What was Yithro's role in Midian before he joined Moses and the people of Israel? The verse calls him "the Cohein of Midian" (Exodus 18:1), and two rabbis disagreed about what "Cohein" means.
Rabbi Yehoshua took the word at face value: Yithro was a priest. A genuine, functioning priest of Midianite religion who officiated at pagan ceremonies and served foreign gods. Rabbi Yehoshua supported this reading with a parallel from the book of Judges, where "Jonathan the son of Gershom the son of Menasheh — he and his sons — were Cohanim to the tribe of Dan until the day the land was exiled" (Judges 18:30). In that verse, "Cohanim" clearly means priests of idolatry. If the same word can describe idolatrous priests there, it can describe an idolatrous priest here.
Rabbi Elazar Hamodai disagreed. He argued that "Cohein" did not mean priest at all — it meant officer or dignitary. His proof came from (2 Samuel 8:18): "And the sons of David were Cohanim." David's sons were not Levitical priests. They were royal officials, men of rank and authority. The word "Cohein" in their case meant a position of civic power, not religious function.
The debate matters because it shapes Yithro's entire backstory. If Rabbi Yehoshua is right, Yithro abandoned a priestly role — he gave up religious authority and status to follow God. If Rabbi Elazar Hamodai is right, Yithro was a political leader who made a political and spiritual choice. Either way, he left everything behind. The question was what exactly he left.