The Amalek Within2 min read

THE TZADDIKIM TEACH that Amalek’s weapon is the ability to cause us to doubt the existence of Hashem and the spiritual reality underlying the physical smokescreen. This effort is ultimately rooted in the Primordial Snake, who convinced Chava that eating from the tree would allow her to become like Hashem Himself, an awesome breach of faith in the inherency of His unlimited powers. Indeed, the sin of the Eitz Hada’as had “Amalek” written all over it. When questioned by Hashem regarding her sin, Chava responded “Hanachash HishiYani ”, “The Snake tricked me.” It is fascinating to note that the word “Hishiyani” (הִשִּׁיאַנִי) is composed of the words “HaYesh” and “Ayin”  אָיִן / היֵש; two words which appear in klal Yisrael’s expression of doubt preceding the attack of Amalek, “HaYeish Hashem b’kirbeinu im ayin? ”, “Is God among us, or not?”

The two terms in the Torah relating, respectively, to belief in Hashem and the scourge of idol worship are “Hashem Echad”, “One God”, and “El Acher” “Another god”, ch”v. The last letter of these two phrases, the Dalet of “EchaD” and the Reish of “AcheR” are enlarged in the Torah scroll in order to ensure that the similarity between these letters would not cause someone to confuse these two words, a potentially blasphemous error. Both the physical and numerical difference between these letters is the small “kotz”, the “thorn” emerging from the back of the Dalet:  Dalet equals 4, Reish equals 200,  the difference between them being 196, the exact numerical value of the word “kotz”.

In his campaign of doubt (‘Amelek’ is Gematria ‘safek’, doubt), Amalek’s goal is to blur that little thorn, to obliterate our ability to distinguish between the letters Dalet and Reish, between “Hashem EchaD” and “El acheR”.

When Adam eats from the Eitz HaDa’as, Hashem curses him with having to work the ground to produce food, saying “V’kotz v’dardar tatzmiach lach” (וְקוֹץ וְדַרְדַּר תַּצְמִיחַ לָך); “Thorns and thistles will sprout for you.” The tzaddikim reveal a deeper understanding of this statement. Hashem says “V’Kotz” – “You have allowed Amalek, doubt, to blur the little “thorn” which distinguishes between the belief in God and avodah zarah. Thus, “V’Dardar tatzmiach lach”, you will now need to battle with this doubt; “DaRDaR”; Dalet, Reish, Dalet, Reish, constantly wavering back and forth between “Hashem EchaD” and “El acheR”, “hayeish Hashem b’kirbeinu” and “im ayin”, until the end of time “. 

Discussing the obligation to remember this attack, the verse states, “Hashem will war with Amalek for all generations.” Fascinatingly enough, the way the Torah refers to the eternal battle against Amalek is “Milchamah l’Hashem B’Amlek m’dor dor“, “מִלְחָמָה לַה’ בַּעֲמָלֵק מִדֹּר דֹּר“, again – Dalet, Reish, Dalet, Reish, a reference to Amalek’s goal of blurring the difference between the Dalet and Reish, introducing safek, doubt, into our hearts and souls. Ultimately, Amalek was vanquished by the leadership of Moshe whose hands raised to heaven bespoke simple faith in Hashem, “Vaye’hi Yadav emunah”. May we merit to emerge victorious in this eternal battle by connecting to the tzaddikim, who – hands raised to the heavens – illuminate the path to perfect faith in our Creator!