What Is So Wrong About Amalek?

Every year on the approach to Purim, we lein Parshat Zachor. The maftir we read is from Parshat Ki Teitzei¹ and it recalls the way Amalek struck us when we were floating on a post-Exodus high, living off Heavenly manna with protective clouds absorbing every arrow or snake bite. We read the mitzva to wipe out the name of Amalek, ‘timcheh’ as well as the mitzva to never forget what they did to us ‘lo tishkach.’ In the haftara, we lein from sefer Shmuel² and read about King Shaul’s battle against the Amalekites. This article will explore the nature of Amalek, the reason it is so destructive and the link between this portion and the joyous yom tov of Purim.

Amalek in Battle: Targeting Our Weakness 

We are introduced to Amalek in the first battle they wage against klal yisrael during their journey through the Midbar. The battle takes place in Refidim, because the Jews were ‘rafah yedeihem’ ‘weak in their hands.’³ Not just weary from their trekking through the desert, but spiritually worn down. Amalek attacks us when we are spiritually vulnerable. Despite all the wondrous miracles we witnessed leaving Egypt, crossing the sea and through the desert, the pasuk records that klal yisrael asked ‘is Hashem among us or not?”⁴ Immediately following this moment of doubt, Amalek comes. Indeed, the gematria of Amalek is equal to that of safek, doubt. For Amalek exists solely to implant doubt in our minds about the existence of Hashem. 

This answers the question of the Ohr Hachaim who asks how Amalek managed to attack us when we were under the protection of the clouds of glory. These clouds sheltered us from attack and hid us from public view. The pasuk tells us that Amalek struck the ‘necheshalim’ the ‘stragglers.’ These Jews were not just physically struggling to keep up, they were expelled by the clouds of glory due to their sins. As soon as Amalek saw that there was spiritual weakness, they pounced. 

In the Purim story too, we were spiritually weak. So far gone were we, that we were able to sit and enjoy Achashverosh’s feast, when we should have been longing for the Beit Hamikdash, to which no beauty or pleasure could compare. Achashverosh himself at the party wore the bigdei kehuna and used the precious vessels of the Mikdash, mocking the idea that a salvation would ever come. And the Jews who attended ate and drank, enjoyed and admired, relaxed and partied. With our spiritual sensitivities dulled almost completely, we made ourselves vulnerable to Haman and the forces of Amalek.⁵ 

Karcha: Chance and Coldness 

Throughout the generations, there have been many nations who have arisen to destroy us: the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Nazis. Yet, none of these nations have a special Shabbat dedicated to remembering the evil they perpetrated and none have a special mitzva to wipe them out. What is so terrible about Amalek in particular?

In Parshat Zachor we read that Amalek was ‘karcha b’derech.’ Rashi⁶ provides three different explanations of this word ‘karcha.’ It could come from ‘karah’ meaning ‘to happen by chance’ expressing that Amelek’s battle caught the Jewish people by surprise. It could be related to the word ‘keri’ meaning impurity as the Amalekim engaged in impure relations with the Jewish people or it could be derived from the word ‘kar’ meaning cold. This forms the basis of the famous mashal of the boiling hot bath which everyone is afraid to step into. Suddenly, one foolish person jumps in and scalds himself, but he has cooled it down for everyone else. So too, the Jewish people were revered, invincible and untouchable after yetziat mitzrayim, yet Amalek attacked them to show the world that the Jewish people don’t have a special, protected status. 

The War against Amalek is midor dor, an eternal battle which rises up in each generation. On a deeper level we can explain that Hashem fights the external Amalek which surrounds us, but we must extinguish the voice of Amalek which comes from within us. The voice of Amalek is a voice which comes sneakily, like the battle they waged.

On a deeper level, when Rashi says that ‘karcha’ is derived from ‘mikreh’ – ‘chance’ it is not only describing the element of surprise in their attack. Rather, it defines the entire hashkafa of Amalek. Amalek claims that the world is hefker, that there is no rhyme or reason, no creator or plan. To an Amaleki, everything is down to chance. For this reason, we call the Yom Tov Purim (lots) because Haman, echoing this dangerous ideology, picked lots to destroy the Jewish people. This was to defiantly send the message that the date chosen was as irrelevant as names pulled from a hat. Incredibly, Hashem overturned Haman’s actions and his own actions testify the hashgacha, the complete involvement of Hashem. Haman, who preached this hashkafa of randomness, was the chief constructor of his own gallows! 

The pasuk says about Amalek ‘they did not fear Hashem’ which seems superfluous. Of course they were not G-d fearing! Rather, this embodies Amalek, their entire essence was denial of Hashem’s existence. Thus we defeated them through looking up to Shamayim, guided by the raised hands of Moshe. Everyone, even our greatest enemies, know that we are G-d’s chosen people. Amalek denied even this and cries ‘mikreh.’ “No there is no G-d so you cannot be His people.”

The second explanation for Amalek’s destructive nature is their kerirut, their coldness. A Jew needs to be passionate, excited and proud of their avodat Hashem. Amalek sought to extinguish our fire. Rav Moshe Tzvi Weinberg explains that it is the leitzanut (mockery) of Amalek which condemns them to eternal destruction because leitzanut kills spirituality. The Mesilat Yesharim writes that 100 words of mussar can be destroyed with one word of mockery. We can read Amalek’s name as ‘amal kuf’ ‘we worked 100 times.’ Amalek lets us learn, grow, inspire, but only 100 times. After that, they throw in scorn and all the growth is demolished. 

In the Purim story, we lacked passion. Haman says ‘yeshno am’ meaning ‘we have a nation.’  This can be read as ‘yashein,’ the sleeping nation. We were apathetic in our Yiddishkeit. Purim is a day of fun, joy and laughter because in the toolbox of a Jew, these things generate more ahavat Yisrael, more ahavat Hashem. But when in the hands of Amalek, they take apart the Jewish people and their ruchniut, shredding it bit by bit. 

The commandment: King Shaul and Amalek

In the book of Shmuel, we read of Hashem’s command to King Shaul, via the navi Shmuel, to wipe out the nation of Amalek in its entirety: ‘Man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’⁷ However, King Shaul did not fully obey and kept some Amalekite animals⁸ as well as their King –  Agag – alive. King Shaul both blamed the people for this as well as justifying it on spiritual grounds, explaining that he intended to sacrifice the best, fattest animals for Hashem and to execute Agag publicly to generate greater Kiddush Hashem. However, in the time he was alive, King Agag fathered a child whose descendant was the wicked Haman H’Agagi.

It may be hard for us to understand this mitzva, especially when we read that Hashem wanted us to kill the Amalekite babies. Interestingly, the Navi uses Hashem’s name of rachamim, mercy when recording the command. In truth, the Amalekites were given a choice: they could drop their evil hashkafa and abandon their Amaleki roots or they could cling to them and be destroyed. A born Amalekite did not have to subscribe to the Amalekite people. Indeed, we find that Haman’s own descendants (think of Hitler or Sinwar’s descendants!) converted and taught Torah in Bnei Brak⁹. The goal is to eradicate the spiritually toxic Amaleki hashkafa¹⁰. 

Fighting Amalek today 

The War against Amalek is midor dor, an eternal battle which rises up in each generation¹¹. On a deeper level we can explain that Hashem fights the external Amalek which surrounds us, but we must extinguish the voice of Amalek which comes from within us. The voice of Amalek is a voice which comes sneakily, like the battle they waged.

I recall in my seminary year asking advice of a wise Rav, Rabbi Sapirstein. After hearing his take, I asked him what to do if I lost my commitment to this decision once I left seminary. Rabbi Sapirstein responded that we daven “remove the Satan from in front of us and behind us.” He told me that this voice is the safek of Amalek, a small but alluring voice asking “Are you sure you made the right decision? That madreiga isn’t for outside of Eretz Yisrael…” This is the force which we continue to struggle against, even today.

May we merit the siyata dishmaya to overpower the external Amalek of our dor and to conquer the internal Amalek from our minds. 

1. Devarim 25:17-19 ↩︎
2.  Shmuel I 15:2-34 ↩︎
3. https://torah.org/torah-portion/livinglaw-5766-tetzaveh/
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4. Shemot 17:7 ↩︎
5. But, by the end of the Megilla, we read ‘kimu v’kiblu hayehudim’ (Esther 9:27) ‘the Jews accepted and took upon themselves’ which the Gemara translates as ‘kimi mah shekiblu kvar,’ we re-committed to the Torah of Har Sinai. ↩︎
6. On Shemot 25:18 ↩︎
7. Shmuel I 15:3 ↩︎
8. Why did animals have to get destroyed? Because the Amalekites used sorcery to turn themselves into animals. Additionally, Hashem did not want any remnant of Amalek, even through an animal. ↩︎
9. Gittin 57b ↩︎
10. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3942715/jewish/Who-Were-Amalek-and-the-Amalekites.htm
    
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11. Shemot 17:16 ↩︎