Amalek: Breaking the Aura (Amalek: Rompiendo el Aura)

“Remember that which Amalek did to you…” — Devarim 25:17

HASHEM’s People

When HASHEM took the Jewish people out of Mitzrayim, He did it in a highly visible manner. The word spread quickly that these were HASHEM’s people under His direct guidance and protection, and the world stood in awe of the Klal Yisroel. Shortly after this point, Amalek attacked and was severely beaten, its powerful warriors dismembered and laid helpless in front of the victorious Jews.

While we won the war, Rashi explains that it was still a tragedy for us because now other nations were able to fight against the Jews. To clarify the point, Rashi offers a moshol.

There was once a scalding hot bath that no one could enter. Along came one foolish individual who jumped in. Although he was immediately burned, he cooled off the bath for others. So too, even though the Amalekim were beaten, they cooled off the bath and made it easier for others to attack.

How did Amalek cool the bath?

The Rosh Ha’Yeshiva (Rav Henoch Leibowitz), ZT’L, observed that this Rashi seems to be counterintuitive. When HASHEM brought the Jewish people into the desert, it was to be assumed that He would defend them. However, up until Amalek attacked, it was only a theory. What Amalek did was take this concept from the theoretical to the actual. It was now a reality; Amalek tried and was badly defeated. Anyone hearing of this battle understood that G-d fights the Jews’ wars.

In what sense, then, did Amelek cool off the bath? If anything, their attack should have made it more difficult for others to make the same mistake.

The answer to this question seems to be that there are many factors that control a person’s behavior. One of them is that people only consider what is in the realm of the possible.

Murder isn’t in the realm of the possible

To illustrate, imagine that you walk out of your house one morning and find your driveway blocked by another car. You quickly conclude that person who parked that car is rude and inconsiderate. Because he had somewhere to go, he didn’t care about the consequences of his actions, and he blocked you in. You might even get angry. “The chutzpah of that guy! Not at all concerned with my needs, only with his own!”

Your sense of righteous indignation might even take you so far as to consider taking revenge. Letting the air out of his tires might cross your mind or maybe even damaging the car. But it would be hard to imagine that you would begin fantasizing about murdering the driver. “Let me see, would I rather choke him or stab him? A slow painful death or a quick violent one?”

The idea of murder is so far removed from our realm of thought that it wouldn’t even cross our mind, no matter how angry we were. To us, murder is in the realm of the unthinkable.

Breaking the aura

The Rosh Ha’Yeshiva explained that when the Jewish people left Mitzraim, they were in the realm of the untouchable. The concept of any nation attacking the Jews was unthinkable. It wasn’t a thought that would be considered and quickly rejected; it just wasn’t a possibility. The Jews had an air of being so far above any other nation that no one would attack them – not because they would be beaten back, but because it was unthinkable. What Amalek did was break the aura. Although they were beaten, they now brought the idea of fighting the Jews into the realm of a question. Should we or shouldn’t we? Do we think we will win or not? Some people would and some wouldn’t, but it was now a question. And in that sense, it opened the door for others.

This seems to be the answer to this Rashi. Amalek “cooled the bath.” Even though they were burned they broke the sensation of the Jews being untouchable.

This concept has great application in our lives. The stark difference between the Torah’s view of acceptable behavior and that which is propagated in the world at large is so far apart that it would almost seem that we are experiencing a culture war.

The leaders of S’dom would be humbled

As an illustration, imagine if the leaders of S’dom were reincarnated and given a brief tour of the Internet. They would likely fall down in humble submission. “We thought we led the vanguard of indecency and depravity. We now see that we were pygmies compared to giants. Such decadence, corruption and evil – we didn’t begin to scratch the surface of what you’ve brought into the world, and not just the world, into every living room and workplace. We respect you as true giants. How small we are compared to you!”

The dangers of our times

In recent times there has been a destruction of all sense of decency, morality and common sense. Western society has become so materialistic, corrupt, and immoral that it is bares little comparison to that which the founding fathers of this country envisioned. Effectively, we have witnessed the death of right and wrong.

And so, we find ourselves in a very difficult predicament. While the idea of being open-minded and broad are certainly Torah-based, in these times of clouded sense of right and wrong, for our sakes and the purity of our children, we have to insulate ourselves against influences that sell evil as acceptable and deviance as normal.

As strange as it sounds, we are at war. A clash of cultures is being waged every day on the air waves, billboards and front pages of newspapers – and we are losing it. That which twenty years ago was unthinkable is now the norm. Especially in our role as parents and mentors, we have to be sensitive to the dizzying downward spiral of acceptable behaviors. While we were brought up in different times and may still recognize the truth for what it is, our children are brought in these times, and to them this is the norm. And so we must do everything that we can to keep this culture out of homes. Any of the media that propagates these values are dangerous forces that will seduce our children into perceptions that are far from the Torah’s understanding.

It is times like these that try man’s understanding: his understanding of that which is right, good and proper; his understanding that HASHEM created us to lead a proper wholesome, happy life; and mostly his understanding that certain “lifestyles” are deviant, defiant evil actions. The unthinkable must remain unthinkable.

Courtesy of TheShmuz.com