​
 
Rabbi David Etengoff
 
Amalek?
 
ה' יעזור וירחם על אחינו כל בני ישראל בארץ ישראל ובכל חלקי הארץ
 
Chamishah Chumshei Torah contain two passages that discuss Amalek and his actions:
Amalek arrived and attacked Israel there in Rephidim… God said to Moshe, “Write this as a reminder in the Book and repeat it carefully to Yehoshua. I will totally obliterate the memory of Amalek from under the heavens.” Moshe built an altar, and he named it God-is-my-Banner. He said, “The Hand is on God's Throne. God shall be at war with Amalek for all generations.” (Sefer Shemot 17:8, 14-16)
 
Remember what Amalek did to you on your way out of Egypt. When they encountered you on the way, and you were tired and exhausted, they cut off those lagging to your rear, and they did not fear God. Therefore, when God gives you peace from all the enemies around you in the land that God your Lord is giving you to occupy as a heritage, you must obliterate the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. You must not forget. (Sefer Devarim 25:17-19, translations, The Living Torah, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan zatzal)
 
These passages contain the following crucial ideas:

1. Sefer Shemot teaches us that Amalek arrived and attacked our ancestors in Rephidim. The Hebrew word “vayavo” is used for “arrived” as found in our translation. Vayavo connotes premeditation, a planned journey with a particular end in mind, that is, Amalek traveled to Rephidim with the avowed purpose of attacking our nation. In contrast, the passage from Sefer Devarim contains the words: “When they encountered you (asher karecha) on the way,” indicating to Rashi (1040-1105) that this was a mere chance encounter instead of a planned attack.

 

1. Amalek’s attack, and the subsequent battle that ensued, must never be forgotten, and must ever be writ large in the Jewish collective consciousness. Consequently, Moshe was commanded to “Write this as a reminder in the Book and repeat it carefully to Yehoshua.” To ensure this, we were given two mitzvot: “Remember what Amalek did to you on your way out of Egypt,” and “You must not forget.”

 

1. Amalek’s pernicious actions are deemed so heinous that “God shall be at war with Amalek for all generations.” This is a war that mandates complete and absolute destruction of Amalek on the part of God and man: “I [God] will totally obliterate the memory of Amalek from under the heavens,” and “Therefore, when God gives you peace from all the enemies around you in the land that God your Lord is giving you to occupy as a heritage, you must obliterate the memory of Amalek from under the heavens.” This verse is the source for a third mitzvah, namely, the complete annihilation of Amalek.

 
The nation of Amalek no longer exists. Its genetic individuality was lost long ago in the sands of time through mass displacement, and in the cauldron of assimilation. How, then, are we to understand the mitzvot pertaining to Amalek in our own historical moment? My rebbe and mentor, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zatzal (1903-1993), known as “the Rav” by his students and followers, answered this question by noting that, “Amalek is not a race, nor is it a people, a nationality.” If so, what is “Amalek?” For the Rav, it is a state of mind and a behavioral orientation that personifies evil incarnate:

I once heard from my father, [Rav Moshe Soloveitchik zatzal] of blessed memory, in the name of my grandfather [Rav Chaim Soloveitchik zatzal], that any people or group committed to destroy the Jewish people is to be classified as Amalek. One who writes on his banner “Come let us cut him off from being a nation; that the name of Israel be no more in remembrance” (Ps. 83:5) acquires the status of Amalek, and the commandment of “You shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek” (Deut. 25:19) is applicable to him or to them. (This and the following passage, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Days of Deliverance, Essays on Purim and Chanukah, p. 16, from the manuscript of his 1974 public lecture)
 
In truth, Amalek hates all humankind. None-the-less, his greatest vitriol is reserved for our holy nation, since our existence is perceived as antithetical to his very being:

Of course, Amalek or man-Satan hates everybody. He is the enemy of man and enjoys causing misery and injury to all people. Yet, man-Satan or Amalek is particularly preoccupied with the Jew. He hates the Jew more than anybody else. In hating the Jew, in causing suffering and pain to the Jew and inflicting harm on him, Amalek finds his greatest delight. No matter what economic-sociopolitical program man-Satan adopts—socialist, capitalist, fascist, progressive, reactionary, agnostic-secular, or religious-clerical—the hatred of the Jew is his central preoccupation.
 
Now we can understand why “God shall be at war with Amalek for all generations.” As the Haggadah poignantly states: “b’chol dor v’dor omdim aleinu l’kaloteinu” (“In each and every generation someone stands over us and attempts to destroy us.”) Amalek, in the guise of “man-Satan,” has been the ceaseless enemy of our people since the moment we left Egypt, and, alas, continues to be so.
 
Talmud Bavli, Sanhedrin 20b teaches us that three mitzvot became incumbent upon our ancestors when they entered the Land of Israel: “It has been taught: R. Yossi said: ‘Three commandments were given to Israel when they entered the land; to appoint a king; to cut off the seed of Amalek; and to build themselves the chosen house.’” (Translation, Soncino Talmud) The Rambam (1135-1204) accepts Rabbi Yossi’s formulation as p’sak halacha:
​
Three commandments were commanded to the Jewish people at the time they entered the Land: To appoint a king, as it states: “You should certainly place a king over you” [Sefer Devarim 17:15], to cut off the offspring of Amalek, as it states: “Obliterate the memory of Amalek” [25:19], and to build for themselves the Beit HaBechirah, as it states: “the place where Hashem will cause His presence to dwell, search it out and go there [12:5]” (Mishneh Torah, Sefer Shoftim, Hilchot Melachim 1:1, translation my own)
 
May we be zocheh to witness the imminent arrival Mashiach Tzidkeinu, the eradication of Amalek and anti-Semitism, and the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash soon and in our days. V’chane yihi ratzon.
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
Past drashot may be found at my blog-website: http://reparashathashavuah.org
 
Many may also be found on http://www.yutorah.org using the search criteria Etengoff and the parasha’s name.
 
The email list, b’chasdei Hashem, has expanded to hundreds of people. I am always happy to add more members to the list. If you have family or friends you would like to have added, please do not hesitate to contact me via email mailto:[email protected].
 
*** My audio shiurim on the topics of Tefilah and Tanach may be found at: https://www.box.com/s/7bf01f9abcabf02e25c3
 
*** I have posted 164+ of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s English language audio shiurim (MP3 format) spanning the years 1958-1984. Please click on the highlighted link.
 

 
Rabbi David Etengoff
 
ה' יעזור וירחם על אחינו כל בני ישראל בארץ ישראל ובכל חלקי הארץ
 
Our parasha contains the mitzvah to build the Aron Kodesh: “They shall make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height.” (Sefer Shemot 25:10, this and all Bible and Rashi translations, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach, underlining and brackets my own) Intriguingly, the beginning of the mitzvah is written in the plural in the original Hebrew formulation: “v’asu aron atzai shittim.” Subsequently, however, the pasukim pertaining to the actual construction of the Aron Kodesh are written in the singular (25:11-17). This leads us to ask, “Why is the overall mitzvah of building the Aron Kodesh written in the plural construct, whereas the details pertaining thereto are composed in the singular?”
 
The Ramban (1194-1270) channels Midrash Shemot Rabbah 34:2 in his answer to our question:

And it is possible that the text deployed the singular grammatical construct in order to teach that the entire people were joined together, as if one, in the building of the Aron Kodesh, since it was “the holy place of the dwellings of the Most High,” (Sefer Tehillim 46:5) and everyone strongly desired to have [a portion in] the Torah [which was symbolized by their involvement in the construction of the Aron Kodesh.]
 
Fascinatingly, the Ramban subsequently maintains that personal choice was a singular characteristic of our nascent nation’s activity in the construction of the Aron Kodesh:

One manner of participation in this process may have been the individual’s donation of a golden vessel for the Aron Kodesh. Alternately, someone may have chosen to directly help Betzalel in his task [of designing and fabricating the Aron Kodesh]. Then, too, someone may have had special intention [to connect himself/herself to the process of creating the Aron Kodesh, even though they did not actually do anything financially or physically.]
 
This individual mode of participation in building the Aron Kodesh parallels the highly personal nature of the tefillah that took place within the Mishkan itself, and afterwards in the Beit HaMikdash. My rebbe and mentor, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zatzal (1903-1993) explicated this idea in one of his public drashot:

The Beit ha-Mikdash as a locus for prayer is one of Judaism’s central themes. Even though the Talmud tells us that tefillah corresponds to korbanot (offerings), there is a fundamental distinction between the two. Korbanot may be offered through a proxy, while tefillah may not. The difference lies in the fact that the efficacy of a sacrifice is a function of compliance with its halachic norms. If Halachah is followed, God will accept the sacrifice. On the other hand, tefillah must include a personal experience of closeness to God. This experience cannot be fulfilled by proxy. Since Judaism defines tefillah as standing in the presence of the King, prayer presupposes closeness to God. (Darosh Darash Yosef: Discourses of Rav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik on the Weekly Parashah, Rabbi Avishai C. David, editor, page 175, underlining my own)
 
With Hashem’s help, may our tefillot ever be “a personal experience of closeness to God,” and may they soon be uttered in the third and everlasting Beit HaMikdash. V’chane yihi ratzon.
 
Shabbat Shalom,
 
Past drashot may be found at my blog-website: http://reparashathashavuah.org
 
Many may also be found on http://www.yutorah.org using the search criteria Etengoff and the parasha’s name.
 
The email list, b’chasdei Hashem, has expanded to hundreds of people. I am always happy to add more members to the list. If you have family or friends you would like to have added, please do not hesitate to contact me via email mailto:[email protected].
 
*** My audio shiurim on the topics of Tefilah and Tanach may be found at: https://www.box.com/s/7bf01f9abcabf02e25c3
 
*** I have posted 164+ of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s English language audio shiurim (MP3 format) spanning the years 1958-1984. Please click on the highlighted link.

 
 Rabbi David Etengoff
 
ה' יעזור וירחם על אחינו כל בני ישראל בארץ ישראל ובכל חלקי הארץ
 
The word “mishpatim,” the namesake of our parasha and its singular form “mishpat,” is found many times throughout Chamishah Chumshei Torah. We encounter it first in Sefer Bereishit 18:18-19, wherein, Hashem describes the charismatic nature of Avraham Avinu, and his singular ability to pass down the masorah of our newborn faith-community:

And Avraham will become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the world will be blessed in him. For I have known him because he commands his sons and his household after him, that they should keep the way of Hashem to perform righteousness and justice (mishpat), in order that Hashem will bring upon Avraham that which He spoke concerning him. (This and all Bible and Rashi translations, The Judaica Press complete Tanach)
 
Mishpat in this passage clearly has the connotation of “justice.” We find this meaning, as well, in perhaps the most famous verse employing our term:

Far be it from You to do a thing such as this, to put to death the righteous with the wicked so that the righteous should be like the wicked. Far be it from You! Will the Judge of the entire earth not perform justice (mishpat)? (Sefer Bereishit 18:25)
 
Mishpat, it appears, is so fundamental to the fabric of Hashem’s Creation that even He must accede to its legitimate demands. Little wonder then, that we find mishpat employed in this manner within the description of His attributes of action: “The deeds of the [Mighty] Rock are perfect, for all His ways are mishpat; a faithful God, without injustice He is righteous and upright.” (Sefer Devarim 32:4, with my emendations for clarity)
 
Another meaning of “mishpat” and “mishpatim” is that of the category of rational laws, which had they not been stated, would have been naturally derived and set in to motion. As Talmud Bavli, Yoma 67b states: “Our Rabbis taught: ‘You should perform my mishpatim’ (Sefer Vayikra 18:4). These are matters that were they not actually written it is logical that they would have been.” In sum, mishpatim are laws that we could have derived on our own if left to our own devices. In this sense, they are “natural laws,” even though their obligatory status directly derives from Kabbalat HaTorah at Har Sinai.

Mishpat is also employed in reference to ultimate judgment or decision. This is reflected in the following pasuk:

You shall place the Urim and the Tummim into the breastplate of judgment so that they will be over Aaron’s heart when he comes before Hashem, and Aharon will carry the judgment of b’nai Yisrael over his heart before Hashem at all times. (Sefer Shemot 28:30, with my emendations)
 
The expression “the breastplate of judgment” appears in the original Hebrew as “choshen hamishpat” with the letter “heh” preceding the term “mishpat.” This means that this garment of the Kohane Gadol provided practical advice regarding various kinds of issues and revealed the ultimate judgment of the Almighty. This concept is beautifully portrayed by Rashi (1040-1105) in his glosses on Sefer Shemot 28:15 and 30:
​
a choshen of judgment: … Another interpretation: [The choshen is referred to as] judgment because it clarifies its words and its promise comes true, dere(s)nement in Old French, [meaning] a clear statement… But this one [use of the word מִֹשְפָט] serves as an expression of the clarification of words, [meaning] that it explains and clarifies its words. the judgment of the children of Israel: [that is, the solution of] the matter about which they [b’nai Yisrael] are judging and debating, whether or not to do something. (Emendations my own)
 
In sum, we find that the Torah utilizes the word “mishpat” and its plural form “mishpatim” in at least three different ways:

• Justice
• A logically determinable law that nonetheless was given to us directly by Hashem
• The ultimate judgment of our Creator

 
In all cases, we recognize these three different applications of our term as emanating from HaKadosh Baruch Hu. As such, they serve as a continuation of the commanding Voice we heard at Har Sinai. May we, our children, and our children’s children throughout all future generations be zocheh to hear and heed the Voice for evermore. V’chane yihi ratzon.
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
Past drashot may be found at my blog-website: http://reparashathashavuah.org
 
Many may also be found on http://www.yutorah.org using the search criteria Etengoff and the parasha’s name.
 
The email list, b’chasdei Hashem, has expanded to hundreds of people. I am always happy to add more members to the list. If you have family or friends you would like to have added, please do not hesitate to contact me via email mailto:[email protected].
 
*** My audio shiurim on the topics of Tefilah and Tanach may be found at: https://www.box.com/s/7bf01f9abcabf02e25c3
 
*** I have posted 164+ of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s English language audio shiurim (MP3 format) spanning the years 1958-1984. Please click on the highlighted link.

​Rabbi David Etengoff
 
ה' יעזור וירחם על אחינו כל בני ישראל בארץ ישראל ובכל חלקי הארץ
 
Our parasha contains a pasuk that strikingly underscores the unique relationship of Klal Yisrael with Hashem: “And now, if you obey Me and keep My covenant, you shall be to Me segulah out of all peoples, for Mine is the entire earth.” (Sefer Shemot 19:5, this and all Tanach translations, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach) In his Commentary on the Torah on this verse, Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch zatzal (1808-1888) examines the meaning of segulah in light of our relationship with Hashem:
​
Consequently, “segulah” is a singular possession to which no one else may lay claim. It, therefore, has no connection whatsoever to anyone other than its owner. A fundamental condition thus emerges in reference to “segulah;” namely, this concept demands of us in reference to our relationship with Hashem, that we will be His sole possession in a total and complete sense, in the very fiber of our spiritual being, in every aspect of our persona and with our entire desire and lives. In addition, we must see ourselves as depending upon Hashem alone, and never upon some other power or being. Then, too, this principle must shape the trajectory of our lives and influence the essence and approach of all our actions. (Translation from the Hebrew edition my own)
 
Rav Hirsch presents a treasure trove of ideas regarding the definitional structure and conceptual underpinnings of “segulah:”

1. Segulah is a singular possession to which no one else may lay claim, and by definition, has no connection to anyone other than its owner.
2. When viewed in reference to our relationship with Hashem, segulah demands that we will be His sole possession in the very fiber of our spiritual and physical beings.
3. Segulah requires that we depend exclusively upon Hashem, rather than upon some other power or being.
4. Application: “This principle must shape the trajectory of our lives and influence the essence and approach of all our actions.”

 
In sum, for Rav Hirsch, the concept of “segulah,” must define who we are and positively inform every encounter we have with HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and the world at large.
 
My rebbe and mentor, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zatzal (1903-1993), known as “the Rav” by his students and disciples, presents a complementary approach to Rav Hirsch’s position when he defines “segulah” as “singularity”:

The word “singular” means “being only one,” “exceptional,” “extraordinary” and “separate.” The word segulah in Hebrew similarly connotes singularity. In Exodus (19:5), the Torah enunciates the doctrine of the election of Israel [Am HaNivchar] as a cardinal tenet of our faith. (Rabbi Abraham R. Besdin, Reflections of the Rav: Lessons in Jewish Thought adapted from Lectures of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, this, and the following citations, are from page 119, brackets and underling my own)
 
The Rav continues this line of reasoning and emphasizes that “segulah” is not solely a theological construct. Rather, it plays a crucial role in human interaction:

Segulah may also describe relationships between people. For example, Jacob loved Rachel, but he did not hate Leah, despite the verse, “And the Eternal saw that Leah was unloved” (senuah, Sefer Bereishit 29:31). His bond to her merely suffered by comparison with Rachel… his relationship with Rachel was singular.” There was a segulah dimension in this special love. It involved an intertwining of souls, a union beyond verbal description. It was more than emotional love; it was a oneness achieved, which is the highest rung of identification.
 
Significantly, Rav Soloveitchik notes that Hashem’s unique relationship with the Jewish people is parallel to Ya’akov’s marital bonds with Rachel and Leah:
​
Similarly, the people of Israel are a segulah people, singularly valued by God; this involves no denigration of other nations. It is a specialness—a nation, one of its kind, which God has designated to preserve and disseminate His Divine teachings. This is singularity.
 
Clearly, for the Rav, the segulah nature of the Jewish people does not translate into a declaration of superiority over, or a rejection of, the other nations of the world. Instead, each nation has its unique part to play in Hashem’s grand plan.
 
May we, soon be zocheh to witness the fulfillment of Zechariah’s stirring words: “And Hashem shall become King over all the earth; on that day shall Hashem be one, and His name one.” (14:9) V’chane yihi ratzon.
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
Past drashot may be found at my blog-website: http://reparashathashavuah.org
 
Many may also be found on http://www.yutorah.org using the search criteria Etengoff and the parasha’s name.
 
The email list, b’chasdei Hashem, has expanded to hundreds of people. I am always happy to add more members to the list. If you have family or friends you would like to have added, please do not hesitate to contact me via email mailto:[email protected].
 
*** My audio shiurim on the topics of Tefilah and Tanach may be found at: https://www.box.com/s/7bf01f9abcabf02e25c3
 
*** I have posted 164+ of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s English language audio shiurim (MP3 format) spanning the years 1958-1984. Please click on the highlighted link.