Hello Everyone,
In yesterday’s shiur we studied Rav Kook’s explantion for the final episode in parshat Beshalach.
Parshat Beshalach is a series of miraculous events. It opens with the splitting of the sea, it continues to the miraculous restoration of the water at Marah, the arrival of the manna from the sky, and the striking of the stone causing it to yield water. In all of these episodes Hashem instructed Moshe Rabbeinu to act and a miracle was the result.
At the end of the parsha Amalek attacked us. From everything that we had seen until now we would expect Hashem to have instructed Moshe Rabbeinu to save the people. It was Moshe Rabbeinu after all who stood up to the great Pharoah, certainly Moshe Rabbeinu could lead the Jews into battle against Amalek.
But that is not what happened. Instead of leading the Jews into battle, Moshe Rabbeinu instructed Yehoshuah to lead the battle. Moshe Rabbeinu informed Yehoshuah that he, Moshe, will go to the top of a nearby hill with his staff (presumably to pray for a vioctory).
Why didn’t Moshe Rabbeinu lead the battle against Amalek? As we approached the Land of Israel it was Moshe Rabbeinu who led the battles against the two kings, Sichon and Og. Why wouldn’t Moshe Rabbeinu fight Amalek?
Rav Kook gives the following answer. Amalek is the nation which is our greatest enemy. They are the descendants of Esav and have inherited his hatred for his brother Ya’akov and so for us who are his descendants. Ultimately Amalek will be destroyed. Moshe Rabbeinu understood all of this. But he understood something else as well. Moshe Rabbeinu understood that we need an opponent such as Amalek. To quote Rav Kook:
“…כי עוד לא נטהרו ישראל לגמרי עד שלא יהי’ צורך לעולם בכח המנגיד”
I think that Rav Kook is teaching us something about our development as a nation. We need to have a national identity based purely on a positive appreciation for the Torah. In other words, we need to have an identity based on our perception of what we are and what we can be. This sort of identity evolves with time. Until such time that “נטהרו ישראל לגמרי” our identity is based on how we see ourselves compared to others. That is the role that Amalek plays in our development as a nation. Amalek attacked us so shortly after our deliverance from Egypt that we were not yet a nation. This being the case we could begin to form an identity by seeing our moral opposites. If we were not yet able to define ourselves by what we are, we could begin to acquire an identity by seeing what do not want to be. That is why we actually needed Amalek.
Had Moshe Rabbeinu led the battle against Amalek the victory would have been miraculous and total, and such a total victory would have been premature. That is why Moshe Rabbeinu left the battle to Yehoshuah. Significantly, the Torah does not say that Amalek was defeated, Amalek was only “weakened” .(“ויחלש”) The final victory will occur when we are ready as a nation to see ourselves for what we are.
Thanks to everyone who attended the shiur.
Stuart Fischman