Invincible

Our staying power comes from the most unsuspected sources. Acting moral when no one would know if we weren’t and valuing even small gestures and baby steps is the power behind our nation’s immortality.

Vulnerable

In this week’s parsha the Torah juxtaposes the law against false weights and measures with the commandment to remember the evil nation called Amalek.

Rashi explains that when we violate the former we invite the attack of the latter.

We need to understand the connection between honest weights and measures and the attack from our arc enemy Amalek. Why does the violation of this commandment to have honest weights and measures have to do with the attack of Amalek? (See preceding essay for alternate explanation.)

The simple answer is that when we violate this commandment we are rendered vulnerable, because we lose the closeness of G-d and His protective power in our lives.

The question still remains, why does the Torah suggest here that our vulnerability is linked to the specific violation of false weights and measures? Couldn’t the same be said of any transgression?

Getting into the Mind of the Violator

To understand the connection it would serve us well to examine the mindset of the one who would disregard the commandment to have accurate weights and measures, while they would not “push the envelope” and commit a blatant crime by taking someone’s property outright.

In the mind of this criminal there is nothing wrong with cheating his customer by using a false weight; it is in his morally warped mind a “victimless crime.” The customer doesn’t know he’s been had.

Another salient difference between outright theft and theft through the use of false weights and measures is that when someone cheats with a false weight it is usually a small and apparently insignificant amount in each individual case. It is only in the aggregate that the perpetrator’s crime involves substantial gain.

From these two distinctions that exist between theft and false weights and measures one can characterize the crime of false weights and measures and the mindset that inspires the commission of this crime thus:

This criminal, in his warped way of thinking, is convinced that when something is not noticed by the victim it is not a crime because he or she does not feel the pain. The criminal is also convinced that when the loss suffered by the victim is negligible it is not a problem even if he were to become aware of the fact that the weights and measures were false.

There can be nothing more destructive than a nation that has citizens who harbor the above two perverse ways of thinking.

What We Don’t Know, Hurts!

Our strength as a people lies in the very two points that the one who uses false weights and measures so blithely dismisses. In general terms our strength lies in our morality and integrity.

More specifically, we are strong and invincible because we are sensitive to the spiritual and physical needs of others even though the other is not aware that he or she is missing something.

On the physical level, there are some in our community who are not aware of the threats to our existence in Israel and other places. It behooves us to sound the alarm and alert these unsuspecting people about the looming danger so that they can adequately avert a catastrophe.

In the spiritual arena the person who was not exposed to the beauty and value of a Torah way of life does not feel that they were deprived of a treasure. So one might think, if that is the way they are, why awaken them from their state of blissful ignorance.

This is analogous to the person who gives a false weight and measure and says that the victim doesn’t even know that they were cheated. A person who is in a coma doesn’t necessarily know that he or she is in that pitiful state, only the relatives appreciate the seriousness of the plight of the comatose patient. The child doesn’t know that he or she is ignorant. Why bother educating children?

With this attitude of “what you don’t know doesn’t hurt you” no progress can be made. Society will always be in a state of darkness and stagnation which ultimately ends in its demise.

Jews have survived and thrived despite all of the opposition to them because they always maintained that what one does not know does in fact hurt them. It was engrained in us that we are one people and we therefore always felt the responsibility to not cheat others out of their heritage and treasure. It is therefore our responsibility to educate those who were denied a Jewish education even as we have to alert the about the physical threats to their existence.

If this attitude had not prevailed most Jews would have fallen to the wayside and we would have been that much weaker. Indeed, we would have suffered the fate of most other civilizations and would have disappeared from the face of the earth.

Small Strides Take us to Far Places

The second point is that if we failed to appreciate the value of small strides in our Judaism and only valued the major changes in our lives we would never have made any progress at all in educating others. In education all progress is measured in what seems to less than significant increments.

Thus by the Torah telling us that we must maintain honest weights and measures it is also impressing upon us to change our mindset and appreciate that as a nation we must look out for the welfare of others even if they do not recognize the danger to their lives or the positive value in living a life governed by the Torah.

And it is also a message to us to value even the most miniscule changes and improvements without which no major changes would be possible.

It is through this sensitivity that we remain strong as a nation and are protected from external threats represented by the evil nation Amalek.

Amalek: Cooling and Doubting

Amalek, the Torah says, “cooled us off.” The Amalek mindset is one where we do not take seriously the threats that are invisible and we may not even be aware of. Amalek tries to destroy us by telling us that there is no crisis; don’t be alarmed; don’t do anything because there is nothing to worry about.

Amalek—which is the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew word for doubt “safek”—also instills a sense of doubt as to whether it pays to make small changes. “Why bother changing a little if we can’t succeed in making the ultimate change?” is Amalek’s approach to getting us to never budge and sows the seeds of our own decline.

The Road to Redemption

Since the elimination of the threat of Amalek is linked to the Messianic Age it follows that the admonition to maintain honest weights and measures is related to the coming of Moshiach.

Moshiach will introduce an era of peace and harmony, but he will also remove the veil that blocks our ability to see what is truly good for us. We will also see the value of every small effort and accomplishment. Amalek is the spiritual force of evil that blocks our vision and perception. And with the coming of Moshiach the Amalek threat will be neutralized. And conversely, when we do our part in neutralizing our own internal Amalek by becoming sensitive to the threats that surround us and by appreciating the small, incremental steps we must take, we become the driving force to make the Redemption process unfold.

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