The Rabbi's Address: Eradicate the Memory of Amalek

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Throughout its history, the people of Israel have suffered from the blows of their numerous adversaries. Yet, complete rejection and vengeance are commanded only toward Amalek. He earned this unique treatment through the ultimate level of hatred toward the people of Israel — a hatred that has neither sense nor reason.

The hatred that Amalek harbors toward Israel stems from the clash between two perpetually opposing forces: no matter the spiritual state of the Jewish people, they retain their self-awareness and inner faith. Even when all seems lost and complete chaos reigns in the world, the children of Israel continue to believe with a simple, unreasoning faith, without arguments — sometimes without knowing why. This persistence of the "stiff-necked people's" faith, which penetrates to the very essence, harbors a determination not to surrender to the forces of evil and to hold fast to the Almighty and His Torah. The antithesis of Israel is Amalek.

"The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation" (Exodus 17:16) — this is an eternal war of faith against unbelief, of the forces bringing the Creator's light into the world against the forces sowing doubt and confusion in the souls. This war continues as long as Amalek exists in the world in any form; as long as the seeds of doubt in faith and the dampening of the heart’s impulses, scattered by Amalek throughout the world, still exist within the hearts of the Jewish people themselves.

Haman's hatred stems from the so-called "root of Amalek." Although the Book of Esther relates that Mordecai personally incited Haman's wrath, the generalization Haman makes, extending his anger to the entire "people of Mordecai," indicates a preemptive, essential hatred toward Israel. Haman’s arguments (similar to those voiced by anti-Semites in all eras) — "...there is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples... and their laws are diverse from those of every people; neither keep they the king's laws..." (Esther 3:8) — may be formally true, but they are not at the core of Haman's struggle against the Jews. The Jews belong to the opposite pole of reality; when the entire world stands on one side, they stand on the other — the side of true faith.

Amalek wishes to destroy everything connected to the Almighty, and since this is fundamentally impossible, he turns his hatred toward His representatives on earth — the people of Israel.

Why does a person sin? Generally, because they consider something forbidden to be good, out of foolishness or lack of understanding, but not because they are drawn to evil as such. Amalek, "hating for the sake of hatred," falls into the category of absolute evil; its existence is a blight on our world.

Within each of us, constantly and in every generation, the "blotting out of Amalek" must take place. This internal warfare is no different from the external one.

The Gematria (numerical value) of the word "Amalek," which famously hints at its hidden essence, is equal to that of the word "doubt" (safek). Doubt is of two kinds. The first is legitimate doubt, caused by a lack of precise information; it is resolved by clarifying the question that raised it. This kind of doubt, along with the problems it engenders, is entirely manageable.

The doubt sown by Amalek, however, is caused by a disconnect between thoughts and feelings. If the heart could feel everything the mind understands, there would be no room for doubt. Yet, what is perceived by the mind in all clarity fades as it descends into the realm of feelings, and that is precisely where the vulnerability to doubt lies. Human life is filled with high ideas and noble sentiments, but the transition from thought to living feeling, and from feeling to action, involves significant difficulties — an internal struggle against Amalek.

This disconnect between emotions and thoughts is not only the work of Amalek; it is a universal human problem, defined in Kabbalistic terms as a "narrow bottleneck." The two centers — the brain and the heart — are distant from one another. Obstacles lie between them, hindering direct communication and separating intellect from awe and emotion.

The disconnect between thought and feeling lies at the heart of the wrongdoings committed by people. Sometimes, a person knows with absolute certainty that an action is wrong, yet they commit it anyway; conversely, we may know that something ought to be done, yet our feelings remain silent and fail to prompt the intellect to action.

The second kind of doubt, arising from the "root of Amalek," requires no arguments and is expressed in the words: "He knows his Master, yet rebels against Him" (Sifra, Bechukotai, 2). This is a stubbornness that makes a person ask, on every occasion and in every situation, "So what?" The core attribute of the people of Israel — their faith — is the conviction that the Creator guides the world and fills it, and that Divine Providence constantly extends to every individual. Amalek cools the heart, causing doubts, fears, and conjectures such as "what if..." Even at the peak of spiritual life, when a Jew reaches full awareness and enlightenment, perceiving the flow of light poured upon him — even then, Amalek stands in his way and, with persistence and stubbornness, still whispers: "What if this is merely nature? What if there is only nature and no God?"

Sometimes children begin to doubt whether their parents are their true parents. Usually, this thought arises when a child feels offended or forgotten, and on this basis, they build theories and erect towers of speculation. Amalek operates in the same manner — he manages to develop vague, groundless seeds of ideas into doubts that undermine faith. Doubt does not stem from any concept or idea; it is spawned by the world of chaos, arising from vanity and emptiness, and if room is left for it, it grows.

Now we arrive at the question of how to fight the doubt generated by Amalek. It is no coincidence that the war against him is called the "blotting out of Amalek." To blot out his memory means to destroy him entirely. To contend with him, one must ignore him and the questions he poses. Amalek cannot be reasoned with in principle, as his arguments are not drawn from the realm of cause and effect. If they were based on logic and rational causes, it would suffice to refute the cause to disprove the conclusions. The complete blotting out of Amalek will occur only when "they shall see eye to eye" (Isaiah 52:8), when absolute clarity is established through internal vision.

Until the time comes to see the truth eye to eye, we have the holiday of Purim — a holiday of war against Amalek, which is not based on intellect and includes, in particular, the commandment to "lose one's reason" by becoming intoxicated. Amalek cannot be defeated by intellect, through debates and persuasion. We must not apply a rational approach to him, but rather suppress and eliminate him within ourselves — distancing ourselves from doubt.