, about the sea and Amalek. If these events brought Yitro to the camp, why did Moshe have to teach him about those very events. For Rashi it is obvious.

Yitro heard what he heard and came to the right conclusion for him. However, Yitro did not hear what Moshe heard, saw and understood. Yitro's first dividend after coming to join the camp of Yisrael was that Moshe started to teach him what really happened when those special events took place.

Gut Shabbos,
Chaim Brovender