Since we have Shabbat HaChodesh today, AND Pesach is just two weeks away, I want you to tell me what do you think of our maftir. What elements of choice can you see in it?
Takeaways:
One of the questions we need to grapple this week is the identity of the perpetrator of the calls with bomb threats to the JCCs around the country.
Shalom Rosenberg's identity chart and the four children. [General environment can give positive and negative attitudes to Jewish id, same as experience with Judsism itself. The crossing of those are what results in how one experiences being Jewish as a whole, Rosenberg's chart fits well with the four children]
Very few people are irredeemable in the Jewish tradition - even the wicked child gets an answer. Note that both children are asking the same question: the anxiety about details.
Canary in the mine - the one who explodes into action; a political message of hatred
May this Shabbat we have courage to confront the Amalek within, and to bring closer those who are far away. May we foster good connections, positive connections with Judaism, and may we be aware that the environment we create also has a saying on how others become Jewish.
(17) Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt— (18) how, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you/cooled you/happened upon you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear. (19) Therefore, when the LORD your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!
(יח) אשר קרך בדרך. לשון מקרה דבר אחר לשון קרי וטמאה, שהיה מטמאן במשכב זכור. דבר אחר לשון קור וחום, צננך והפשירך מרתיחתך, שהיו כל האמות יראים להלחם בכם ובא זה והתחיל והראה מקום לאחרים. משל לאמבטי רותחת שאין כל בריה יכולה לירד בתוכה, בא בן בליעל אחד קפץ וירד לתוכה. אף על פי שנכוה, הקרה אותה בפני אחרים:
(18) That kor'cha in the way - The expression is from "happenstance". Also from keri and ritual impurity, that is, that tried to force the males into sexual submission. Another possibility: This is the language of cool and heat, cooled you and stopped you from boiling. All the nations of the world were afraid to fight you [Israel] and this one came and started and showed the way to others. It is likened to a legend of a boiling bath that no creature could enter. A scoundrel came and jumped in. Even though he was scalded, he cooled it down for others.
(יד) שבא עמלק להזדווג בהם קודם כל האומות. פירוש וילמדו אחרים גם כן ממנו, כמו שכתוב בפרשת תצא (דברים כה, יח) "אשר קרך וגומר":
That Amalek came to try them before any other nation - that others will learn from them, as it is written on the portion of Tetzave (Deut. 25:18) - "that cooled you off etc."
() אור חדש פירוש על מגילת אסתר ונקרא בשם הזה כדאמרינן בפרק קמא דמגילה (ט"ז, ב) ליהודים היתה אורה (אסתר ח, טז) אמר ר' אלעזר אמר רב יהודה אורה זו תורה שנאמר (משלי ו, כג) כי נר מצוה ותורה אור, ויש לשאול הרי כבר היה להם התורה מסיני ... ולפיכך אמרו (מגילה טז, ב) (אסתר ח, ט) ליהודים היתה אורה זו תורה, אע"ג שכבר היה להם התורה מסיני מ"מ צריך שלא היה כאן מודעא רבה לאורייתא ומה שאין כאן מודעא זה היה על ידי מקרא מגילה כאשר קבלו מדעתם מקרא מגילה...
"A new light" - an explanation on the Book of Esther, and it is called with this name since we read in the Megilah "there was light for the Jews" (8:16), and in the Talmud Megilah (16b) we read 'rabbi Eleazar said that Rav Yehuda said that light is Torah, as it is written 'because the candle is the mitzvah and the Torah is light' (Prov. 6:23).' And one needs to ask: they already had the Torah from Sinai!... and therefore [the answer can be] that even though they had the Torah from Sinai nevertheless they had a great acceptance of the Torah. What they did not have there was that through the reading of the Book of Esther was a great acceptance of the Torah by their own choice/decision/idea.
...ובמדרש (אסתר רבה ח, ה) ויגד לו מרדכי את כל אשר קרהו אמר להתך לך אמר לה בן בנה של קרהו בא עלינו דכתיב ביה (דברים כה, יח) אשר קרך בדרך, וגם במדרש הזה פירושו כך כי כל מה שעשה עמלק וזרעו הכל מורה מפני שאינם מכוונים לטובת עצמם שזהו דבר שאינו מקרי רק דבר שבעצם רק כי הם צוררים את ישראל ואינם עושים בשביל טובתם כי דבר זה אינו נחשב מצד לכך כאשר יצאו ישראל ממצרים בא עליהם עמלק בדרך וכדכתיב (שם) אשר קרך בדרך בצאתך ממצרים כי כל אומה אשר בא על אומה אחרת מפני שהם מכוונים לטובתם לכבוש את ארצם וליקח מידם ארצם אין זה נקרא קרהו אבל אלו בדרך היה ולא היה להם שום ישיבה בשום ארץ כלל ושום ארץ לא היה להם ועם כל זה באו עליהם למלחמה ומה ממון יש להם למי שהיו עבדים עובדים לאחרים ולא ידע עמלק כי השאילו מצרים ממון ובשביל זה לא בא כי לא ידע עמלק כאשר בא מארצו מדבר זה רק להיות צורר לישראל ולכך נאמר (שם) אשר קרך בדרך, ועוד פירושו בן בנו של קרהו בא עלינו כי מאחר שצוה הש"י למחות את זכר עמלק מזה תדע כאילו אין לה' מציאות בעצם כלל רק נחשבים דבר מקרה ולא דבר שהוא בעצם ומאחר שאינם נחשבים דבר שבעצם רק דבר שהוא במקרה ...
...And in the midrash (Esther Rabbah 8:5) 'And Mordechai told him all that happened to him (karahu) - he said to Hatach: go and tell her (Esther) that the son of the son of Kar'hu has come upon us, as it is written 'that happened on/cooled you on the way (Deut. 25:18). And also in this midrash it explains that all that Amalek and his seed do teaches that since they do not intend for their own good - this is a thing that is not just happenstance. What it is is that they want only to attack Israel... since it is written 'when you were coming out of Egypt'. Every nation that attacks another nation does so because they intend good for themselves, to conquer land. And this is not 'happenstance' - but those were 'on the way', that is, they had no permanent seizing in a land, and had no land themselves, and even with all this they attacked. And if you think that they wanted wealth, these were slaves, working for others, and certainly Amalek did not know that they had asked the Egyptians for possesions. And therefore you know that they only came to attack Israel, and this is not happenstance.
Reuven Firestone, Holy War in Judaism: The Fall and Rise of a Controversial Idea, pp. 102-103
The sages… demonstrate that Amalek succeeded in permanently weakening the image of Israel in a predatory world, serving as the ultimate cause of all subsequent attacks and tragedies perpetrated against Israel by the nations. At the same time, the rabbis did not remove reproach from Israel. For example, unethical behavior, symbolized by unfair weights and measures, is an abomination to God (Prov. 11:1) and such practices would bring divine punishment upon Israel. The rabbis connect the ‘abomination to God in Prov. 11:1 with abomination to God in the verse preceding the narration of Amalek’s predation of Israel in Deuteronomy 25. The result: ‘If you see a generation whose weights and measures are false, know that the Kingdom will come and punish that generation… What is written [to demonstrate this]? ‘Remember what Amalek did to you…’
Amalek, therefore, although destroyed physically, lives on and becomes a metaphor for both the external and internal weakening of Israel. However, his terror and sin is turned inward by the rabbis. Amalek becomes the enemy within, the evil inclination within the heart. But this internalizing of Amalek metaphor never removed a concrete identification of Amalek, functioning both as a metaphor and as a tangible reality, from association with the enemies of Israel. Even if Amalek is physically no more, the Amalekite inclination for plunder and predation exists in the evil found among those who would destroy Israel.
David Wolpe, Floating takes Faith, p. 15
What was it that brought about the devastating attack of Amalek in the desert? In his book on Amalek in Jewish literature and consciousness, Amalek: The Enemy Within, Rabbi Elijah Schochet points out that the Hafetz Haim believed that disunity in Israel provoked the attack. The name of the place where the people camped right before the attack, Massah (trial) and Meribah (strife), refers to the internal strife of Israel. Rabbi Schochet goes on to recall the words of Rabbi Simcha Bunim, who observes that in the biblical passage “Remember what Amalek did to you in the desert” (Deuteronomy 25:17) the word remember is singular. Rabbi Bunim comments that it was because the Israelites lived singly, isolated from one another and uncaring, that they were vulnerable.
The lesson here is twofold: Both unity and the embrace of community are central to the stability of our lives and the continuance of our people. The very first comment about human nature made in the Bible is God’’s declaration that “it is not good for a person to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). It is not good to be alone as individuals, and it is perilous to be isolated as a community within the larger nation of Israel. In divisive times the title of Rabbi Schochet’s book is particularly apposite: following a long line of exegetical tradition, Schochet identifies Amalek as “the enemy within.” -
(א) דע, כי צריך לדון את כל אדם לכף זכות, ואפילו מי שהוא רשע גמור, צריך לחפש ולמצא בו איזה מעט טוב, שבאותו המעט אינו רשע, ועל ידי זה שמוצא בו מעט טוב, ודן אותו לכף זכות, על-ידי-זה מעלה אותו באמת לכף זכות, ויוכל להשיבו בתשובה, וזה בחינת (תהלים לז י): "ועוד מעט ואין רשע והתבוננת על מקומו ואיננו", הינו שהפסוק מזהיר לדון את הכל לכף זכות, ואף-על-פי שאתה רואה שהוא רשע גמור, אף-על-פי-כן צריך אתה לחפש ולבקש למצא בו מעט טוב ששם אינו רשע וזהו ועוד מעט ואין רשע, שצריך אתה לבקש בו עוד מעט טוב שיש בו עדיין, ששם אינו רשע, כי אף-על-פי שהוא רשע, איך אפשר שאין בו מעט טוב עדיין, כי איך אפשר שלא עשה איזה מצוה או דבר טוב מימיו, ועל-ידי-זה שאתה מוצא בו עוד מעט טוב ששם אינו רשע, ואתה דן אותו לכף זכות, על-ידי-זה אתה מעלה אותו באמת מכף חובה לכף זכות, עד שישוב בתשובה על-ידי-זה...
(1) Know, that it is necessary to judge every person favorably. Even if someone is entirely wicked, it is necessary to search and find in him some bit of good, that in that bit he is not wicked, and by means of this, that you find in him a bit of good, and judge him as meritorious, by means of this you raise him in truth to the side of merit, and you can return him in repentance... This is "a little bit and there is no wicked" - you have to search out in him a bit of good that is still there, where he is not wicked, because even though he is wicked, how is it possible that there isn't still a bit of good, because how is possible that he didn't do a mitzvah or a good thing his whole life? By means of this that you find in him a bit of good where he is not wicked, and you judge him as meritorious, by means of this you raise him in truth from the side of liability to the side of merit, until he returns in repentance by means of his own...
Ba'al Shem Tov
Your fellow is your mirror. If your own face is clean, so will be the image you perceive. But should you look upon your fellow and see a blemish, it is your own imperfection that you are encountering - you are being shown what it is that you must correct within yourself.
