Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Ki Teitzei #4- Remember Amalek?
In Perek 25 passuk it says we must remember Amalek. Now the question remains, why is it so important to remember to remember them if we are no longer able to destroy them? Rambam addresses this question with the answer that we must never forget what evil was done to us, and to carry it in our hearts.Why do we have to remember what Amalek did? What exactly are we supposed to remember?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The Rambam answers we remember amalek because we need to remember the evil that was done to us and we need to carry it in our hearts to gain hatred for them.
ReplyDeleteWhen we remember amalek it is said to be a positive mitzvah by the Rambam.
According to Shaloh, It is a mitzvah to remember amalek and say the passages יז-יט every day. When we say this every day we fulfill the mitzvah of "remember". We can derive from Shaloh that it is a great mitzvah to remember amalek and thus this is why we remember them.
The Malbim comments that if Amalek was brave, they would have attacked the front of Bnei Yisrael. But they did not--they were afraid of people and were cowardly enough to attack the weak and exhausted that trailed behind. Therefore they are the most despised people.
ReplyDeleteParshas Ki Tetzei:
ReplyDeleteWhat Amalek did was far worse than just attacking us from behind. According to Rashi, the horrible thing they did was attacking us directly after yitzias mitzrayim. When we left mitzrayim, the entire world knew of Hashem and the miracles that had occurred, and they were all scared of us. Amalek had the audacity to come and attack, as if to say that they were better and stronger than Hashem.
Rashi gives the marshal of a bathtub that is filled with such hot water that no human being could touch it. Then one man comes and jumps right into the boiling hot water. Even though he comes out with burns, he makes it look like it is not as hot as everyone thought it was.
Everyone was scared of Hashem and bnei yisroel and they did not think they could attack them because they would definitely lose. once amalek came and “jumped into the boiling hot water”, it made us seem weaker and Hashem not as powerful. This is the ultimate sin of Amalek, and this is the reason that we have to remember the horrible things that they did to us.
The Jews complained at Refidim about not having water and suggested that God did not have the ability to provide them with water. This seems like a crazy claim! Of course they knew God could execute miracles and that He only steps in when a serious deviation was needed. However, Bnai Yisroel were saying that God was passive in his day to day operations. This is similar to the Amalek philosophy and is ultimately what made them susceptible to Amalek’s attack.
ReplyDeleteThe midrash gives an excellent analogy that goes as follows:
A man attempted to steal grapes from another man’s vineyard. However, the owner of the vineyard’s dog bit him. The next year comes and the owner of the vineyard wants to make sure the man does not try to steal grapes again. Instead of embarrassing the man by saying, “don’t steal my grapes again!” he says “remember what my dog did to you.”
So too, with Amalek God tells us to remember Amalek so we can remember not to fall into the trap of Amalek’s philosophy that God is passive in day to day operations.
The answer for why we have to remember Amalek and what we have to remember is interchangeable, according the sources brought by Aish.com. It says in Devarim that we have to remember Amalek the way that we remember Shabbos. The most common answer as to way we have to remember Amalek is that they had the audacity to attack the Jewish people right after Yitziat Mitzrayim. While that is truly horrible, it is the fact that they didn’t fear Hashem that is the problem. While polytheism is more than frowned upon, atheism is worse. Why? Because an Atheist believes that there is no divine being, and everything is purely science, while a polytheist believes in the idea of god, but in multiple ways. To Amalek there was nothing to live for. Life is the survival of the fittest, and those that lose fall off of earth, and those that win get to control it. For this, says Aish.com, the fact that Amalek denies any power that runs the world, that we have to remember and rid the world of them. I find this answer to be rather satisfying because it gives more substance. Its not just that they had different moral ideas (for attacking in the back, after seeing Yad Hashem), but that they really had no view of a heavenly being. By being raised in a frum environment I know how to find Hashem in daily acts and that He is true, and for them to go against that after witnessing Yad Hashem, is something horrible.
ReplyDeleteWhen the Jewish people were camping in Rifidim, Amalek attacked them. The term “Redifim” is linked to the root word of “Pirud”, which is translated as, “separation and disunity”. The connection between these two words leads the K’li Yakar ‘s interpretation. He says that when the Jewish people are separated and divided amongst one another, the probability of Amalek attacking on Bnie Yisroel is large. This brings us to the reason why we have to remember what Amalek did to us is to, which is in order to prevent a new attack from Amalek, we as Clall Yisroel must live in accord and unity. –Chabad.org
ReplyDelete