This Shabbat we will read Parshat Zachor, the section of the Torah in Devarim 25:17-19 that commands us:

זָכוֹר אֵת אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה לְךָ עֲמָלֵק בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם׃

Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt.

We have a mitzvah to remember how the nation of Amalek, descendants of Eisav, the brother of our forefather Yaakov, was the first to attack us in defiance of the miracles that Hashem had performed when he freed us from slavery. And because their war was really against the Almighty their memory is to be wiped out. The actual episode is recorded in Shemot 17:8-16:

וַיָּבֹא עֲמָלֵק וַיִּלָּחֶם עִם־יִשְׂרָאֵל בִּרְפִידִם׃

Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.

From the Torah it would appear that this was the initial encounter with Amalek. But the Midrash reveals to us that it was not.

Midrash Tanchuma (Parshat Ki Teitzei 9) relates that as the Jewish people left Egypt, Amalek heard that they were freed and came against them at the Yam Suf (the Red Sea). The Jewish people mentioned the explicit name of Hashem and Amalek was bewildered, as stated (Exod. 15:15), “Then the captains of Edom (another name for Esav from whom Amalek descended from) were bewildered.” Accordingly, Amalek tried again as the Jewish people encamped in a place called Refidim.

What is very interesting to note is that in Shemot 17 we read about an actual war that took place between the Jewish people and Amalek. Why at Yam Suf was it enough just to mention Hashem’s name to repel Amalek while in Refidim they needed to fight a war?

Before Amalek attacks for the second time, we read in Shemot 17:1 that when the Jewish people arrived at Refidim there was no water. Their reaction to this is described in 17:2-3. ”The people quarreled with Moshe. ‘Give us water to drink,’ they said; and Moshe replied to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you try Hashem? But the people thirsted there for water; and the people grumbled against Moshe and said, ‘Why did you bring us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’.” It was then that Hashem gave the Jewish people the rock that miraculously supplied them with water as they traveled through the desert. This section of the Torah concludes (17:7), ”The place was named Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and because they tried Hashem , saying, ‘Is Hashem present among us or not?’”

Rashi cites a Midrash on the next verse which reads, “Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim,” that the Torah places this section immediately after the preceding verse (they said, “Is the Lord among us or not?”) to imply, “I am always among you and ready at hand for everything you need, and yet you say, “Is the Lord among us or not?” By your lives, I swear that the dog (Amalek) shall come and bite you, and you will cry for Me and then you will know where I am!”

This is where the difference lies. At the Yam Suf the Jewish people were worthy enough to fend off their enemy with just mentioning the explicit name of Hashem. But once they lost their faith and trust in Him, Amalek attacked and at this point they were unworthy of the protection they had before.Now they would need to display their renewed trust in Hashem to fend off their enemy. This would come through an unusual war.

The Torah relates during the battle with Amalek (17:11-12):

וְהָיָה כַּאֲשֶׁר יָרִים מֹשֶׁה יָדוֹ וְגָבַר יִשְׂרָאֵל וְכַאֲשֶׁר יָנִיחַ יָדוֹ וְגָבַר עֲמָלֵק׃ וִידֵי מֹשֶׁה כְּבֵדִים וַיִּקְחוּ־אֶבֶן וַיָּשִׂימוּ תַחְתָּיו וַיֵּשֶׁב עָלֶיהָ וְאַהֲרֹן וְחוּר תָּמְכוּ בְיָדָיו מִזֶּה אֶחָד וּמִזֶּה אֶחָד וַיְהִי יָדָיו אֱמוּנָה עַד־בֹּא הַשָּׁמֶשׁ׃

Then, whenever Moshe held up his hand, Israel prevailed; but whenever he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moshes’ hands grew heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it, while Aharon and Chur, one on each side, supported his hands; thus his hands remained steady until the sun set.

The Talmud, Rosh HaShanah 29a asks, “Did the hands of Moshe make war when he raised them or break war when he lowered them? Rather, the verse comes to tell you that as long as the Jewish people turned their eyes upward and subjected their hearts to their Father in Heaven, they prevailed, but if not, they fell.”

What this means is that in place of asking, “Is Hashem present among us or not? ” they would display their faith and trust in Hashem in the midst of a war! Then they would prevail against their arch enemy.

Many years later the Jewish people encountered this enemy again in the form of Haman, a descendant of Amalek who sought to annihilate the Jewish nation, and from whose clutches we were saved from through the miracle of Purim.

The Talmud in Megillah 12a states that Haman’s decree of annihilation of the Jewish people came about because they partook of the feast of King Achashveirosh recorded in Megillat (the Book of) Esther (1:5),”[At the end of this period,] the king gave a banquet for seven days in the court of the king’s palace garden for all the people who lived in the fortress Shushan, high and low alike.” What was so bad about being loyal subjects and partaking of the feast?

An answer given is that it was accepted by the Babylonian and Persian kings that following the destruction of the first Beit HaMikdash (the first Temple) the Jews would return to the land of Israel after seventy years of exile. Achashveirosh mistakenly calculated that the seventy years had passed and that since the Jews had not returned to Israel, they never would and would remain his subjects forever. This banquet was to celebrate this milestone. Thus the Jews who attended this banquet were participating in a celebration in honor of their remaining in exile! This meant they had lost their faith and trust in Hashem that he would return them to the land of Israel so they might as well conform with their ruler. The result of that was the same as what happened to their ancestors in the desert. Amalek attacked!

After the Jews repented under the leadership of Mordechai and Esther, they merited to see the chain of events that culminated in their salvation. The words of Hashem cited in Rashi’s comment above were clear- “I am always among you and ready at hand for everything you need.”

Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzchak