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.