Sicha, Shabbos Tetzaveh 5735
A. Remember What Amalek Did to You
In our parsha, we are told about Amalek, who launched a war against the Jewish people. Moses appoints Joshua to choose men and go out to battle, while he himself prays for Israel’s victory (Source 1). After the war, G-d commands—unusually—that the memory of Amalek be completely erased (Sources 2–3), and the Rambam rules this as halachah (Source 4).
The Rebbe emphasizes that Amalek’s brazenness was exceptional:
First, he initiated war without any provocation or reason. The Jewish people had not fought him and had no intention of attacking him.
Second, he was neither an important nation nor a military power, and yet he went to war against the Jewish people who had just defeated Egypt, the greatest superpower.
The Rebbe asks: why is the warning against Amalek so severe? Seemingly, the other nations, whose opposition is based on reason and intellect, could entice a person more than Amalek, whose opposition is entirely irrational.
B. The Ultimate Evil
After the great revelation of G-dliness at the Exodus from Egypt, all the nations feared to fight Israel. Amalek was the first to dare to go to war against Israel, thereby “cooling the bath,” breaking the barrier of fear, and opening the door for all the other nations to later fight against Israel.
Chassidut explains that the same dynamic exists within the human soul. At times, a person experiences a revelation of G-dliness that should affect him very deeply. Then Amalek appears, cools him off, and plants doubt—perhaps it was not really a miracle, perhaps it was not divine providence. In this way, he “insulates” the person from being inspired, and this becomes the source of other undesirable outcomes. This is why we must be especially cautious of Amalek (Source 5).
C. Overcoming Amalek
Moses says to Joshua, “Choose men for us.” Why does he say “for us,” if Moses himself is not going out to battle but is standing on the hill to pray? The explanation is that in order to subdue Amalek, we need “the men of Moses”—students who learn his Torah and follow his path.
Toil in Torah nullifies the toil of Amalek—his attempt to cool the Jew and prevent him from being inspired by G-dliness. Torah study must be accompanied by humility and self-nullification. In this way, a person rises to genuine spiritual achievement. This is how Amalek is erased.
In this context, after the Gulf War in 1991, the Rebbe emphasized that full attention must be given to the great miracles that occurred in the world, both for the Jewish people and for the world at large (Source 6).
