[Avodah] Chovav and Reuel

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

There's a famous Rashi at the beginning of Parshas Yisro (Shmos 18:1) which lists the seven names Yisro had, including Yeser, Chovav, Reuel, and others. I was thus very surprised yesterday, when we read (Bamidbar 10:29) about "Chovav ben Reuel, the Midianite, the father-in-law of Moshe."

Are Chovav and Reuel the same person, or are they father and son?

Today's pasuk seems to say they are two people, and the Rashi here confirms this. He says that the "Reuel" mentioned way back in Parshas Shemos (2:18) was not Tziporah's father, but rather her grandfather. The pasuk seems to refer to Reuel as Tziporah's father, but Rashi explains that it is not unusual for children to refer to their grandfather as "father".

This puts that section of Shemos in a whole new light. Now, that story seems to tell us that it was the *grandfather* who asked, "How did you finish so soon? Invite the man in!" And it was the *grandfather*, it seems, who gave Tzipporah to Moshe. Yisro doesn't seem to appear in the Chumash until later.

That's a very different way of learning that parsha, but, okay, it's not really inconsistent with anything. On the other hand, I have to look again at the Rashi about the seven names (Shmos 18:1). It turns out that this Rashi has a Yesh Omrim, that some say that Chovav and Reuel are different people; Rashi cites our pasuk (Bamidbar 10:29) about "Chovav ben Reuel", and in *both* pesukim Rashi mentions how the children refer to their grandfather as "father".

So here's my question: What about the FIRST Yesh Omrim? How is the "seven names" opinion consistent with our pasuk? How can anyone hold that Chovav and Reuel are the same person, if we have a pasuk which clearly says they aren't?

I came up with a possible answer, but I don't think it is a good one. Maybe the word "ben" is not to be taken literally as "son", but more figuratively, as "successor". If so, the pasuk in B'haaloscha could refer to "the Ger Tzedek Chovav, formerly known as the Midianite Reuel." But I think that's too much of a stretch.

I asked my chavrusa, R' Steve Karp, if he had any ideas. He noted that for some reason, Rashi in Parshas Shemos explains the meanings of some of those seven names, but not all of them. Reuel was one of Yisro's names, and he suggested that perhaps he was named after his father - "Reuel Jr.", as it were. If so, then Reuel was Tziporah's father, and ANOTHER Reuel was her grandfather, and everything fits.

I'm wondering what the chevrah thinks of these answers. Even better, has anyone seen or heard of any other answers to this question? (The specific question can be rephrased as: How is the first view of Rashi in Shmos 18:1 consistent with what the Torah says explicitly in Bamidbar 10:29?)

Akiva Miller

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