Remembering Our Greatest Enemy - Parshat Ki Teitzei

(17) Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt— (18) he came up behind you on the march, to all the weary stragglers in the back - when you were tired, worn down, and did not fear God. (19) Therefore, when the Eternal your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Eternal your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

(8) Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. (9) Moses said to Joshua, “Pick some men for us, and go out and do battle with Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill, with the rod of God in my hand.” (10) Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. (11) Then, whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; but whenever he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. (12) But Moses’ hands grew heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur, one on each side, supported his hands; thus his hands remained steady until the sun set. (13) And Joshua overwhelmed the people of Amalek with the sword.

(14) Then the Eternal said to Moses, “Inscribe this in a document as a reminder, and read it aloud to Joshua: I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven!” (15) And Moses built an altar and named it Adonai-nissi. (16) He said, “It means, ‘Hand upon the throne of Yah!’ The Eternal will be at war with Amalek throughout the ages.”

(13) You shall not have in your pouch alternate weights, larger and smaller. (14) You shall not have in your house alternate measures, a larger and a smaller. (15) You must have completely honest weights and completely honest eiphah, if you are to endure long on the soil that the Eternal your God is giving you. (16) For everyone who does those things, everyone who deals dishonestly, is abhorrent to the Eternal your God.

(17) Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt— (18) how, undeterred by fear of God, he came up behind you on the march, to all the weary stragglers in the back - when you were tired, worn down, and did not fear God. (19) Therefore, when the Eternal your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Eternal your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

(35) You shall not falsify measures of length, weight, or capacity. (36) You shall have an honest balance, honest weights, an honest eiphah, and an honest hin. I the Eternal am your God who freed you from the land of Egypt. (37) You shall faithfully observe all My laws and all My rules: I am the Eternal.

(1) Setting out from Elim, the whole Israelite community came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. (2) In the wilderness, the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. (3) The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Eternal in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, when we ate our fill of bread! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to starve this whole congregation to death.”

(4) And the Eternal said to Moses, “I will rain down bread for you from the sky, and the people shall go out and gather each day that day’s portion—that I may thus test them, to see whether they will follow My instructions or not. (5) But on the sixth day, when they apportion what they have brought in, it shall prove to be double the amount they gather each day.”

(6) So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “By evening you shall know it was the Eternal who brought you out from the land of Egypt; (7) and in the morning you shall behold the Presence of the Eternal, because He has heard your grumblings against the Eternal. For who are we that you should grumble against us? (8) Since it is the Eternal,” Moses continued, “who will give you flesh to eat in the evening and bread in the morning to the full, because the Eternal has heard the grumblings you utter, what is our part? Your grumbling is not against us, but against the Eternal!” (9) Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole Israelite community: Advance toward the Eternal, for God has heard your grumbling.” (10) And as Aaron spoke to the whole Israelite community, they turned toward the wilderness, and there, in a cloud, appeared the Presence of the Eternal.

(11) The Eternal spoke to Moses: (12) “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Speak to them and say: By evening you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; and you shall know that I the Eternal am your God.” (13) In the evening quail appeared and covered the camp; in the morning there was a fall of dew about the camp. (14) When the fall of dew lifted, there, over the surface of the wilderness, lay a fine and flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. (15) When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?”—for they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “That is the bread which the Eternal has given you to eat. (16) This is what the Eternal has commanded: Gather as much of it as each of you requires to eat, an omer to a person for as many of you as there are; each of you shall fetch for those in his tent.” (17) The Israelites did so, some gathering much, some little. (18) But when they measured it by the omer, someone who had gathered extra had no excess, and he who had gathered too little had no deficiency: they had gathered as much as they needed to eat. (19) And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over until morning.” (20) But they paid no attention to Moses; some of them left of it until morning, and it became infested with maggots and stank. And Moses was angry with them. (21) So they gathered it every morning, each as much as he needed to eat; for when the sun grew hot, it would melt. (22) On the sixth day they gathered double the amount of food, two omers for each; and when all the chieftains of the community came and told Moses, (23) he said to them, “This is what the Eternal meant: Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy sabbath of the Eternal. Bake what you would bake and boil what you would boil; and all that is left put aside to be kept until morning.” (24) So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered; and it did not turn foul, and there were no maggots in it. (25) Then Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath of the Eternal; you will not find it today on the plain. (26) Six days you shall gather it; on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be none.” (27) Yet some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found nothing.

(28) And the Eternal said to Moses, “How long will you men refuse to obey My commandments and My teachings? (29) Mark that the Eternal has given you the sabbath; therefore He gives you two days’ food on the sixth day. Let everyone remain where he is: let no one leave his place on the seventh day.” (30) So the people remained inactive on the seventh day. (31) The house of Israel named it manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and it tasted like wafers in honey. (32) Moses said, “This is what the Eternal has commanded: Let one omer of it be kept throughout the ages, in order that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out from the land of Egypt.” (33) And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, put one omer of manna in it, and place it before the Eternal, to be kept throughout the ages.” (34) As the Eternal had commanded Moses, Aaron placed it before the Pact, to be kept. (35) And the Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a settled land; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. (36) The omer is a tenth of an eiphah.

(1) From the wilderness of Sin the whole Israelite community continued by stages as the Eternal would command. They encamped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. (2) The people quarreled with Moses. “Give us water to drink,” they said; and Moses replied to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you try the Eternal?” (3) But the people thirsted there for water; and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” (4) Moses cried out to the Eternal, saying, “What shall I do with this people? Before long they will be stoning me!” (5) Then the Eternal said to Moses, “Pass before the people; take with you some of the elders of Israel, and take along the rod with which you struck the Nile, and set out. (6) I will be standing there before you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock and water will issue from it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. (7) The place was named Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and because they tried the Eternal, saying, “Is the Eternal present among us or not?”

(8) Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. (9) Moses said to Joshua, “Pick some men for us, and go out and do battle with Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill, with the rod of God in my hand.” (10) Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. (11) Then, whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; but whenever he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. (12) But Moses’ hands grew heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur, one on each side, supported his hands; thus his hands remained steady until the sun set. (13) And Joshua overwhelmed the people of Amalek with the sword.

(14) Then the Eternal said to Moses, “Inscribe this in a document as a reminder, and read it aloud to Joshua: I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven!” (15) And Moses built an altar and named it Adonai-nissi. (16) He said, “It means, ‘Hand upon the throne of Yah!’ The Eternal will be at war with Amalek throughout the ages.”