Moses' Raised Hands

As long as Moses held his hands up, Israel would be winning, but as soon as he let his hands down, the battle would go in Amalek's favor. When Moses' hands became weary, they took a stone and placed it under him, so that he would be able to sit on it. Aaron and Ḥur then held his hands, one on each side, and his hands remained steady until sunset.                                   Exodus 17:11-12 Now did the hands of Moses make or break the battle? Rather, it comes to tell you that as long as Israel turned their thoughts above, and subjected their hearts to their Father in Heaven, they prevailed, but when they didn't they fell.                                           Mishna Rosh haShana 3:6

            The Mishna can be understood to mean that when Moses raised his hands the Israelites turned their hearts to God and this brought Israel's victory. However, Malbim offers an alternate understanding: it was when Israel added its prayers to those of Moses, having "faith in God and Moses His servant" [Exodus 14:31] that Moses was able to lift his hands and "Israel would be winning." According to this understanding, it was not Moses who led Israel to have faith in God, rather it is the Israelites who led, and it their faith which endowed Moses with the power to assist in their victory.

            Malbim explains that "Moses' hands became weary" as the result of those Israelites who "lacked sufficient faith, and whose hearts were not fully with God," hence Moses was unable to raise his hands. Therefore, "they took a stone," hinting at the unity of the Children of Israel (as was hinted to Jacob when he rested on Mount Moriah and the stones he had taken as his pillow combined into a single stone. [Genesis 28:11-18, see Rashi's comments]) Just as a stone is a conglomerate of many parts combined into a single entity, so too, with the unity of Israel "the faith of the believers and their merit will protect the non-believers" within Israel.

            We can stress the tremendous lesson of Malbim's approach: the power of Israel's unity can overcome the lack of faith of part of the nation and bring Israel salvation. Perhaps this is the true depth of the meaning of our Sages' teaching [Babylonian Talmud, Kritot 6a]: "any (public) fast which does not include the sinners of Israel cannot be considered a fast."

            Sfat Emet notes that the verse uses the future tense (the literal translation is: and it was, when Moses will raise his hands) and comments that this teaches that the battle against Amalek, the first fought by the Children of Israel, is the archetype for all Israel's wars throughout the generations. Based upon this insight, in our days and in our battles against our enemies we must be cognizant of the necessity of faith in God and the unity of Israel in order to be victorious.