Amalek, Purim, Pesaḥ and Beyond

Remember what Amalek did to you on the journey after you left Egypt. When they encountered you on the way and you were tired and weary and they attacked all your stragglers from behind. They did not fear God.       Deuteronomy 25:17-18

            Given that the Clouds of Glory protected the Israelites in the wilderness, it was only the sinners of Israel, who were cast out of the Clouds of Glory, who were vulnerable to Amalek’s attack, as Midrash Sifrei [Parashat Ki Teitzei, 296] teaches:

“And they attacked all your stragglers” – this teaches that Amalek killed only the Israelites who strayed from God’s path and were lagging outside the Clouds of Glory.

Because of Amalek’s attack upon the sinners of Israel, not only is the entire nation is commanded to remember Amalek’s dastardly attack and to eradicate Amalek, but God Himself has sworn eternal battle against Amalek! [Exodus 17:16]

            My father noted that Sifrei’s comment teaches the profound lesson that even the sinners of Israel are part of our nation, and they can neither be ignored nor severed from the Collective Israel.

            Indeed, our Sages taught that this is one of the lessons of the incense, which was offered twice daily on the golden altar of the Temple:

Rabbi Ḥana bar Bizna says, quoting Rabbi Shimon Ḥassida: any public fast which does not include the sinners of Israel is not (truly) a fast, as we find ḥelbana, which by itself is foul-smelling, is a necessary ingredient of the incense.

                                    Babylonian Talmud, Kritot 6b

            The same concept can be seen in the Purim narrative.

            Our Sages comment:

Where is Mordechai alluded to in the Torah? In the verse “Flowing myrrh,” [Exodus 30:23] (mor dror) which the Targum renders “mira dachya” (a play of words on the name Mordechai).                            Babylonian Talmud, Ḥullin 139b

            The turning point in Megilat Esther is when Esther instructs Mordechai: “Go, assemble all the Jews to be found in Shushan” [Esther 4:16] The intention of the Talmudic comment, explains Rabbi Yehonatan Eybschutz, is questioning Mordechai’s Biblical source for including the non-righteous Jews. Our Sages answered their question by referring to the incense (though it should be noted that, strictly speaking, the verse refers to the anointing oil, Rabbi Yehonatan is not alone among commentators who include incense within the verse), and the lesson of the helbena: the sinners among Israel remain part of the Jewish People. Thus, Mordechai was correct in gathering all the Jews and not excluding the sinners among them. Indeed, it was not Mordechai’s right, but his obligation to include even the sinners of Israel.

            This concept can be seen as well in the Haggada of the Seder night. The authors of the Haggada, in relating to the wicked son, tell us:

You, therefore, blunt his teeth and say to him: “It is because of what the Lord did for me when I left Egypt,” [Exodus 13:8] for me – but not for him. Had he been there, he would not have been redeemed.

            Rabbi Ya’akov Moshe Ḥarlap notes the Haggada’s choice of words: “Had he been there, he would not have been redeemed” and comments that the wicked son, who excludes himself from the collective, would not have been redeemed “there” in Egypt, since that was prior to Israel’s receiving the Torah. However, after receiving Torah, which essentially established the nation of Israel, even one who wants to exclude himself from the Collective Israel remains part of the nation.

            Thus, we have as “a three-ply cord” [Ecclesiastes 4:12] the profound and basic concept that each Jew has ultimate value, even the sinners of the nation.

            This concept is the only possible explanation for a particular halacha:

If gentiles tell a group of Jews: “Give us one of you to kill, and if not, we will kill all of you,” they must all allow themselves to be killed rather than handing over a single soul to the gentiles.

         Maimonides Laws of Fundamentals of Torah 5:5

            It is forbidden to hand over any Jew to be killed, even if he is a sinner and his death will save the lives of the greatest sages of the generation. The Halacha recognizes the ultimate value of every Jew as a Jew, without regard to his/her conformance to mitzvot.

God's Need and Israel's Need

I will meet with the Israelites there, and that place will be consecrated by My glory.            Exodus 29:43

“I will meet with the Israelites there:” - to inform all those who come into this world (i.e., all of mankind) the special affection which I have for Israel.                                                                   Midrash Lekaḥ Tov

                Lekaḥ Tov’s comment applies to the Land of Israel as well, since she, and only she, is the Land of the Shechina. [Yalkut Shimoni, 694]

                Indeed, our Sages expounded:

The Holy One, blessed be He said to Moses: “the Land is dear to Me, (as the verse states ‘the eyes of the Lord your God are on it constantly from the first of the year until the very end of the year,’ [Deuteronomy 11:12]); and Israel is dear to Me, (as scripture states: ‘because the Lord loved you’ “[Deuteronomy 7:8]) Thus, the Holy One, blessed be He said: “I shall bring Israel who are dear to Me into the Land which is dear to Me (as it is written: ‘for you are entering the land of Canaan.’ [Numbers 34:2])”

                The very fact of Israel’s presence within its Land, which is God’s Land, constitutes an expression of God’s affection for His chosen nation.

                Beyond this, Israel’s presence in its Land conveys the God’s Lordship over Israel to all the peoples of the world. Following our verse, the Torah states:

I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. And they will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God. [45-56] 

                Lekaḥ Tov elucidates:

“I will dwell among the Israelites” – because My Shechina is within Israel, the entire world will know that I am their Lord.

                The nation of Israel is able to convey its special connection to God only when it dwells within the Land, as our Sages taught:

Whoever lives in the Land of Israel may be considered to have a God, but whoever lives outside the Land may be regarded as one who has no God.                                               Babylonian Talmud, Ketubot 110b

                The above comments allow us to understand a surprising remark of Rabbeinu Beḥayye on the final verse quoted above:

“And they will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, so that I might dwell among them.” – the verse informs us that the purpose of the exodus was “that I might dwell among them” and if not for that, God would not have taken the Israelites out of Egypt, teaching that having the Shechina within Israel is God’s need, not merely the need of Israel.

                Israel’s welfare requires its being in the Land, while that presence, as it were, serves the Divine “need” as well, combining the nation’s needs and God’s “need.”

Olive Oil, Torah and the World to Come

You are to command the Israelites to bring you pure oil from crushed olives for the light, in order to keep the lamp burning continually.                         Exodus 27:20

“To bring you pure oil from crushed olives” – Why was olive oil chosen from among all the oils? Because, just as olives oil comes only from crushing olives, so too man cannot inherit the World to Come except through pain, nor can Torah be fulfilled except through pain, therefore Israel is compared to olives, as scripture says: “The Lord named you a flourishing olive tree, beautiful with well-formed fruit.” [Jeremiah 11:16]            Midrash Aggada 

According to the Midrash, olive oil symbolizes the pain which is necessary in order to inherit the World to Come and in order to fulfill Torah, and thus hints at the statement of Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai:

The Holy One, blessed be He, gave Israel three precious gifts, and all of them were given only through suffering. These are: Torah, the Land of Israel and the World to Come.                          Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 5a

Our Midrash mentions two of the three precious gifts given by God to His people.

The simplest explanation of bar Yoḥai’s teaching (and that of Midrash Aggada) is that whatever is truly worthwhile having is worthwhile even at the cost of suffering and pain, and if it is not worth suffering and pain, it is not truly worthwhile.

Rabbi Kook [Ein Aya, Berachot 1:34], as is his custom, explains a much deeper meaning of bar Yoḥai’s statement. Whatever exists in the natural world can be achieved by natural means, without the need of suffering and pain. However, achieving that which is above nature is beyond the limits of our physical selves and can be done only through suffering. Thus, when a prophet received prophecy, his limbs were torn apart, as described by Maimonides [Laws of the Fundamentals of Torah 7:5], since prophecy is an exalted level, outside of nature, it can be reached only by suffering.

Each of the three precious gifts has a super-natural aspect:

- The World to Come, by definition stands above our natural world, and therefore suffering is necessary to reach it.

- True connection to Torah, on some level, is to connect with the Divine intellect, thus Torah too requires suffering.

 - While the Land of Israel is a physical land, it is the only land on our planet which has an inherent spiritual dimension; therefore the Land too can be realized only through suffering.

Seder haYom (Rabbi Moshe ben Rabbi Yehuda ibn Machir [c. 1540-1610]) writes:

The point is that it is proper to give a precious and exalted gift only to one who will appreciate it and who is justly worthy of receiving it. Thus, before receiving the gift, one suffers to test if he will accept the gift gladly as an expression of love for the donor. Rejecting the suffering is tantamount to rejecting the gift, and such a recipient is not worthy of the gift, since he fails to appreciate its value.

            Thus, we have an additional dimension: suffering is the test of whether we sincerely accept the three precious gifts as being God-given and whether we appreciate their value.

            It is clear that the three precious gifts are reciprocally related, as Shela states: “the Land of Israel incorporates Torah and the World to Come, and the World to Come includes Torah and the Land.”

Observance of Torah and mitzvot is the condition for Israel’s survival within its Land, [Mechilta, Yitro 2] as the Torah makes in clear in numerous verses. Conversely, the Land of Israel is the place most suited for fulfilling mitzvot (approximately forty percent of the 613 mitzvot can be fulfilled only within the Land –those which depend upon the Land, all matters of monarchy, of the Sanhedrin, etc.) and for Torah study, as our Sages taught: “There is no Torah comparable to the Torah of the Land of Israel” [vaYikra Rabba 13:5]; and, “The climate of the Land of Israel makes one wise.” [Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 158b]

It is self-evident that Torah is the “admission ticket” to the World to Come, as my father noted: “Even though the Mishna [Sanhedrin, 90a] states ‘All Israel has a portion in the World to Come,’ every individual Jew must work on fulfilling mitzvot in order to realize his portion.”

            Concerning the relationship between the Land of Israel and the World to Come, our Sages taught: “One who walks four cubits in the Land is guaranteed that he is a son of the World to Come.” [Babylonian Talmud, Ketubot 111a] Shela adds that our Sages taught that the earthly Land of Israel is located opposite the Heavenly Land, which is the World to Come.

Means and End

And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.                Exodus 29:46

Our verse stresses that the exodus from Egypt was goal oriented; its purpose was not merely to take the Israelites from Egypt, but to bring them to the situation where God will dwell among them.

This verse does not stand independently, but must be understood in connection with God’s second charge to Moses concerning the redemption from Egyptian bondage [Exodus 6:6-8]:

Therefore say to the Children of Israel: “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments; and I will take you to Me as a people, and I will be for you a God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the Land which I lifted up my hand to give to Abraham Isaac and Jacob, and it will be a heritage for you. I am the Lord.”

These verses clearly state that the purpose of the exodus was to bring Israel into its Land, while our verse adds the dimension which conveys the significance of the Land: it is within the Land that the nation of Israel will be able to bring the Shechina into its midst, as our Sages taught that the Holy Land is the land of the Shechina.

Indeed, Amos Ḥacham [Da’at Mikra] notes that our verse is implied in God’s earlier promise. The Land of Israel is the place where Israel can and must achieve the level of allowing God to dwell among them.

In essence, the exodus was not a goal but a means to bring Israel to its own Land. Yet entering the Land is not the final goal, rather the means to allow God to dwell among His people.

For Israel to dwell in its Land without striving to bring the Shechina into the nation is to confuse the means and the goal.