Posted on 03/15/22
Mechiyas Amalek
The topic of מחיית עמלק is one which makes some people uncomfortable. They don’t want to understand why the Torah includes a mitzvah of apparent genocide. Many of us, and for good reason, have a fundamental issue with it. As my mother would say, ”It just goes into that box!” People have a box of things they just don’t understand, and from time to time, when they come across one of them, they just toss it into “that box”, and move on. “Genocide” would fit into that category. It’s something we can’t comprehend. We don’t understand how genocide could mesh with everything we’ve internalized and learnt from Hashem’s Torah. It seems so contradictory to all that we know of normative Jewish behavior, that it demands and cries out for an explanation.
Amalek Singled Out
In Parashas Mishpatim, we find a mitzvah which serves as a reminder to us of how to treat the unfortunate. (SOURCE 1)משפטים כ''ב,כ' וגר לא תונו ולא תלחצנו כי גרים הייתם בארץ מצרים It would be understandable, had the pasuk stated: Don’t mistreat foreigners because you know how it feels to be mistreated as a foreigner.” But no, the Torah doesn’t say that. Rather, it says: “Don’t mistreat foreigners, because you were foreigners in Mitzrayim” This sounds as if the Mitzrim actually welcomed us in as immigrants, and took care of us in their land. (Well, maybe they did initially.) Hashem wants us to be compassionate, and this seems as if the Mitzrim are going to teach us how.
(SOURCE 2) Each year when we listen to the reading of Parashas Zachor, the last pasuk stands out: "תמחה את זכר עמלק מתחת השמים לא תשכח" What about this compassionate thing? It becomes all the more difficult to understand, when we hear how bad the Mitzrim were to us. (SOURCE 3) אם בן הוא והמיתנו-If it’s a male child, then kill him. This wasn’t a battlefield. We’re talking about infanticide! And then more decrees…ויצו פרעה...כל הבן הילוד היארה תשליכהו. Here are more signs of these “compassionate people” who we should emulate. They will teach us how to welcome others.
Pharaoh got so intense in his cruelty, that he ordered that babies be used as bricks in the construction of Pisom and Ramses. Yet, we’re not only told that the Mitzrim are the example of taking care of guests, we don’t even find any gezeira on them for their utter ruthlessness in murdering newborn babies, throwing them into the river, and using them as bricks. Why is there no mitzvah to wipe them out?
Further, there’s a pasuk in Parashas Ki Seitzei כ''ג,ח'which cautions us not to despise an Egyptian, since we were immigrants in his land- לא תתעב מצרי כי גר היית בארצו. Rashi expounds there on this idea and explains that although they threw the males into the river, they were still our hosts at a pressing time, even if it was, as Sifri informs us, for ulterior motives.
We were warned as well, not to provoke the nation of the Emori. These were people who refused to sell us food as we were passing by their lands. Because they hated us so much, they weren’t even willing to sell us food, although they would have profited. Such evil; such hatred! Their land was delivered to the two shvatim as a punishment, but again, we don’t find any gezeira to obliterate them. What is it about Amalek that differentiates them from these other evil nations? What makes them stand out, unique in the directive to wipe them out-תמחה את זכר עמלק?
Amalek’s Unique Evil
(SOURCE 2) כי תצא/ כ''ח,י''ח
''אשר קרך בדרך ויזנב בך כל הנחשלים אחריך''
Amalek attacked the weakest people in the back. The Torah is informing us that Amalek takes advantage of the disadvantaged-the weak, and the elderly, with heinous acts. This is the signal where the Amalekim were different, but it’s still not clear why their evil was particularly unique.
(SOURCES PGS 5,5A) There are mitzvos in the Torah to be especially kind to and considerate of the גר, יתום, ואלמנה. The Torah emphasizes the special care we should extend to these people, and those suffering from poverty. The contrast with Amalek can’t be starker. The question is: How was it that Amalek not only did evil, but came to represent evil? They are “evil personified” לדורי דורות. It behooves us to understand how this happened, how they sank to that low level, so that we can guard ourselves from similar influences, and utilize our own comparable energy to elevate ourselves in the service of Hashem.
Amalek’s Origin
Amalek is the product of a “perfect storm”. There’s an old argument among philosophers: What’s the stronger power-nature, or nurture? We, as religious Jews, know that we were created with bechira -free choice! Both nature and nurture may be influencing our actions to some degree, but our freedom to choose is paramount. So, what will have the greatest impact on our actions-nature, nurture, or our ultimate free choice?
Amalek suffered from weaknesses in all three of these areas. He descended from Timnah-a princess, daughter of Seir, and wife of Elifaz. However, she was also the concubine of Eisav. She entered into a forbidden marriage – being a concubine to one man and a wife to his son. (A double Issur!) When Timnah was born, she had the status of a princess, royalty (since she was a direct descendant of Nimrod). Timnah recognized that Avraham Avinu was the person at the time, who not only defeated Nimrod, but was the up- and- coming star. His followers were clearly a special people. She wanted to marry Yitzchak; however, Avraham Avinu would not permit it. He forbade Eliezer from choosing a wife for Yitzchak from Canaan, Timnah’s birthplace. Timnah then tried to attach herself to Yaakov, but again, the family had a cheirem on the Bnos Canaan. She was not permitted to marry him either.
So, Timnah decided to gain entry into Avraham Avinu’s family through a different venue. She married Elifaz, who was Esau’s son, and from them was born Amalek.
But, Timnah, who was born through an improper relationship, and suffered the rejection of Avraham Avinu’s family, never moved on. She instilled in her children a hatred for the people who had spurned her, for Bnei Yisroel.
There were three factors influencing Timnah here-nature-She was born from an improper relationship, nurture-raised in a degenerate environment, and although she chose righteous people to attach herself to, she was rejected, and- free choice-she didn’t accept that reality, and chose to harbor a hatred for those who had rejected her.
Nature, nurture, and choice are each powerful, and Timnah had all three pulling her in the wrong direction. While both Timnah and Elifaz had choices to make, and Elifaz actually made some good decisions along the way (like choosing not to kill Yaakov, when he had the opportunity), once that perfect storm, that trifecta, was in place, they chose wrongly, and transmitted that hatred to their progeny.
Why Amalek is Still Around
After יציאת מצרים, the Mitzrim chased Bnei Yisroel till the Sea. Very soon after, Amalek attacked. Why didn’t Hashem drown them there in the Sea like he did to the Mitzrim? For some reason, Amalek had to be a defeated in an actual war. The meforshim explain that every living creature has a counterpart in the spiritual world. In order to defeat Mitzrayim, Hashem had to first destroy their שר in שמים by the name of סמאל. סמאל had argued on behalf of the Mitzrim, but Hashem didn’t accept his argument, and the Mitzrim drowned. Why then, did Hashem not do the same with Amalek?
This could not be done with Amalek because the שר of Amalek is the שטן himself! That is the status that this evil nation reached. The שטן couldn't be eliminated because Hashem created him for a specific purpose. That purpose is so that bechira, free will, can function. He needs to be here so that our decisions should have meaning, and he will exist until Moshiach arrives.
Therefore, Hashem didn’t destroy him. Amalek had to be defeated in a physical war, one in which there was not one casualty on the Jewish side. From this time on, Amalek became the embodiment of evil, and it became the mission of Bnei Yisroel, Hashem’s nation, to stand up to them.
Amalek Meets His Match
In the early 1900’s, the Kaiser from Germany visited Palestine. Everyone went out to greet him, as he was royalty. They even put their sefarim down, to go out and pay tribute to him, with the rationale that his royalty is representative of the מלכות שמים. Indeed that is the halacha, that we must pay homage to a secular king in this world. If this is a blood and flesh king, how much greater is the King of all Kings! One Rav did not go, and when questioned why not, he revealed that he had a kabbalah from his Rebbi that the Germans stem from Amalek. This, of course was long before any Nazis appeared on the scene. How could this be? Everyone has some redeeming quality, something internal. But Amalek’s evil was already part of his essence, a trait bequeathed to him from his ancestress Timnah.
The only way that Amalek can be eradicated is through the Jewish people. Are we really so righteous, the epitome of goodness, the עם הנבחר of goodness? We are the הנבחר עם! Our talent is to excel, but at what? (SEE “Learning from the Day of Judgment”)
The Shah of Iran had a Jewish doctor, Dr. Silverstein, treating him. Harvard Medical College has Jews making up 20% of its faculty. So, we should be proud of ourselves. But this is not our middah.
My wife and I once visited Washington D.C., and viewed an exhibit on Jewish Immigration. It was complimentary of the immigrant Jews, how they made themselves into something out of nothing in their new land. On one poster, there was a quote from a premier credit rating company, the W.R. Dunn & Co., with a report on a Mr. Levy (founder of the Levy & Strauss Co.) who wanted to borrow $12,000 to start his company. The report read: “Mr. Levy has an excellent reputation for paying his creditors back on time, and being honest in business. However, His ancestors did loot the Crown Jewels of Egypt, and never paid them back! Jews were often seen as swindlers, and at times were found to be the most ingenious ones. When we stumble, we stumble big!
Our middah is to excel at everything. Whatever we do, whether good or bad, we do in an extraordinary way. There’s no guarantee that it will be right, but it will be big- whether in Torah, in medicine, in science, or in all other areas. This is the key to the counterbalance. The victory of good over evil needs to come through the power of choice. How is it done?
Accessing Our Power
The Gemara in Yuma tells us that the Second Bais Hamikdash was destroyed due to the sin of שנאת חנם. How was this different from the First? During the period of the Second Bayis, Yidden were keeping all of the mitzvos, but it was still destroyed…מפני שהיתה בה שנאת חנם-מלמד ששקולה שנאת חנם כנגד כל העבירות-עבודה זרה גלוי עריות ושפיכות דמים. These are the biggest three no-nos, and the first Bayis was destroyed on account of these sins, but the Second Bayis-because of שנאת חנם. From here we learn that שנאת חנם is equal to the three cardinal sins.
The Gemara in Beitza tells us- (SOURCE 8) כל המרחם על הבריות בידוע שהוא מזרעו של אברהם אבינו, וכל שאינו מרחם על הבריות בידוע שאינו מזרע של אברהם אבינו
This is what distinguishes us-our rachmanus! It’s a tool at our disposal that we are required to use. So how do we “mess up”? How could a Yid be caught stealing, or cheating?
(SOURCE 9) We’re instructed in the Aseres Hadibros: לא תחמד בית רעך אשת רעך ועבדו ואמתו ושורו וחמרו וכל אשר לרעך
The arrangement of the wording in this pasuk is an enigma, which shows up nowhere else in the Torah. At times, a pasuk includes a list of information using a כלל-פרט-כלל. Occasionally, we’ll find a פרט -כלל- פרט. But here we have a פרט-פרט-פרט-פרט-פרט-פרט-כלל! Six פרטים and then a כלל! Six details- בית רעך אשת רעך ועבדו ואמתו ושורו וחמרו, and then a general idea-וכל אשר לרעך! Isn’t his donkey included? Why does each possession need to be detailed separately?
There’s a beautiful explanation for this, which is a key tool in understanding how to perceive other people’s lives and belongings. From time to time, one may be tempted to covet another’s possession-their lavish home, beautiful wife, fine clothes, and such. We are trained not to do so. How can a person control his natural desire to acquire the enviable things he sees?
This pasuk informs us- Do you truly desire this person’s status? their wife? their home? their clothes? Well, it’s a package deal! It comes along with some other things as well-maybe their shalom bayis issues, perhaps a sick child, or maybe some other misfortune. Do you really want it all- וכל אשר לרעך? You can’t pick and choose; it comes together. Everyone has some pleasant things and some challenges in their life. It’s their pekele, containing everything their Creator intended for them to have.
How then, should we utilize our power to excel? It starts with eradicating jealousy. Rather than looking at what people have-we should look to see what they are missing, and figure out how we could fill that void. There’s a long list of chasadim that we can do for others, whether financially, or physically. We can visit, and comfort. We can assist, and befriend. We need to counter the hatred of Amalek with the merciful nature we inherited from Avraham Avinu. It’s up to us to decide what we will focus on, whether the pleasant, or the unpleasant.
Purim - Cornucopia of Opportunity
Purim celebrates our victory over Amalek-a victory formulated by Hashem who remained hidden. The evil enemy wanted to physically annihilate us, but we were delivered from certain destruction. We would imagine that a fitting tribute to this miracle would be a day of introspection- a fast day, a day of תשובה ותפילה, but no, we celebrate this day with an abundance of mitzvos בין אדם לחבירו. Why is that?
Purim is the victory of good over evil, of kindness over cruelty, of רחמים over indifference. So, we commemorate that day with acts of kindness- ומשלוח מנות איש לרעהו ומתנות לאביונים.
Hashem made it very clear. He won’t destroy the שטן until Moshiach arrives. It’s up to us! Only we, Klal Yisroel, can expediate his destruction by using our middah of excelling, and making proper choices. By having compassion on others, we can access our outstanding kochos, eradicate the שר of Amalek, and thereby hasten the Coming of Moshiach.