When hearing about everything that happened to Moses and Israel, Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses travels to the Israelite camp in order to hear the details directly from Moses. After hearing from Moses, Jethro rejoiced in the Israelites’ good fortune.

The Hebrew word which is translated as rejoice is the word “vayichad.” It is a very rare Hebrew word and it is certainly not the typical word to express rejoicing.

Jethro’s joy is certainly genuine and he is sincerely happy for the Israelites, however, the Hebrew root “vayichad” draws our attention to something else that Jethro is experiencing at the same time in addition to his great joy.

Vayichad derives from the Hebrew words l’chaded, which means “to sharpen.” Based on this alternate meaning of the word, it can be understood that Jethro was upset at something. As if the words of Moses were a sharp instrument passing over his skin.

What could cause Jethro to simultaneously rejoice and be disturbed at the same time?

A careful reading of the text gives us a clue.

In verse 8, Moses shares two things with Jethro. One, he tells him everything that God had done to Pharoah which of course would include the plagues culminating in the death of the firstborn and two, how God had saved them (the Israelites).

Yet, in verse 9, it only says that Jethro rejoiced over all the good that God had done for Israel– conspicuously leaving out the downfall of the Egyptians!

Jethro was happy about the great saving of the Israelites but he was also pained by the suffering of the Egyptians! Vayichad—he rejoiced and was pained all at once!

This is a powerful lesson packed into one rarely used Hebrew word. While the Egyptian oppressors “got what they deserved,” nevertheless there is still room for compassion and sensitivity towards their suffering.

At the Passover Seder there is a tradition to use your finger and take a drop of wine out of a full cup as we recite each of the ten plagues. What is the reason for this custom?

It is to remember that even though the oppressors were being punished by God, we should consider our cup incomplete due to the human suffering.

Justice and accountability cannot be ignored but there can still be compassion and sensitivity to the suffering even of the wicked. We do not rejoice even in the downfall of our enemies.