Staying Real in Israel
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It is a positive commandment for Jews to remember what Amalek did to us when we were leaving Egypt, as well as to “blot out the name of Amalek”. As to what exactly we are supposed to do to perform this commandment is subject to discussion and “machloket” (machloket means controversy…and what in Judaism isn’t subject to machloket?) This is not the place to discuss how this mitzvah-commandment is to be performed, but the significance of Amalek was powerfully driven home recently…

I was sitting with a group of my friends at our Shabbat-Sabbath “Kiddush Club”, where, after a few “L’Chaims” of top-notch single-malt, the subject inevitably turned to…what else?… politics and palestinians. Our group is rather diverse (or at least it was before the election caused some pretty deep wounds which will require some serious healing before we can all sit together again in peace and tranquility). We have pretty much the entire spectrum of political views represented, although the group is all pretty much religiously observant and wear kippot (yarmulkes) on the head.

One of the more liberal amongst us, a dentist known for his rather high fees, was expounding upon the need for a higher minimum wage in Israel, extolling the socialist leader of the Labor Party, Amir Peretz, and his struggle for the “working class”. We pointed out to him the inconsistency of such a stance in one who chose to designate 99% of the population as ineligible to receive treatment in his own private clinic, since 99% of Israelis could not possibly afford his substantial fees. He seemed to want to have his cake and eat it, too… just so long as Dr. X did not have to personally share his own slice of his just-deserts with those poor have-nots of Israeli society.

This led to a quick change of subject, switching gears to the question of whether or not we Jews have the right to live in all of the Land of Israel, in a Jewish state, a G-d-given, divine inheritance that we believing, Torah-observant Jews generally take for granted as a basic tenet of Torah Judaism.

Well, my fair-weather socialist friend was pretty adament about the fact that, yes we Jews did indeeed have the right to Israel as a Jewish state, but what about democracy as the holy article of faith that it is?… And then the “buts” really started…but we must not impose our will upon another people, but other peoples also have rights, but what if the time is not yet right, but what-if this, and but what-if that…but, but, but…until it seemed as if, according tothe good doctor, we probably would have to just fold up our tents and head back into exile for another couple of thousand years until the Messiah arrives (thousands of years, because my friend also thinks that if the Messiah is coming at all, he or she most likely won’t be arriving any time soon)

So I turned to the attorney on my right, who I thought shared my somewhat stronger views as to our G-d-given rights to the biblical Land of Israel. Surely, he saw things as clearly as I did…Well, not-so clearly…

Here’s where the doubt kicked in.

My friend said, “Well, yeah, sure I believe…it’s clear in the Torah and in all of our teachings that we Jews have a divine, eternal right to the Land of Israel…that it is our inheritence, the greatest gift that The Creator gave to his children, the Jewish people…BUT, what if we are wrong???“.

I said, “What if we are wrong? You have got to be Kidding me!”

“This is what faith is about…this is the meaning of belief!!! Look at our enemies, the jihadist Muslims. Do they have any doubt that what they believe is right? Of course not! That is why they are willing to continue on with their war against us, not willing to consider giving in or compromising on a single point. They are so sure that they are right, that they will continue to fight until the very end for their belief.”

So what is wrong with us Jews? Why don’t we have the same strength of our convictions as our enemies…especially considering that we are right, aren’t we?

If those of us wearing the yarmulkes don’t believe, why are we wasting so much time and energy being religiously observant? Are we just hedging our bets, not truly believing all that is written in the Torah? Is this just some kind of social club, such that we are willing to adopt the rules and customs just to be a part of the group?

I don’t think so.

I left our Kiddush get-together rather disturbed, to say the least. It wasn’t until that evening that the realization struck…

What happened with Amalek, what was so significant that we are commanded as Jews to always remember it, and even to blot out his name…

When the Jews were leaving Egypt after hundreds of years of slavery, Amalek attacked the Children of Israel as they were on their way to the Promised land, to Israel. He was in not-so-hot pursuit, his technique being to pick off the stragglers, the weak ones in the Jewish entourage, as they fell behind the main group.

The role of Amalek as acting Angel of Death assigned to the Jews continued throughout history. He reappeared in the time of King Saul, then, later, in Babylon, Haman of Purim-story infamy was a descendant of Amalek. In Nazi Germany, Amalek was Hitler and, in our time, Saddam and Yasser sustained the Amalek family heritage. Generation after generation, Amalek appears… he tries, and, all too often succeeds, in his mission to exterminate Jews.

Every letter in the Hebrew alphabet has a numerical equivalent, so the values of letters in a word can be added up to find interesting mathematical patterns and hidden meanings. Jewish commentators have pointed out that the gematria-numerical equivalence of the word “Amalek” is equal to the value of the Hebrew word “safek”, which means “doubt“! They derive from this the fact that Amalek works his evil on the Jews by exploiting self-doubt, lack of belief, lack of faith, lack of conviction. When we doubt ourselves, when we doubt our principles and beliefs, when we doubt our “rightness”, we are weak. When we are weak, we become easy prey for the Amalek of our generation, whoever he may be.

It is only when we are strong in our belief in G-d and strong in our belief in the truth of the Torah that we have the strength to defeat Amalek…otherwise, we can be picked off, one by one, like the old, tired, weak sheep in the flock…just a matter of time until devoured by the ever-present hungry wolves.