אֲשֶׁ֨ר קָֽרְךָ֜ בַּדֶּ֗רֶךְ וַיְזַנֵּ֤ב בְּךָ֙ כׇּל־הַנֶּחֱשָׁלִ֣ים אַֽחֲרֶ֔יךָ
Rashi explains that the necheshalim are חסירי כח מחמת חטאם, שהיה הענן פולטם. Amalek attacked the weakest, meaning those who were sinners and therefore found themselves outside the protection of the ananei ha'kavod. I don't think we pay enough attention to this detail. This war of Amalek, an attack that we are never supposed to forget, was an attack on people who get stones thrown at them on shabbos, people who espouse hashkafos we reject, people do not follow mitzvos like we do, people do not keep torah the way we do. But nonetheless, if an enemy comes to pick on them, they are one of us.
Now for the other side of the coin. אֲשֶׁ֨ר קָֽרְךָ֜ בַּדֶּ֗רֶךְ -- we know the famous mashal of cooling off the bath water. Rav Shteinman in Ayeles haShachar points out that the Torah seems to focus even more on this detail of asher korcha more than the war itself. We are told to remember Amalek and the first thing the Torah mentions is not that they attacked us, but this detail of cooling things off! The Netziv explains that Amalek comes to cool off the intensity and hislahavus of a Jew, to the point that he/she c"v becomes a min and partners with Amalek to bring down his own people. וַיְזַנֵּ֤ב בְּךָ֙ -- it's not the enemy without that we have the most to fear from, who can do the most damage, but rather it's the enemy בְּךָ֙ within. Netziv writes:
מה שלא היה אפשר לעמלק לעשות בעצמו, אבל ״בך״ — היינו ע״י רשעי ישראל שפקרו היו לעזר לעמלק ״לזנב וגו׳ כל הנחשלים״, היינו, ההולכים ביהדות במצות אנשים מלומדה ולא בחקירה ובשכל, כדכתיב (להלן לג,ג) ״והם תוכו לרגליך
Asher korcha, says R' Shteinman, means chotei u'machti, which fits perfectly with the Netziv. The danger and tragedy of Amalek is not only in what they do to us, but in that they turn so many of the best and brightest of our own people against ourselves.
That is the usual strategy for attack: looking for the vulnerable areas to gain access through them. But we also weaken ourselves when we lack achdus. That's how Haman set up his plan for a Final Solution with a description of the Jewish people as mefuzar umefurad. He was defeated when they came together, achieving the same level of unity required to accept the Torah as a single etity known as klala Yisrael rather than a mere collection of individuals.
ReplyDeletewhen "zachor" is read before Purim, we confuse ha'min (the "min") with Mordechai, and he or she is "one of us". pasuk 25:19 is read as pshat, as the destruction of the Amalekite nation.
ReplyDeletewhen zachor is read with Ki Teitzei, ha'min is a partner "with Amalek to bring down his own people". then 25:19 is read as drush: mi'kol-oi'vecha >mi'sawveev<. the enemies around you are busted; "the enemy within" must be scratched...