This Land is My Land

"Amalek came and did battle with the Jews. Moshe sent Yehoshua with soldiers to wage war...Yehoshua weakened Amalek...God [Himself] will fight the battle against Amalek in every generation" (Exodus 17:8-16). Rashi explains that Yehoshua's weakening the Amalek "freedom fighters" and not their total annihilation, was because God commanded him not to destroy Amalek at that time. The commentaries point out that this was because the time for the total annihilation of Amalek had not yet come. It will take place only at the end of time, when "God will remove the spirit of impurity from the earth" (Zachariah 13:2), that is, when Mashiach comes. Until then, the evil that is Amalek will be present in the world. Much to our dismay, it is such a terrible evil, that God Himself, as it were, must wage the battle against Amalek.

It's not very encouraging, is it? To know that there's an enemy out there who is so evil that we do not have the power to fight him on our own. It is reminiscent of current events, when so many "freedom fighters" (i.e., suicide bombers and murderers) willing to give up their lives for nothing, to accomplish absolutely nothing (except death and destruction), to weaken their own systems, structures and lives, all for nothing? That was Amalek, and still is, Amalek. What are we to do about it?

First of all, we have to know who the enemy is. We do not know which individuals are members of the Amalek nation. Therefore, we are unable to continue (and finish) the mitzvah of battling them (Deuteronomy 25). Nevertheless, Amalek does exist; he is alive and well. This is unfortunate, because if it were otherwise Mashiach would be here. So, we must look at the "spirit of Amalek," the spirit of impurity which must be removed from the earth, in order to fulfill our mitzvah of battling Amalek and destroying him. (A detailed history of Amalek's battles against the Jews is presented in our publication, Esther: A Breslov Commentary on the Megillah, by Yehoshua Starret. Presented here are some of the ideas found in the section entitled The Amalek Within.

Rebbe Nachman teaches that Amalek is represented by the philosophers and thinkers who challenge faith and fear of Heaven. The "Amalek person" presents everything through "scientific approach and theory." According to them, if something can't be proven, then it just can't be true. Yet, we know that one cannot prove that God exists, so Judaism and the continuous existence of the Jewish Nation (despite all efforts to eradicate us) defies all laws of nature, science. Not only that, but the Jewish nation always rises to prominence to become the envy of other nations. Why is this? Because there IS a God, One Who chose us as His Nation. As His representatives, it behooves us to act special and to be special (though, admittedly, we know this has not always been the case). Amalek, who battles the fear of Heaven and serving God, can thus be vanquished by simply serving God. Serving Him in a simple straightforward manner, without "kvetching the finger" or stretching the laws to include "mitzvot" never mentioned in the Codes. Or by simply doing our best to pray seriously with simplicity and to study Torah with its true interpretation, and avoiding convoluted conclusions which steer us to incorrect paths. Just, simple, straightforward service of God, as best as one can, according to the halakhah (see Likutey Moharan II, Lesson #19).

Another implication of AMaLeK is that it has the same numerical equivalent (240) as SaFeK, "doubt." The widespread questions and doubts we have regarding our faith, our Torah and our position as a Chosen Nation is Amalek. This includes the perennial questions, "Who am I?" "Who is the REAL me?"

Amalek also challenges our right to possession of the Holy Land. Think for a moment. The Land is inhospitable - its climate is quite hot, and very arid. Water supplies have always been scarce. Natural resources are virtually non-existent; there's little or no oil, gas, minerals and so on. Who would want such a land so badly as to murder for it? Yet, for several millennia, kings and emperors, popes and imams, and everyone else in between, have waged "holy" and unholy wars in order to lay claim to the Holy Land. For what? Because it's holy? Who says so, if not the Torah, which proclaims us God's Chosen People and the Land, His Holy Land, which He has bequeathed to us. However, Amalek cannot bear to see the Jews content in their Land, so he wages battle, continually, in every generation. Thankfully, God is here to oppose Amalek in battle every generation too.

To better understand how we can actively participate in the war against Amalek, in order to conquer our uncertainties and confusions when we lack proper direction and advice, we must strengthen our faith and direction. We must learn the proper path, and learn what is incumbent upon us to learn. For this, we offer the following from the Rebbe (based on Likutey Moharan I, Lesson #6. This lesson is available with English translation and explanatory notes. We present here just some extracts).

Every person must strive to attain humility. He can accomplish this by minimizing his own honor and endeavoring to increase the honor of God. By attaining humility, a person actually attains a level of "Godly honor." The most suitable way to attain humility is to remain silent when humiliated. The shameful experience causes one's blood to rush to his face, which "turns colors" from red to white. The usual reaction to being humiliated is to retort, but, by remaining silent and accepting the suffering as God's will, one attains a level of purity.

Rebbe Nachman explains this empirically. It was one's "hot blood" that caused him to sin. Now, by enduring humiliation, one's putrid blood [of sin] rushes through his body and undergoes a purification process, which is why the person's face turns white. Therefore, by remaining silent, one accepts the humiliation as a purification process.

Furthermore, humiliation need not only be a result of one person shaming another. A person might feel sorry for his wrongful deeds and begin to experience shame and humiliation before God on his own accord, without having to "rely" upon another to embarrass him. This too is considered bearing one's embarrassment in silence and helps purify a person. A person who endures humiliation attains humility. He has minimized his own honor and, and by remaining silent for God's sake, he is maximizing God's honor.

Rebbe Nachman continues: When a person attains humility, he merits teshuvah (repentance). Before one "does teshuvah" (repents) he does not yet have "being;" it is as if he does not yet exist, for of what purpose is a life of sin? However, when he comes to purify himself and do teshuvah, he is then preparing himself to have "being" in the world. This is precisely the reason that teshuvah is associated with the Divine Name, EHYeH - which translates as, "I will be," i.e. "I am prepared to exist." The Holy Name EHYeH is related to the concept of Keter ("Crown"). KeTeR itself is associated with waiting, (as in Job 36:2, "KaTaR, wait for me..."). For one must exercise great patience and proceed carefully when embarking upon the path of teshuvah. So that even though it is necessary to act with great swiftness to save one's life and to flee from the darkness, nevertheless a person should not be dismayed when he sees how far he is from prayer and from all holy practices. For a person must wait before he attains complete rectification and he must proceed step by step, since it is impossible to come into holiness all at once.

The Rebbe's lesson then continues to explain how a person must be constantly involved in teshuvah. For even as a person is confessing "I have sinned, I have transgressed, I have done wrong," there is a degree of falseness in his statement. A person must therefore do teshuvah on his previous teshuvah, i.e., on the "I have sinned..." which he said previously. Thus he must now do teshuvah for limiting the exaltedness of God, concretizing, as it were. A person who wishes to return to God must be extremely knowledgeable in HaLaKhaH (which refers both to the Codes of Jewish Law and to "walking the walk," from the word HaLiKhaH), so that nothing in the world will throw him or distance him from his quest, regardless of whether he is spiritually "rising" or "falling." No matter what happens to him he will fortify himself and hold on...For even in the deepest hell a person can draw himself close to God, since there too, God is present...when a person possesses these two skills, he is on the pathway of teshuvah.

Teshuvah must have three components. A person must "see with his eyes, hear with his ears, his heart must understand and then he will repent" (Isaiah 6:10). For a person must direct his eyes and heart to carefully examine his life and to look at his ultimate purpose; and he must deeply reflect and listen attentively to all the words of our holy Rabbis. Then he will merit genuine teshuvah.

The Rebbe then explains how all this is alluded to in the Hebrew letter aleph. The written aleph is comprised of an upper point, a diagonal [connecting] line and a lower point. The "lower point" represents the person's starting point of repentance, the moment when he decides to remain silent in the face of humiliation. The "diagonal line" represents (Kabbalistically speaking) Tiferet, the Hebrew letter vav [which is a line]. Tiferet stands for "beauty," an array of beautiful colors when they are blended together. This represents the person's changing color when he experiences the humiliation. The "upper point" represents the Keter, a crown which sits "upon the head," for it represents the level of teshuvah that a person attains when he succeeds in remaining silent in the face of adversity.

All this being alluded to in the letter aleph, which is Aramaic for "to learn," the Rebbe explains further that the upper point represents the tzaddik, Moshe; the lower point represents Yehoshua, the disciple; and the line represents the conduit through which the knowledge of the teacher/tzaddik is channeled down to the disciple. Rebbe Nachman then ties all of the above with our Sages teaching: "The Jews were given three mitzvot when they entered the Land: to appoint a king; to destroy Amalek; and to build the Holy Temple" (Sanhedrin 20b).

"Destroying Amalek" represents the lower point, "appointing a king" represents the letter vav, the line which connects the upper and lower points, and "building the Temple" represents the upper point. Amalek represents evil incarnate, the "hot blood" which causes the person to sin which is why it must be eradicated. The Holy Temple is alluded to in the upper point in that it represents Daat and knowledge of God, the ultimate goal of the person's life.

In the Temple, sacrifices were brought which helped the person be forgiven of all sin, to attain the levels of teshuvah, of the Keter. The way to destroy Amalek and to build the Temple is with a king, a true and worthy leader. The king is represented by the line of the aleph, in that he, as leader, can be the force that leads the people away from their folly and on to their intended inheritance, the Holy Land and the Holy Temple. Thus the king is represented by the line, the vav.

Briefly, then, the issue of the week is the destruction of Amalek, which can only be accomplished by focusing upon the ultimate goal, of building our daat, our holiness, our Land and our heritage. We, who may have erred in our judgment and committed wrongful deeds must recognize that we are at the "lower end" of the pole, still connected to the Amalek that treacherously resides within and attacks from the flanks.

At the same time, it is our privilege to know that in our role as Yehoshua, disciples who are willing to learn to rectify our misdeeds, specifically we are the ones who can eradicate Amalek. We can do so by drawing intellect from the true leaders, by willingly submitting to the difficulties and adversities we face, knowing that in the end we can overcome all of them. Of course, we must strive to build our "Temple" - our individual daat and intellects by filling it with the knowledge of God and Godliness, as well as building our collective heritage, our inheritance, the Temple Mount. By eradicating Amalek, we will be able to learn who our real selves truly are, our true position as God's Chosen Nation, and as the Rightful Heirs to His Chosen Land. Speedily in our days, Amen.

A person must always endeavor to look for every merit and every bit of good that it is possible to find in the Jewish People and to judge every Jew favorably, even those who oppose and humiliate him. Then he will always be saved from opposition and in this way he makes a precious crown for God with all kinds of fine gems.