The Three Pronged Attack

Torah study is the antidote to the aspect of Amalek that sows doubt and confusion in our lives. Torah gives us clear direction. Indeed, the word Torah itself means guidance. Torah is always associated with light because it shines the light of truth and exposes the true meaning and purpose of everyone and everything. BESHALLACH BESHALLACH

Three’s a Crowd

The end of this week’s parsha, Beshallach, discusses the attack of the Amalekites and the way the Jewish people waged war against them. The Torah recounts how Moses went to the top of a mountain and raised his arms. The Torah then states that whenever his arms remained aloft the Israelites would prevail, but whenever his arms dropped, the Amalekites would have the upper hand. To help him keep his arms raised, they placed a rock underneath him and had his brother Aaron and his nephew Chur support them. He then was able to keep his arms raised until the sun set and the Amalekites defeated.

The question is why did he bring Aaron and Chur to the top of the mountain with him? Initially, it was only Moses who actually prayed with his arms raised. Only after his hands became “heavy” as the Torah states, did they get involved. Why then did he bring the two others with him? And why did he bring specifically these two people?

BESHALLACH

Three Pillars

Kli Yakar, one of the classic commentators of the Torah, explains that Moses wanted to have Aaron and Chur at his side because the three of them constituted a triad of spiritual power. According to the Mishnah, the world stands on the three pillars of Torah, service (this refers to the sacrifices in the Temple and prayer) and acts of loving kindness.

Moses represented Torah, as he was chosen by G-d to be the one to bring the Torah to the Jewish people.

Aaron, was the high priest, whose life was devoted to Divine service in the Temple.

Chur was the son of Miriam, Moses’ sister. Miriam—one of the midwives who defied Pharaoh’s decrees of killing the Israelite babies—was known for her nurturing nature and her acts of kindness.

Why, we may ask, was it necessary to invoke all three of the pillars in this battle with Amalek? When the Jews fought other adversaries in subsequent years, we do not find the same pattern of having all the three pillars represented. Why was the battle against Amalek different?

BESHALLACH

Amalek, we discover, was not just an evil nation that was bent on the destruction of the Jewish people, it personified evil in its most insidious form.

The Three Forces of Amalek

If we examine what the Torah and the Sages say about the way in which Amalek—the external as well as the internal one—tries to destroy us, we will discover that there are three forces it marshals.

First, Amalek is said to have “met us on the way.” The Hebrew word for “met” is karcha, which also has the connotation of coldness and desensitization. Amalek is the force that tries to cool off our enthusiasm for matters of goodness and holiness.

Second, Amalek is also said to have the numerical value of the Hebrew word safek which means doubt. Amalek is the force of evil that sows doubts about our Jewishness and creates confusion in our lives.

Third, Amalek is also said to be the numerical value of the word barzel that means “iron,” and has the connotation of violence, inasmuch as swords were made from iron.

BESHALLACH

The Three Pronged Antidote

Torah study is the antidote to the aspect of Amalek that sows doubt and confusion in our lives. Torah gives us clear direction. Indeed, the word Torah itself means guidance. Torah is always associated with light because it shines the light of truth and exposes the true meaning and purpose of everyone and everything.

This explains what the Sages meant when they said that the world stands on three things, listing Torah as the first of its pillars. Without Torah, the world would teeter. There are so many influences that pull us in so many directions. Even absent the forces of negativity that can hold sway on us, we often vacillate as to which direction of good we should follow. Only the Torah can instruct us as to the: who, what, when, where and how of our lives.

Moses’ role, as the one who transmitted the Torah, was to neutralize the power of Amalek to obfuscate and thereby instill doubts.

Aaron, whose life was devoted to the second pillar—Divine service—was the counterforce to Amalek’s objective to cool us off and desensitize us to the spiritual. One could even study Torah and have a clear sense of direction, but Torah study that is devoid of warmth, excitement and enthusiasm is sorely deficient. Only fervent prayer that awakens the BESHALLACH emotions of the soul can counter the coldness that Amalek attempts to instill in our Torah study.

Amalek tries to extinguish the passion of the soul even as it attempts to cloud the Jewish mind. If Moses was the one to attack the state of doubt and confusion associated with Amalek, Aaron’s function in the war was to melt the frigidity of Amalek.

But, even the combined team of Moses and Aaron cannot defeat Amalek, for Amalek also sets his sights on the kindness and generosity of the Jewish people. Amalek sought to instill in them the power of the sword that is represented by iron. By forcing the Jewish nation to defend themselves, Amalek felt it had a win-win situation on its hand. Even if they would not defeat the Israelites, they could still force them to lose their innocence, love of life and obsession with nurturing others, if they could get them to fight.

Chur inherited from his mother Miriam the dedication to nurture others. And he was therefore the personification of the third pillar—acts of loving kindness. Through Miriam/Chur’s influence the Jewish people were given the power to retain their innocence and their passion for goodness and peace.

BESHALLACH

Defeat of Amalek Prerequisite for Redemption

Our Sages tells us that Amalek’s defeat is one of the prerequisites to the future Redemption. As long as the spirit of Amalek lurks beneath the surface, the pillars that hold the world together are standing on shaky ground.

The era of Redemption will be one in which Torah will be taught with utmost clarity. Moshiach will reveal dimensions of Torah that were never before revealed to humankind. His teaching of Torah, we are told, will be visual so that all the ambiguities will be removed. This will be in contrast to the way we grasp Torah in the stifling atmosphere of exile where our understanding of Torah itself is clouded. In the Messianic Age, however, the clouds that eclipse the radiance of Torah will be removed so that it will illuminate the world and provide us with unprecedented guidance.

Likewise, the future Redemption will also enable us to serve G-d with all of our emotions unleashed that will reverse the exile conditions—especially the Amalek syndrome—that have dampened our enthusiasm for G-dly matters.

And the defeat of this Amalek syndrome will also facilitate the emergence of unparalleled goodness that will engulf the world. And in its wake there will be universal peace and brotherhood.

BESHALLACH

From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Beshalach by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.